Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Bloomsbury Circus (2022), 320 pages
Description
Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering debut novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and unsanctioned love. --
Media reviews
In ‘Trespasses,’ an affair can be fatal during Ireland’s Troubles...Kennedy has written a captivating first novel that manages to be beautiful and devastating in equal measure. Its bittersweetness is encapsulated in one of Cushla’s memorable comebacks. Michael asks if they, as a couple, are
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all right. “We’re doomed,” she replies. “Apart from that we’re grand.” Show Less
“Trespasses” revolves around 24-year-old Cushla Lavery, a Catholic schoolteacher living just outside Belfast in the early years of the Troubles, in a small town that is heavily occupied by British soldiers....Kennedy writes beautifully about love. Familial and romantic love, but perhaps most
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profoundly, the love between a vulnerable child and a teacher who cares deeply about his well-being. In the midst of rampant and unpredictable cruelty, it is the kindness of individuals to one another that gets anyone through.....As the novel progresses, it picks up a propulsive energy, the kind that compels you to keep reading straight through to the end. A rising sense of tension throughout comes to a shocking head. I am not a crier, but by the final pages of “Trespasses,” I was in tears. It’s a testament to Kennedy’s talents that we come to love and care so much about her characters. And that reading about a long and difficult period from the recent past feels not like history, but like a warning. Show Less
In her first novel, the acclaimed short-story writer draws on the 1070's Northern Ireland of her childhood, merging unspeakable times with tough humour and romance....in the small town outside Belfast where teacher Cushla Lavery lives with her mother, bombings and beatings fill the headlines. At
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24, she is able to recall a time before the Troubles, unlike her class of seven-year-olds a the Catholic primary school....Louise Kennedy sets herself the challenge of encapsulating those unspeakable times and the powerlessness felt by ordinary people caught in the crossfire. She does so with skill, combining unflinching authenticity with narrative dexterity and a flair for detail, all wrapped up in a moving love story – two, really... Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
Set in a garrison town near Belfast, Northern Ireland, in early seventies, this novel centers on Cushla, a young woman working as a primary school teacher at a Catholic school, living with her alcoholic mother and helping out at the family-owned pub, one that serves members of the military, the RUC
This was, to me, a perfect novel. It vividly portrayed a specific time and place, the characters were all so well crafted and complex and Cushla is a wonderful protagonist, brave and with a sarcastic sense of humor that sees her through so much. She's also very much a twenty-four year old woman, still figuring things out and unsure about a lot. Kennedy writes with such immediacy and the dialog shines. I'm pretty sure this is the best book I'll read this year, which makes writing anything about it difficult.
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and others on the Protestant side of the sectarian divide. She's a teacher who is concerned about her students, especially Davy, a boy from a "mixed" family, the mother Protestant. They live at the back of a housing estate, their walls tagged with graffiti and enduring a constant low level of harassment. Cushla is lonely, although she is slowly forming a friendship with the teacher who teaches the other half of the seven-year-olds. So when she catches the eye of the charismatic barrister Michael Agnew, she is willing to fall in love, despite he being much older, Protestant and married. This was, to me, a perfect novel. It vividly portrayed a specific time and place, the characters were all so well crafted and complex and Cushla is a wonderful protagonist, brave and with a sarcastic sense of humor that sees her through so much. She's also very much a twenty-four year old woman, still figuring things out and unsure about a lot. Kennedy writes with such immediacy and the dialog shines. I'm pretty sure this is the best book I'll read this year, which makes writing anything about it difficult.
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LibraryThing member japaul22
Wow. This is a beautiful novel. It takes place during the Troubles just outside Belfast, with all the violence and conflict that implies. Cushla Lavery is a young woman teaching in a Catholic school and working in her family's pub. At school, she meets the family of one of her students, Davy. The
This book is fully of beautiful, complicated relationships for Cushla - between Cushla and her mother, her lover, her student, her student's family, her brother, her fellow school teacher. It's amazing to me when I list them that the author was able to develop all of these. It's a novel where every interaction is there for a reason.
