The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Ryan, Donal. The Queen of Dirt Island. Penguin Random House LLC, 2023.

Donal Ryan's novel The Queen of Dirt Island is written from the third person point of view. Throughout the novel, this third person narrator primarily inhabits the main character Saoirse Aylward's perspective, tracing her life from birth through adulthood. The novel is written in a fragmented manner, and presented in a series of 500-word chapters. The following summary relies upon the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

Shortly after Eileen Aylward gives birth to her daughter Saoirse, her husband and father-in-law are killed in a car accident. In the wake of their husbands' deaths, Eileen and her mother-in-law Mary, or Nana, come to rely upon one another. As Saoirse grows up, her understanding and perception of the world are hinged upon her close relationships with her mother and grandmother.

When Saoirse is a teenager, she begins to learn more about her mother's fraught relationships with her family. Because Eileen got pregnant out of wedlock, her parents disowned her. Her brother Richard followed suit, deeming his sister an irresponsible and shameful woman of ill repute. Therefore, Eileen has little contact with her family until her mother dies.

When Eileen's father passes away not long later, Eileen inherits a portion of the family farm, known to the local townspeople as Dirt Island. Because Eileen's share of Dirt Island is the most valuable, Richard tries to bully his sister into signing over her inheritance to him. Eileen stands up for herself and retains her rights to the land as long as possible.

Saoirse makes friends with a classmate named Breedie when she is in high school. One night, she and Breedie attend a local concert. Saoirse ends up having sex with one of the musicians and discovers that she is pregnant not long later.

Eileen and Nana are initially furious with Saoirse for getting pregnant. However, when Saoirse's uncles urge Eileen not to shame Saoirse the way Eileen was shamed, Eileen softens. Nana softens in turn.

Saoirse gives birth to a baby girl she names Pearl. As Pearl grows up, Saoirse starts to long for the life that she could have had. She makes friends with a local couple named Josh and Honey. She is eager to be accepted by them and included in their social spheres. After Honey leaves their town in Ireland to work on a film in England, Saoirse realizes that she is in love with Josh. Although Josh reciprocates her feelings, Saoirse feels guilty. She is convinced she is betraying Honey, for whom she still feels affection.

When Josh asks Saoirse to give her notes about her family life and stories so he can write a novel about them, Saoirse agrees. She has always wanted to write her own story, but thinks she has no right to do so. However, after she sees Josh's manuscript, she is irate. She confronts him for bastardizing her life on the page. The couple ends their relationship.

Saoirse goes on to write her own story. The manuscript is later published with the title The Queen of Dirt Island.

Years later, after Nana dies, Pearl takes a year off from college in order to travel. She loves her mother and grandmother, and is thus sad to say goodbye. On their way to the airport, the women talk and laugh together as they have throughout their lives.