This is such a moving, engrossing story. Set amid the troubles of Northern Ireland, it covers so many issues in an insightful, sensitive way. It is so easy to empathise with the characters, Cushia, her mother, Davy and Eamon as Louise Kennedy brings them alive. It is so easy to forget this terrible period in history but this story is a timely remonder of the human cost. Riveting to the end.

It is the early 70's in Northern Ireland, a country torn apart by sectarian violence. By day twenty four year old Cushla Lavery teaches seven year old in a Catholic school. In the evenings she helps out at the family pub that is in a spot where many of the soldiers drink. One evening Cushla meets barrister Michael Agnew. He is many years older than her but she enjoys talking with him & his disapproval of the way Catholics are treated by the justice (injustice?) system in Northern Ireland. Cushla tries to help pupils in her class especially Day, whose father had been badly beaten. Their family a target as it is a mixed marriage. Their relationship develops & Cushla falls in love with Michael although there seems no hope for them.

This is a very sad book. The setting is bleak & the love story is doomed. The style is a little strange but totally fitting with the story. It is not a book that I can say I enjoyed but it is definitely a book I'm glad I read. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Trespasses is set in 1970s Belfast and follows the story of Cushla Lavery, a young idealistic school teacher.

In her spare time, she helps out in the family pub, where she meets Michael a much older married Protestant man. He asks her to join his Irish language group which starts off their affair which you sense from the outset that this forbidden love is doomed.

Cushla is heavily invested in her students, none more so than little Davy McGeown who is one her shining stars but singled out for bullying as he is from a mixed marriage. When his father falls victim to a secterain attack she gets more involved with the family which has dramatic consequences for all she cares for.

It's Kennedy's clear, sharp and crisp writing that draws you right into the grim reality of life in Belfast during this time period: the children who talk about bombings as their news of the day, a wedding interrupted by soldiers, constant security checks and harassment at the hands of the police and army. Kennedy does break up the misery with the acerbic humour from Cushla's alcoholic mother Gina who seems a millstone around her next throughout but comes into her own when needed.

An absolutely wonderful debut novel from Louise Kennedy and deserves all the success! It's certainly an absolute highlight of 2022 so far for me and I can't wait to read more by her.

A huge thanks to @netgalley and @bloomsburypublishing for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cushla and Michael first meet one evening in her family's pub just outside Belfast. Their attraction is instant and mutual, but what do a young, single, Catholic teacher and an older, married, Protestant barrister have in common, especially when British soldiers stand armed on every street, and sectarian violence is erupting all around them?
Meanwhile through a boy in her class, Cushla becomes involved in the welfare of a mixed Protestant/Catholic family. She starts out with the best of intentions, but it seems like everything she does just makes things worse.

Set in 1970s Belfast, Trespasses is a Romeo and Juliet style tale of two people drawn to each other in defiance of everything that stands in their way.

Beautiful and shocking at the same time, it's told from Cushla's perspective, and the reader can sense the desire sweeping her off her feet, going against everything she considers sensible, and the doubts that plague her about Michael - does he really feel the same, or is she just another extra-marital affair to him?


It's both wonderful and heartbreaking. A feeling of imminent tragedy hangs over it all, but even though you instinctively know this love affair is doomed, when the end does come your breath catches. it's the sort of novel I want to push into everyone's hands and say 'read this!'.
An astounding debut from Louise Kennedy, and I can't wait to see what she follows it with

Lovely characters and an engaging plot. I loved this book and cannot wait to read more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am obsessed with this!!!! Louise Kennedy is a brilliant writer, I can't believe this is her debut!! I won't be doing a full review as I work for Bloomsbury.

Do you ever sit down to write your thoughts about a book and just don’t know where to begin? Well, here I am, having finished Louise Kennedy’s debut novel. Should I start with the writing, which is excellent? What about the characters? Cushla Lavery, who stole my heart. Michael, who stole hers. Davy, her young pupil who she looks out for. Gerry, the friend we would all be a better person for having. Even Gina, Cushla’s alcoholic mother, who I spent the whole novel wanting to shake, but who had me wanting to shake her hand by the end. And not to forget Bradley and Father Slattery, who I both wanted to kick in the bollocks.

Sometimes you read reviews of books and you wonder if there’s some exaggeration involved. Is it really possible for an author to achieve *that* much in a book, in a mere few hundred pages? How can they capture the nuances of an affair, and introduce fleshed-out characters and describe a setting - 1970s Belfast - and place us in it so expertly that we can feel the oppression, the tightness, the simmering tension and violence that is a constant backdrop for the characters who live there.

And how do you wrap up a story like that? A story that is essentially tragic, about an affair between a young Catholic woman and an older married Protestant man that is destined to go wrong for Cushla from the very beginning.

Well, all I can say is that Louise Kennedy has done it. She has achieved all these things and more in a novel that I will be pressing into the hands of anyone and everyone who asks me for a recommendation from now on. This is the very, very best of Irish writing, and is without doubt one of my top reads of 2022. All the stars.