Highly recommended. One of the best new novels I've read in a while.
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father is Catholic and mother is Protestant, making them outcasts in their community. And at the pub she meets Michael Agnew, an older man and lawyer who she falls in love with. The two story lines are separate for most of the book, illuminating two sides of Cushla's life and personality, but they come together dramatically at the end.This book is fully of beautiful, complicated relationships for Cushla - between Cushla and her mother, her lover, her student, her student's family, her brother, her fellow school teacher. It's amazing to me when I list them that the author was able to develop all of these. It's a novel where every interaction is there for a reason.
Highly recommended. One of the best new novels I've read in a while.
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LibraryThing member vancouverdeb
Trespasses begins very slowly. Cushla is a single 24 year old woman living in a small town outside of Belfast. She lives with her widowed mother, Gina, who has diffculties with alcohol . Cushla teaches at the local Catholic primary school . There, she takes a somewhat lost young fellow under her
Cushla also works in her brother's bar in the evening. There she serves both Protestant and Catholics. At this bar, a Protestant barrister catches her eye and vice versa. Michael and Cushla begin an affair.
A touching look into the tensions, violence and love between the various factions. This is the first novel about the Troubles that has held my interest, and it will stay with me for a long time.
A beautiful and at times , harrowing debut novel.
4.5 stars
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wing, Davy McGeowen. Davy is the youngest in the family of a " mixed marriage" , that is to say his father is Catholic and his mother is Protestant. For this reason, Davy is bullied. Cushla also works in her brother's bar in the evening. There she serves both Protestant and Catholics. At this bar, a Protestant barrister catches her eye and vice versa. Michael and Cushla begin an affair.
A touching look into the tensions, violence and love between the various factions. This is the first novel about the Troubles that has held my interest, and it will stay with me for a long time.
A beautiful and at times , harrowing debut novel.
4.5 stars
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LibraryThing member miss.mesmerized
In the daytime, Cushla Lavery teaches seven-year-olds in a small town near Belfast, in the evening, she helps her brother in his pub. And in between, she makes sure that her alcohol addicted mother is still alive. There is not much happening in her life until, one evening, Michael Agnew shows up in
Louise Kennedy captures a life that is determined not by the person who lives it, but by outer circumstances. “Trespasses” oscillates between awful news and being alert all the time and intimacy which cannot exist openly. Her description of what people in the 1970s in Northern Ireland endured is full of brutality – but, I assume, absolutely accurate.
The most striking aspect of the novel was for me, how the characters organise their lives around the raging war around them. Cushla’s teaching that starts with a news session every morning which shows that even her 7-year-olds are familiar with the war vocabulary and for whom an assassination is just another death, just another family without a father, just another random note on the radio. The bluntness with which the author depicts these scenes is brutal and therefore gets close to the reader.
It is unimaginable how you can live and love in those circumstances, on the other hand, Cushla’s care for one of the boys whose family is seriously struggling underlines that in times like these, love and compassion is the only thing that’s left.
Definitely not an easy read but without a doubt one I can highly recommend.
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the pub. He is a lot older than Cushla, but nevertheless, something sparks between them. Times are hard in Belfast when the war is raging in the streets and the news report deaths daily. Michael’s job as a barrister puts him at risk, yet, with Cushla, political tensions are far away. Until they aren’t anymore.Louise Kennedy captures a life that is determined not by the person who lives it, but by outer circumstances. “Trespasses” oscillates between awful news and being alert all the time and intimacy which cannot exist openly. Her description of what people in the 1970s in Northern Ireland endured is full of brutality – but, I assume, absolutely accurate.
The most striking aspect of the novel was for me, how the characters organise their lives around the raging war around them. Cushla’s teaching that starts with a news session every morning which shows that even her 7-year-olds are familiar with the war vocabulary and for whom an assassination is just another death, just another family without a father, just another random note on the radio. The bluntness with which the author depicts these scenes is brutal and therefore gets close to the reader.
