The Weight of a Human Heart: Stories

"You will be astounded by the hugeness of his heart, and by the breadth and depth of his vision. O'Neill is a writer of limitless imagination." —Hector Tobar, author of The Barbarian Nurseries



Ranging from Australia and Africa to Europe and Asia and back again, The Weight of a Human Heart heralds a fresh and important new voice in fiction. Ryan O'Neill takes us on a journey that is sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, and wholly original.

A young Tutsi girl flees her village on the brink of the Rwandan genocide. A literary duel—and an affair—play out in the book review section of a national newspaper. A young girl learns her mother’s disturbing secrets through the broken key on a typewriter. 

With imagination, wit, and a keen eye, Ryan O'Neill draws the essence of the human experience with a cast of characters who stick with you long after you turn the last page of this brilliant short story collection.