About the award
Inaugurated in 2000, the Novel of the Year was the foundation stone of the Irish Book Awards. Early winners included John McGahern, Colum McCann and Anne Enright. Eason are proud to sponsor this prestigious award, which is always a mark of the depth and quality of Irish fiction.
Sponsored by
Eason Novel of the Year 2021
The Bee Sting
by Paul Murray
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under – but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman.
His wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.
Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favour to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil?
Can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written – is there still time to find a happy ending?

Shadowplay
Normal People
Midwinter Break
Solar Bones
Previous Winners
2020 – Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan
2019 – Shadowplay
by Joseph O’Connor
2018 – Normal People
by Sally Rooney
2017 – Midwinter Break
by Bernard MacLaverty
2016 – Solar Bones
by Mike McCormack
2015 – The Green Road
by Anne Enright
2014 – Academy Street
by Mary Costello
2013 – The Guts
by Roddy Doyle
2012 – Ancient Light
by John Banville
2011 – Mistaken
by Neil Jordan
2010 – Room
by Emma Donoghue
2009 – The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
2008 – The Gathering
by Anne Enright
2007 – Winterwood
by Patrick McCabe
2006 – The Sea
by John Banville
2005 – Havoc In Its Third Year
by Ronan Bennett
2004 – Dancer
by Colum McCann
2003 – That They May Face the Rising Sun
by John McGahern