It is unimaginable how you can live and love in those circumstances, on the other hand, Cushla’s care for one of the boys whose family is seriously struggling underlines that in times like these, love and compassion is the only thing that’s left.
Definitely not an easy read but without a doubt one I can highly recommend.
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LibraryThing member AlisonY
I'm not quite sure where to start with my review of this book, as it pulled me in complete polar directions. I loved it and yet it made me positively boil over with anger.
Let's start with what worked. Set in Belfast in the 1970s in the height of the Troubles, the novel tells the story of a Catholic
But. BUT, BUT, BUT BUT. This book is HORRENDOUSLY inappropriate in these times of fragile peace in Northern Ireland. Kennedy could have easily told the story with even handedness, using the Protestant Michael to give the alternative perspective on the Troubles, but the entire way through she seems hell bent on settling a score, positioning Protestants, the police and the army as unpleasant oppressors, whilst every Catholic character is an underprivileged victim of circumstances to be desperately pitied, even if 'caught up' in terrorism. I absolutely acknowledge that Catholics were disadvantaged in Northern Ireland after partition, and had things been handled in a different way perhaps the Troubles may never have happened. However, the reality of the violence of the Troubles is that Republican paramilitaries were responsible for 59% of the murders. And this is what's so dangerous about books of fiction like this. If you were not overly familiar with the detail of the Troubles, you would come away from Ms Kennedy's novel 'informed' that the Troubles were almost exclusively about Protestants violently oppressing Catholics. In Kennedy's hands, the Catholic characters have the monopoly on morals and compassion, whilst the Protestant characters, with the exception of Michael, are painted entirely as bigoted, fractured and unpleasant. The IRA are barely mentioned, whereas Kennedy is happy to use plenty of ink on portrayals of unjust police and barely falls short of describing horns and tails on the British soldiers.
Of course there were good and bad people on both sides, as well as good and bad in the security forces. However, if Kennedy's book was your sole source of knowledge on the Troubles, you'd be left thinking that there wasn't a straight one amongst the police or army and that they oppressed Catholics for the hell of it. 1,012 members of the security forces were killed during the Troubles. My parents had many friends in the Royal Ulster Constabulary who were shot dead. These were good, decent people. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers. One family of 4 brothers and sisters in the security forces were killed one by one at their family farm by the IRA after one of them chose to testify about guns they saw when they stopped a car at a checkpoint. But these are not the people Kennedy wants to portray in her novel. No, the police of Kennedy's imagination are all monsters united in motiveless opposition to every Catholic in the province.
I've taken a few days to think about this book before I wrote this review, wrestling with it in my head, mulling over the counter-arguments. The Troubles came directly to Kennedy's family's door via Unionist terrorism, so of course she has strong emotions that are very different in perspective to my own. So does she have a right to tell the story of the Troubles from that viewpoint? Of course, everyone has a right to write from the perspective of their own experiences, but given that peace in Northern Ireland always hangs precariously by a thread, I don't think it was in good taste for her to publish a novel that is so biased in its delivery. I love the premise of the tangled web at the heart of her story - the morality of the affair with the married man made ever so much more complex by them both being from either side of the religious divide - but she could have used that story as a force for good, telling the conflict from both viewpoints. I have no issue with the viewpoint of her Catholic characters - my issue is that despite this being the story of a doomed love affair between a Catholic and Protestant, there is only one political viewpoint that is far from balanced. The only Protestant character she's allows her readers to develop any warmth towards is one who entirely shares her narrative on the only story in town being that of Catholic oppression, whilst the murder of innocent civilians and members of the security forces at the hands of Republican paramilitaries speaks volumes in its absence.
This novel is read by people outside of Northern Ireland as a story of love in the Troubles, but it is a biased half-told story of our history. Given the work we are all putting into moving on from our difficult past, I find that hard to accept.
