Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Big Girl, Small Town is a coming-of-age novel set in a small Northern Irish town in the 1990s. The story follows Majella, a teenage girl who is trying to navigate her way through adolescence and the challenges of growing up in a close-knit community.

I thought a great strength of the book was the author's ability to capture the personality of a teenage girl. I felt like I really knew her by the end, as well as the supporting cast of the 'small town'. The humour is great, and really lightens the mood. It feels very Irish, and the characters stayed with me for a while after finishing the book.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that loves coming of age stories, or reading about the experiences of growing up in a small community.

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Majella at 27 years of age, herworld is fairly routine - she works the evening to early morning shift in the local chipper in Athybogey, and then goes home, eats her fish and chips before bed. In the morning, she looks after her mother, who is an alcoholic, before repeating the previous evening's routine. At weekend, she goes out for a few beers in the local pub, and maybe she gets the ride.

Majella is an amazing character to follow, and I loved her for the matter of fact way she viewed the world and how she dealt with everyone .- from her colleague she gets the ride from now and again, to her mother who has always been a bit of a handful.

Majella appears to be on the autism spectrum, but I loved that her quirks she didn't stop her doing anything she wanted to do.

Nothing really 'happens' in this book but it has the charm that comes with a small Irish town, and the run of the mill characters you expect to see in such places. The way Majella thinks and communicates with people is fun to read, and downright funny in other parts.

Would pass this on to a friend for a good light hearted read!

Sadly, as much as i know some people enjoyed this, this book just was not for me. I just didn't connect, even though the subject matter is close to me. I found the writing style just not to my taste and so I did not finish.

This has been on my shelf for 2 years now and I keep opening it but I just don't seem to carry on further.

The synopsis of it is really good, I've seen great reviews. So I am going to treat myself to a physical copy of it and will review once I've read.

Big Girl, Small Town is such a touching story!

Majella loses her dad in the Troubles and has grown up with an alcoholic mother. Her routine is her safety blanket, she is deemed odd by everyone in her town but she doesn't care. She very much moves to the beat of her own drum. Full of the small tragedies of the everyday I found myself dawn to Majella and her story.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

Some aspects of this novel are fabulous. The writing is excellent. The author brings life to every scene, however mundane the setting, and is obviously a talented writer. There is definitely a place for main characters like Majella – there are far too few of them, and far too few portrayals of the ordinary lives that are somehow extraordinary.

I did enjoy the first half of the book, but then it did all begin to feel a bit unrelenting. I don’t mind ‘gritty’ in the slightest, but I couldn’t find any humour here, despite the reviews. There was nothing to lift things, not a great deal of warmth and I did feel a bit disappointed in the end.

That said, I’d certainly read more by this author.

Unfortunate this book wasn’t for me. Several times I put it down and picked it up again hoping I would start to enjoy it. Sadly it wasn’t to be.

Didn't review in time for release, premise sounds really good will be picking up a physical copy and come back to review soon.

A subtle tale of life in a border town in Ireland, after the Good Friday agreement, "Big Girl, Small Town" centers around Majella O'Neill (the titular big girl) and her life in the fictional small town of Aghybogey. Majella lives on the rough margins of life, her home life is dominated by her alcoholic mother, and the void left by her adored absent father, who disappeared during the Troubles. She works at the local chippy, A Salt and Battered, so the majority of the town know who she is, but nobody really seems to know her or be her friend. She has soulless bunk ups with random men, she tries to avoid the loose tongues of the local gossip mill, and generally lives life below the radar.
Until that is, her granny is murdered in her static caravan, bringing the focus of the town on her family. Yet, even in these extraordinary circumstances, Majella carries on with her seemingly unremarkable life... She still goes to work, she still has to deal with her mum - her biggest highlight event seems to be her trip to town to get a new duvet and bedding set.
Gallen's writing slowly draws you in, until you feel like you're one of the locals, waiting in line in the chippy for a post-pub battered cod and chips, drenched in salt and vinegar, listening to the guy in front of you making cheap double entendres about sausages to the big girl behind the counter. But for the last few chapters, this could have been unrelentingly depressing, but there is some hope left in Majella's future life - a life beyond the friers and away from her mother. Maybe this big girl is actually too big for this small town after all.

