The Ballad of Ronan McCoy – Colin Morgan

Published By: HQ
Pages: 384
Released On: 18/06/2026

Brendan’s best friend, his only friend, is Ronan McCoy. He knows things about Brendan that no one else does: about his job washing the cars at Feeney’s Funeral Home, about the loneliness he sometimes feels even when surrounded by hundreds of others at school. But Brendan never told Ronan about the dark feeling that sits at the bottom of his stomach, the feeling that tells him something bad is coming. It never comes when Ronan’s around.

Ronan is smart and sporty and popular, totally comfortable in his own skin: all the things that Brendan himself isn’t. But Ronan always makes him feel like a good friend, a good person, a better Brendan.

Standing at the school gates on the first day of term, the dark feeling begins to form in Brendan’s stomach. And when Ronan doesn’t turn up, Brendan learns that something terrible happened to his best friend over the summer and he’ll never be the same again. Over the course of the final year of school, Brendan will have to learn to navigate the new shape of their friendship and find a place for himself in the world without Ronan to protect him.

*****

**Contains Thematic Spoilers**

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I mean, I adore Colin so was excited when I saw he’d written a novel. I’ve seen him on TV in Merlin and on stage in Mojo. But “celebrity” books aren’t always befitting of praise. But this is a definite exception.

I was concerned because it sounded quite literary – you know the type of books. The ones that are intelligent but difficult to read. But this wasn’t. That’s not to say it’s not intelligent, because it is, but it was surprisingly easy and quick to read.

It was so beautiful but sad but hopeful.

I have professional and personal experience with disability and it can be hard for an able-bodied person to write about it without it coming across as a bit insensitive and cliché. But Colin has handled it so well. It’s so sensitive but he hasn’t gone down the aw-bless route.

It’s so layered. It’s about friendship, grief, loss, love, and fear. It doesn’t sound like the happiest of books but somehow it manages to keep some lightness. It’s bundled up with so much hope that you can’t help but smile through the tears. And yes, there will be tears. Oh boy will there be tears.

As someone who has been through her fair share of bereavement, I found his writing of grief near to perfect.

If there was one criticism I’d say that Brendan’s language sometimes feels younger than his 16 years, and if I didn’t know, I would put him down as younger. It’s not a big thing, it doesn’t affect my rating, because his voice is so strong that it doesn’t matter. You can see these boys, their relationship is so beautiful. You don’t often see relationships between teenage boys in fiction like this. They’re either all buddy-buddy, tough guys, or its in a romantic setting. This is just a beautiful friendship that’s been tested.

I don’t know if writing is something that Colin is interested in doing more of in the future but my God I hope so. This is such an accomplished debut. Everything about it is first rate. I don’t tend to re-read books because I have so many new ones to read, but this one feels special and it may have to go back on the shelf for another day – even if I feel too fragile to think about reading it again yet. This is definitely going to be on my Best Books of 2026 List.