For the first time ever in my years of reviewing in LibraryThing, I will not be leaving a star rating for this book.
Let's start with what worked. Set in Belfast in the 1970s in the height of the Troubles, the novel tells the story of a Catholic
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primary school teacher who's having an affair with a Protestant barrister. On a simple level, it ticks the box of being an enjoyable page-turner with plenty of tension. Were I not from Northern Ireland - no, were I not a Protestant from Northern Ireland - I would no doubt be recommending this book to my friends in book clubs as a fantastic conversation provoking book. It's not perfect - Kennedy's greenness shows in places with some sadly stereotypical pantomime-esque Irish characters - yet the storyline is good enough for me to have overlooked that. I only realised after I'd bought it that I've already read a book of short stories by Kennedy (The End of the World is a Cul de Sac), which I didn't think was overly great. In this novel, Kennedy's writing form has improved considerably.But. BUT, BUT, BUT BUT. This book is HORRENDOUSLY inappropriate in these times of fragile peace in Northern Ireland. Kennedy could have easily told the story with even handedness, using the Protestant Michael to give the alternative perspective on the Troubles, but the entire way through she seems hell bent on settling a score, positioning Protestants, the police and the army as unpleasant oppressors, whilst every Catholic character is an underprivileged victim of circumstances to be desperately pitied, even if 'caught up' in terrorism. I absolutely acknowledge that Catholics were disadvantaged in Northern Ireland after partition, and had things been handled in a different way perhaps the Troubles may never have happened. However, the reality of the violence of the Troubles is that Republican paramilitaries were responsible for 59% of the murders. And this is what's so dangerous about books of fiction like this. If you were not overly familiar with the detail of the Troubles, you would come away from Ms Kennedy's novel 'informed' that the Troubles were almost exclusively about Protestants violently oppressing Catholics. In Kennedy's hands, the Catholic characters have the monopoly on morals and compassion, whilst the Protestant characters, with the exception of Michael, are painted entirely as bigoted, fractured and unpleasant. The IRA are barely mentioned, whereas Kennedy is happy to use plenty of ink on portrayals of unjust police and barely falls short of describing horns and tails on the British soldiers.
Of course there were good and bad people on both sides, as well as good and bad in the security forces. However, if Kennedy's book was your sole source of knowledge on the Troubles, you'd be left thinking that there wasn't a straight one amongst the police or army and that they oppressed Catholics for the hell of it. 1,012 members of the security forces were killed during the Troubles. My parents had many friends in the Royal Ulster Constabulary who were shot dead. These were good, decent people. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers. One family of 4 brothers and sisters in the security forces were killed one by one at their family farm by the IRA after one of them chose to testify about guns they saw when they stopped a car at a checkpoint. But these are not the people Kennedy wants to portray in her novel. No, the police of Kennedy's imagination are all monsters united in motiveless opposition to every Catholic in the province.
I've taken a few days to think about this book before I wrote this review, wrestling with it in my head, mulling over the counter-arguments. The Troubles came directly to Kennedy's family's door via Unionist terrorism, so of course she has strong emotions that are very different in perspective to my own. So does she have a right to tell the story of the Troubles from that viewpoint? Of course, everyone has a right to write from the perspective of their own experiences, but given that peace in Northern Ireland always hangs precariously by a thread, I don't think it was in good taste for her to publish a novel that is so biased in its delivery. I love the premise of the tangled web at the heart of her story - the morality of the affair with the married man made ever so much more complex by them both being from either side of the religious divide - but she could have used that story as a force for good, telling the conflict from both viewpoints. I have no issue with the viewpoint of her Catholic characters - my issue is that despite this being the story of a doomed love affair between a Catholic and Protestant, there is only one political viewpoint that is far from balanced. The only Protestant character she's allows her readers to develop any warmth towards is one who entirely shares her narrative on the only story in town being that of Catholic oppression, whilst the murder of innocent civilians and members of the security forces at the hands of Republican paramilitaries speaks volumes in its absence.