I really enjoyed this read, it was homely, warming and very genuine.
Majella as a narrator was honest, taking us through Agybogey with a comfort that comes from a life lived in a small town.
As much as not that much happened in the story, this doesn't let it down - quite the opposite - we get a close look at the characters in the aftermath of a murder, while everyday life must, and does, go on.

Surprisingly quiet and telling all at once.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Michelle Gallen's Big Girl, Small Town is an original and fresh take on writing post-conflict Northern Ireland. The writer employs humour to tackle the issue of growing up with the foreshadowing of trauma in 'small town' Derry. It is such an energetic interjection to Troubles fiction.

I enjoyed reading this book about Majella's life. It took a few re-reads in parts to work out what was being said but a great read.

Brilliant. This was a well written book that I greatly enjoyed and already plan to recommend. Believable characters and an inticing setting. Some parts were perhaps a little lengthy, but maybe because I was impatient to reach the novels conclusion! Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Big Girl, Small Town is a unique and entertaining read. The story is basically the mundane details of every day life, but Michelle Gallen brings you these details so beautifully written that you become immersed in them. The writing in dialect really brings the story to life. Majella doesn't have the easiest life coping with her own anxiety, caring for her alcoholic Ma and also dealing with the disappearance of her Da several years ago and the very recent murder of her Gran. There are also the things that she and all of the other residents of her town take as normal due to living in a small border town in Northern Ireland.

Definitely worth reading.

I was given a copy of Big Girl, Small Town by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

I really liked this book although it made me crave chips every time I read it!! Lovely development of characters and a great style of story telling.

Set in the fictional Northern Irish border town of Aghybogey, “Big Girl, Small Town” follows a week in the life of Majella, a young woman cruelly nicknamed Jelly by the locals. She works in a local chip shop and lives with her alcoholic single mother (her father disappeared during The Troubles.) The story begins with the dramatic news that her Granny was brutally murdered in her home. An awareness of this simmers beneath the story as we follow Majella's routine existence slinging fried food and caring for her Ma. Prior to this news she lived in relative anonymity, but local interest in the crime makes her an unwelcome focus of attention. There's a humour and wonderful lightness of touch to this story as we view her world through an extensive list of things “she wasn't keen on”. Subjects which encompass her judgement range from the “small talk, bullshit and gossip” to “the political situation”. Throughout the course of the days we see the tedium, absurdity and small-mindedness of this environment. In this way, Majella is granted dignity and power amidst a community that has so ruthlessly defined and dismissed her.

Given the subject matter and setting, many readers will be reminded of the novel “Milkman” which similarly depicts the way a young Irish woman who wants to be left alone comes under the pernicious scrutiny of the locals. Gallen opens up a direct dialogue with Anna Burns' novel by quoting from it in the epigraph of this book. But the actual experience of the story feels more like “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” in the way its protagonist feels psychologically distanced from those around her and only knows how to interact with people by imitating their social behaviour and routines. So when a lecherous male customer asks Majella “D'ye want a bit of my sausage?” she knows to use the cutting rejoinder that her coworker scripted for her “I'll batter yer sausage if you're not careful, now.” But, where the narrative of “Milkman” sometimes felt too viscous and the humour of “Eleanor Oliphant” sometimes felt too contrived, “Big Girl, Small Town” succeeds in conveying the frustrations and plodding routines of its protagonist's existence in a way which is consistently funny, endearing and compulsively readable.

Majella's life is in no way romanticised as she serves an endless barrage of drunken loutish customers, hurriedly shags a coworker in the storeroom or consumes her late night battered and fried meals in solitude. Yet there's a poetic beauty to this narrative in the way Majella has learned to regulate the life and situation she was born into. The author movingly portrays the way her routines are simultaneously comforting and maddening. I enjoyed how Gallen draws ironic contrasts between Majella's life and the lives portrayed in the TV show Dallas which she frequently rewatches. The novel also deftly skewers how many of the lives in this Irish community revolve around the chip shop and alcoholism is rife – Majella explains to an immigrant how the Irish have many words for being drunk. While the father's disappearance and the grandmother's death serve as intriguing mysteries as we follow the protagonist's daily life, the most meaningful question is how Majella can escape from an increasingly stultifying habituated existence. It's powerful how this novel dynamically portrays the life of a working class young woman who many people overlook and offers a tentative message of hope.

Not for me this one. I couldn’t get into it. Couldn’t warm to the characters, I’d no empathy with them at all,

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book, it moved too slow for my liking. But I do feel like I’ll give it a reread to see if I change my mind