John Irving was once one of my favourite authors.

• The World According to Garp (Dutton, 1978)
• The Cider House Rules (William Morrow, 1985) 
• A Prayer for Owen Meany (William Morrow, 1989)

I found him very philosophical. And very precise in plot and prose.

Five of his novels have been fully or partially adapted into the films The World According to Garp (1982), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Simon Birch (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), and The Door in the Floor (2004).

At some point I lost interest. He hasn’t written all that many books.

I couldn’t get through 2022’s The Last Chairlift.

And I only made it through about 1/3 of Queen Esther.

I’d agree with this Guardian review:

The once-great author revisits St Cloud’s orphanage all too briefly, in a novel that begins with an adopted girl but wanders all over the place.

… So we approach a new Irving with caution but still a small flame of hope, which burns hotter when we learn that Queen Esther – a mere 432 pages – “returns to the world of The Cider House Rules”. That 1985 novel is one of Irving’s very best, set largely in an orphanage in St Cloud’s, Maine, run by Dr Wilbur Larch and his protege Homer Wells. …

Queen Esther by John Irving review – a disappointing companion to The Cider House Rules

Viennese-born Jew orphan, Esther Nacht, is another great fictional character, however. She could have made the book worth reading. But I couldn’t get into her story.

Queen Esther published November 2025.

Irving has homes in Toronto and Pointe au Baril, Ontario.  On December 13, 2019, Irving became a Canadian citizen. He has said he plans to keep his U.S. citizenship, reserving the right to be outspoken about the United States and his dislike of Donald Trump.