This novel is read by people outside of Northern Ireland as a story of love in the Troubles, but it is a biased half-told story of our history. Given the work we are all putting into moving on from our difficult past, I find that hard to accept.
For the first time ever in my years of reviewing in LibraryThing, I will not be leaving a star rating for this book.
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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile
I enjoyed this a lot. It's very well written, moving and sad. she could have gone deeper emotionally but i think it's a good read.
LibraryThing member srms.reads
*Shortlisted for The 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction*
4.5⭐️
“Booby trap. Incendiary device. Gelignite. Nitroglycerine. Petrol bomb. Rubber bullets. Saracen. Internment. The Special Powers Act. Vanguard. The vocabulary of a 7-year-old child now.”
Set in 1975 Northern Ireland, Trespasses by
Cushla is a caring teacher, genuinely concerned for the well-being of her students. One of her students, Davy McGeown, belongs to a mixed family (Catholic-Protestant), a fact that makes him and his family easy targets for harassment. A brutal attack on Davy’s father and Cushla’s support for the family and Davy puts her in a precarious position in the community. Her affair with Michael, who is known for his defense of IRA members, complicates her life further. What follows is a sequence of events that will jeopardize not only Cushla’s life but everything and everyone she holds dear.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is an exceptionally well written, intense novel. This is not an easy read and you know from the very beginning that there can be no happy ending for these characters. The prose is direct and at times brutally honest while describing the societal distinctions, violence, divisiveness, bigotry and politics in Northern Ireland during the early years of the Troubles. Bombs, barricades, arrests and death seem to be common occurrences that people have incorporated as a part of daily life, which in itself is heartbreaking. The author captures the essence of ordinary people trying to live normal lives in volatile times beautifully. The characters are flawed, realistic and convincing. Your heart goes out to Davy and you are compelled to sympathize with Cushla. You may not agree with some of her decisions but you cannot help but feel for her as she struggles with her feelings for Michael and fear for her as she attempts to help Davy’s family. The prose is crisp and sparse, at times matter of fact but the tension, the fear, the heartbreak, and the pain is palpable in this tightly woven novel.
Overall this is a beautifully written novel that I would not hesitate to recommend. I paired my reading with the excellent audio narration by Bird Brennan which made for an immersive experience.
4.5⭐️
“Booby trap. Incendiary device. Gelignite. Nitroglycerine. Petrol bomb. Rubber bullets. Saracen. Internment. The Special Powers Act. Vanguard. The vocabulary of a 7-year-old child now.”
Set in 1975 Northern Ireland, Trespasses by
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Louise Kennedy revolves around Twenty-four-year-old Catholic schoolteacher Cushla Lavery, a resident of a garrison town near Belfast. She teaches primary school while also taking up shifts in the family pub, run by her brother Eamonn. She lives with her mother Gina, who is grieving for her late husband drowning her sorrows in alcohol. One evening she meets Michael Agnew a Protestant barrister in the family pub. He approaches her to assist him and his friends to learn the Irish language, inviting her to an “Irish language night”. Initially uncomfortable among Michael’s elite friends, she finds herself drawn to Michael and his circle eventually falling in love with him, and embarking on an illicit affair despite the age difference and the fact that Michael is married. Cushla is a caring teacher, genuinely concerned for the well-being of her students. One of her students, Davy McGeown, belongs to a mixed family (Catholic-Protestant), a fact that makes him and his family easy targets for harassment. A brutal attack on Davy’s father and Cushla’s support for the family and Davy puts her in a precarious position in the community. Her affair with Michael, who is known for his defense of IRA members, complicates her life further. What follows is a sequence of events that will jeopardize not only Cushla’s life but everything and everyone she holds dear.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is an exceptionally well written, intense novel. This is not an easy read and you know from the very beginning that there can be no happy ending for these characters. The prose is direct and at times brutally honest while describing the societal distinctions, violence, divisiveness, bigotry and politics in Northern Ireland during the early years of the Troubles. Bombs, barricades, arrests and death seem to be common occurrences that people have incorporated as a part of daily life, which in itself is heartbreaking. The author captures the essence of ordinary people trying to live normal lives in volatile times beautifully. The characters are flawed, realistic and convincing. Your heart goes out to Davy and you are compelled to sympathize with Cushla. You may not agree with some of her decisions but you cannot help but feel for her as she struggles with her feelings for Michael and fear for her as she attempts to help Davy’s family. The prose is crisp and sparse, at times matter of fact but the tension, the fear, the heartbreak, and the pain is palpable in this tightly woven novel.
Overall this is a beautifully written novel that I would not hesitate to recommend. I paired my reading with the excellent audio narration by Bird Brennan which made for an immersive experience.
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LibraryThing member maryreinert
I liked the setting to this book - Ireland during the worst of "The Troubles" however, it was not particularly an easy read due to so many Irish slang words and references. It took me a while to get into it and I did look up many references. Still, it was a good read. Cushla is a young unmarried
She meets Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister who has defended some of the Republicans accused of violence. Although Michael is married, an affair begins keeping it a secret especially from her mother, Gina, and her brother Emmonn, who owns the bar. Cushia befriends a young boy, Davy, in her class whose mother is Protestant and father is Catholic causing him to be shunned by the other students. After Davy's father is severely attached, the oldest brother, Tommy, drops out of school and joins with the rebels.
After Michael is assassinated and Tommy is accused of the murder, Cushia's affair is revealed as a link between Tommy and Michael.
Although it took me a while to get into the book, it was a good read with a believable plot and characters.
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woman who works as a preschool teacher during the day and at her brother's pub at night. The family is Catholic; however, they live in a small town outside of Belfash where Protestants also frequent the publ.She meets Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister who has defended some of the Republicans accused of violence. Although Michael is married, an affair begins keeping it a secret especially from her mother, Gina, and her brother Emmonn, who owns the bar. Cushia befriends a young boy, Davy, in her class whose mother is Protestant and father is Catholic causing him to be shunned by the other students. After Davy's father is severely attached, the oldest brother, Tommy, drops out of school and joins with the rebels.
After Michael is assassinated and Tommy is accused of the murder, Cushia's affair is revealed as a link between Tommy and Michael.
Although it took me a while to get into the book, it was a good read with a believable plot and characters.
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LibraryThing member streamsong
This is set during the Irish troubles in a town near Belfast. Although it’s an area with both Protestants and Catholics, the lines are fiercely drawn and defended.
Cushla is twenty four, Catholic and a teacher at a Catholic primary school. One of the boys in her class has a Protestant mother and a
This comes to a head, when the father is brutally beaten and left for dead. Although he survives, he has extensive brain injuries.
Cushla empathizes with her young student. She starts driving him back and forth from school to avoid the constant bullying and does what she can to help with the father incapacitated.
After school hours, Cushla helps out in her family’s pub. It’s mostly run by her brother as her mother is incapacitated by alcohol. The clientele is mixed with both Protestants and Catholics. It is while working there that Cushla meets an older sophisticated married Protestant man. She is strongly attracted to him and his well-to-do lifestyle as he opens the doors for her for music and art. Cushla falls hard, although she knows that he is married and his friends make clear that Cushla is only the most recent of many such young women that Michael has wooed.
The attraction turns into an affair – one that given the political powder keg, you suspect will not end well.
This is not a comfortable read – there is steadily escalating tension and the threat of more violence. As a woman, there are times I want to shake both Cushla and Michael for disregarding entirely Michael’s marriage and the excuses Cushla makes up in her mind for Michael's actions.
“ God did this you know, he (Michael) said. Put you in front of me when I’ve nothing to offer you. “ p148
It’s a portrait of a world gone wrong with society at each other’s throats and marital conventions also thrown to the wind.
And yet, it is a plot that makes the book hard to put down.
Four and a half stars for the most poignant picture of the Irish troubles that I have read.
Cushla is twenty four, Catholic and a teacher at a Catholic primary school. One of the boys in her class has a Protestant mother and a
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Catholic father. This makes him the target of bullying at school both by the students and the rather deranged priest in charge of the school. The family is harassed and hated by their neighbors. This comes to a head, when the father is brutally beaten and left for dead. Although he survives, he has extensive brain injuries.
Cushla empathizes with her young student. She starts driving him back and forth from school to avoid the constant bullying and does what she can to help with the father incapacitated.
After school hours, Cushla helps out in her family’s pub. It’s mostly run by her brother as her mother is incapacitated by alcohol. The clientele is mixed with both Protestants and Catholics. It is while working there that Cushla meets an older sophisticated married Protestant man. She is strongly attracted to him and his well-to-do lifestyle as he opens the doors for her for music and art. Cushla falls hard, although she knows that he is married and his friends make clear that Cushla is only the most recent of many such young women that Michael has wooed.
The attraction turns into an affair – one that given the political powder keg, you suspect will not end well.
This is not a comfortable read – there is steadily escalating tension and the threat of more violence. As a woman, there are times I want to shake both Cushla and Michael for disregarding entirely Michael’s marriage and the excuses Cushla makes up in her mind for Michael's actions.
“ God did this you know, he (Michael) said. Put you in front of me when I’ve nothing to offer you. “ p148
It’s a portrait of a world gone wrong with society at each other’s throats and marital conventions also thrown to the wind.
And yet, it is a plot that makes the book hard to put down.
Four and a half stars for the most poignant picture of the Irish troubles that I have read.
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
This is a heartbreaking story of sectarian violence set in 1970s Ireland. Cushla, a young Catholic school teacher, lives with her mother who has sunk deeper into alcoholism since Cushla’s father died. Cushla’s brother, Eamonn, has taken over running the family pub and Cushla helps out during
I was completely caught up in this book from the very beginning. I hoped for better outcomes for Davy and his family, even as that seemed quite a long shot. Sometimes I cheered Cushla on; at other times I questioned her choices. The prologue and epilogue, both set in 2015, augment the main storyline and serve as an effective denouement, tying together a number of loose ends. Highly recommended.
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the evenings. When the father of one of her students is brutally attacked, Cushla lends as much support to Davy’s family as she can. A casual conversation with an older man in the pub leads to an affair, and Cushla finds herself walking on both sides of the Catholic-Protestant conflict: the man is not just older and married, but Protestant as well. Cushla and Michael manage to keep their affair a secret from both of their families, but their relationship develops against a backdrop of increasing tension leading to dramatic events which change the course of the characters’ lives.I was completely caught up in this book from the very beginning. I hoped for better outcomes for Davy and his family, even as that seemed quite a long shot. Sometimes I cheered Cushla on; at other times I questioned her choices. The prologue and epilogue, both set in 2015, augment the main storyline and serve as an effective denouement, tying together a number of loose ends. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member AmaliaGavea
The undoubtedly powerful depiction of the Troubles that plagued Northern Ireland became weaker because of an unremarkable love affair and absurd, melodramatic ''coincidences''. Ultimately, this proved to be nothing more than an average read.
LibraryThing member alexrichman
A great read that would probably get five stars were it not following in the wake of Milkman and Shuggie Bain. An easy recommendation to press into people's hands (although er mine's on the Kindle).
LibraryThing member reader1009
historic fiction -24-y.o. woman stumbles into an affair with a married barrister in Northern Ireland during the high tension (and frequent attacks) of "the Troubles"
If you happen to read this while in a particular mood it's fine; I found it somewhat interesting but often dull and draggy, not to
stopped reading p. 173
If you happen to read this while in a particular mood it's fine; I found it somewhat interesting but often dull and draggy, not to
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mention fairly bleak, with the main character not really having anything positive going for her (alcoholic mum, not-ideal boyfriend, trying to help her student's struggling family but causing them some trouble with social services/child protection instead)stopped reading p. 173
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LibraryThing member bookchickdi
Set in a small Northern Ireland town during the Troubles, Cushla lives with her mother, teaches at a Catholic school, and works at the family's bar. They are a Catholic family, and many of their patrons are Protestants, including soldiers who'd rather be back home. When Cushla meets a Protestant
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barrister who represents people accused of being IRA terrorists, she falls hard for him. The fact that he is married and his friends think many Catholics are terrorists causes friction between them. The story is so atmospheric, it brings the reader right into this time and place that isn't that far away. There are some parallels to things that happen here in the United States, particularly interactions between minority populations and police. Two pivotal scenes had me torn up and audibly crying "No!" I highly recommend Trespasses. Show Less
LibraryThing member k8_not_kate
A gripping read that starts out just being about an ill-advised affair and slowly, dreadfully turns into something else. Louise Kennedy puts you in The Troubles in a seamless way, introducing you to what seem like real people as they try to navigate living in an impossible place. It momentarily
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drags in the third quarter of the novel but then something happens and I absolutely had to just sit and finish the whole thing. Show Less
LibraryThing member Narshkite
Ostensibly this is the story about a Catholic woman and a Protestant man in Northern Ireland during the troubles. Maybe "ostensibly" is the wrong word. It is that, but it is so much more. This does tell the story of 24-year-old Catholic schoolteacher Cushla who also works in the family bar after
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her father passes and her mother turns herself over to alcohol and pills. It is there she meets Michael, a very married, cultured radical lawyer twice her age (his wife is the same age as Cushla's mother.) Their affair is impacted at every moment by what is happening outside the door. Michael is doing something secret and dangerous he cannot speak of. The RUC and the IRA are brutal and demeaning to friend and foe. Michael and Cushla's relationship shows us so much about the death of hope among Catholics in Northern Ireland, kept from jobs, from safety, from any ability to sustain the present or plan for the future. In the midst of all this gloom the passionate, brilliant, handsome, philandering man is like a burst of light in the unrelenting greyness to Cushla. There is not much question this is a relationship doomed to leave many hearts broken (including this reader's), but the story turns out to be filled with quiet humor and big surprises Those surprises are things well foreshadowed, but at least for me never guessed at. The surprises make the story better and tell us more and more about living during the Troubles and make for an action packed cannot-put-it -down finale. This book is beautifully written and extremely immersive. I read more slowly than I usually do to get every word, and I found myself thinking about the book and anxious to return to it even as I was having fun doing other things with old friends and family. It left me with a substantial book hangover, that I expect may taint my next novel. Time to jump to nonfiction, mystery and romance for a bit before picking up more good litfic. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmarcin
Set during The Troubles (1970s), Cushla works as a parochial school teacher in Belfast, and helps as a barmaid at the family pub. One night, she meets Michael, an older married man. He is a Protestant barrister representing IRA members. The father of one of Cushla's students is injured, and she
Haunting book.
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offers the family assistance. Meanwhile, Cushla begins an affair with Michael, which she knows is wrong, but she can't help herself. Tragedy strikes and Cushla examines her part in it. In 2015, at an art exhibit, she remembers the time during The Troubles. Haunting book.
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LibraryThing member ccayne
Kennedy brings the reader into what it feels like to live and grow up in an area of constant conflict. Who can you trust, how do you gain footing in a constantly shifting landscape?
Awards
Women's Prize for Fiction (Shortlist — 2023)
British Book Award (Shortlist — 2023)
Irish Book Award (Winner — Novel — 2022)
Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2022)
McKitterick Prize (Winner — 2023)
Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award (Shortlist — 2023)
BookTube Prize (Bronze — Fiction — 2023)
Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize (Shortlist — Shortlist — 2022)
BBC 50 Best Books of 2022 (2022)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
320 p.; 0.04 inches
ISBN
1526623323 / 9781526623324
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DDC/MDS
| 823.92 |