Trespasses is a moving and heartbreaking love story set in the 1970s Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Cushla is a teacher in a Catholic primary school. . She lives with her alcoholic mother and helps out at the family pub in the evenings. He life is controlled and quiet in the midst of a highly volatile and frightening small town near Belfast.
One night Michael Agnew, a married Protestant barrister walks into the bar. The attraction is instant and Cushla is drawn into a passionate affair. As her life becomes more open she begins to help the family of one of her pupils after his father is seriously injured in a vicious sectarian attack. Soon she is taking risks that could lose her her job if not her freedom.
This is such a powerful novel, the extreme violence a terror that Northern Ireland’s citizens were subjected to on a day to day basis are vivid and shockingly described . The love story at the heart of the book is so beautiful and heartbreaking that it moved me to tears. It’s hard to believe that is is a debut novel, Louise Kennedy is an astonishing writer.
Thank you to #netgalley and #bloomsburybooks for allowing me to review this ARC

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.
Cushla Lavery lives with her mother in a small town near Belfast. At twenty-four, she splits her time between her day job as a teacher to a class of seven-year-olds, and regular bartending shifts in the pub owned by her family. It’s here, on a day like any other – as the daily news rolls in of another car bomb exploding, another man shot, killed, beaten or left for dead – that she meets Michael Agnew, an older (and married) barrister who draws her into his sophisticated group of friends.
A good read with good characters. I did find this a little slow in places. 3*.

Trespasses by June Caldwell is a powerful, moving story set against the backdrop of political tension in 1970s Northern Ireland.

Cushla is a teacher by day but also works in the family bar outside the sectarian confines of the city where she meets a kind gentleman, Michael Agnew. They become friends although Cushla doesn't know much of what Michael does for a living. At school, Cushla takes a young student Davy McGeown under her wing realising that the family is going through a difficult time.

Inevitably, social and sectarian tension makes life difficult for Cushla before things spiral out of control.

This superbly written story is so vividly realistic that it brought me right back to the dark days of my teenage years growing up in North Belfast.

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.

Happy Publication Day to this beautiful novel. I think Trespasses is my favourite book of the year to date. I read Louise Kennedys short story collection, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, last year and loved it and so was really looking forward to Trespasses, her debut novel. I knew little about its premise and was immediately and wholly swept away into this story upon starting to read.

Set in a small town near Belfast in the 1970's, Cushla is a twenty four year old woman who teaches during the day and helps out in her family bar in the evenings. Kennedy creates such a strong sense of space and time right from the opening chapters. Car bombs, shootings, beatings are all part of the fabric of this town during the Troubles and Kennedy weaves their presence throughout the story as political tensions build. One evening in the bar , Cushla meets Michael, a barrister, older and married. Cushla is drawn into the parts of the world Michael inhabits, his circle of friends and  some elements of his life that he can share with her as the turbulent tensions of the time swirl around them.

This book is exquisitely written. Short , sharp sentences. Pared back , beautiful prose. The setting and point in time is so dark yet Kennedy evokes such emotion and vibrancy with her words. This book's quiet beauty is so overwhelmingly powerful. Wonderful characters, incredible writing so brutal and so tender with a deeply satisfying conclusion. An emotional, thought provoking read. I read this book weeks ago and have thought about it every day since.

I would like to thank the author for her words and wish her every success with this book. It deserves to be read widely. 
5 star.

Teacher and bar worker Cushla is a Catholic living near Belfast during the troubles.
She starts an affair with Michael a prominent Protestant Barrister.
Trying to keep the affair secret from her alcoholic mother and friends becomes a problem.
With tensions on both sides of the divide Cushla also becomes involved with a family of a pupil at her school.
The story was not as gripping as it could have been and I felt it plodded along with something missing.

I

Set in 1970s Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Cushla, a teacher, is caught between her community and an illicit passion.
This is a love story set against the backdrop of sectarian violence. In fact there are 2 love stories: Cushla and Michael but also Cushla and her young pupil, Davey. It’s a shattering novel depicting ordinary people trying to live their ordinary lives in a time of bigotry and brutality.
The terror is shocking, raw and visceral but there is so much humanity, tough humour and love. It feels honest, tender and heartbreaking.
It’s beautiful, intimate writing - angry, vulnerable and sad with flawed, vivid characters.
It made my heart ache with its gritty tenderness and longing. An extraordinary, devastatingly beautiful work. So powerful. I loved it! You should all read this!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Cushla Lavery is a 24 year old Catholic primary school teacher in 1970s Northern Ireland. Whilst helping out in her family's bar she meets Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister and they begin an affair with devastating consequences.

What a powerful novel! In tight unflinching prose this story really packs a lot in - grief, alcoholism, sectarianism, violence, poverty, religion. politics.... yet love, tenderness and friendship too. Very highly recommended - I can't wait to see what Louise Kennedy does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel.

Cushla is a catholic school teacher in Northern Ireland in one of the most dangerous, divided times in its history. Michael is a well to do Protestant twice her age, and so the stage is set for a difficult, moving and enthralling romance set against a backdrop of horrors. I read a lot of fiction set in NI and this is some of the best of it - compelling characters, intriguing plots and a love story mired in excitement and tinged with pain as all the best ones are. Kennedy writes in a relaxed, almost laconic way, in no rush to tell Cushla's story, which underscores the horrors she is surrounded by - men are beaten and left for dead, buildings are bombed. For fans of Tish Delaney, Anna Burns or Lucy Caldwell, this is a lovely book that will stay with me for a while.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I absolutely loved it and read it in a day! It has a great writing style and well developed characters, especially Cushla and little Davy. It’s a great story set against the backdrop of Northern Ireland and all its complexities. A warm and compelling read I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended!

This book must be one of the best I have read in the last year – nothing before has brought home to me the stark realities people in Northern Ireland lived through during the times of The Troubles.

The main story is set in Northern Ireland in the 70s. It is framed by an incident set in an art gallery more than 35 years later, where the main character – Cushla – encounters a sculpture that brings back the memories of what happened all those years ago.

Cushla’s family is catholic, they own a pub and given this very public service, they need to tread carefully when it comes to balancing the interests of their clientele of Loyalists, Republicans, the army and local police. When Cushla falls in love with a protestant barrister who has made a name for himself by confronting the bias of the judicial system, events start to unfold that very quickly spiral out of control. She is a very likeable character, a teacher who really cares about her children, who she tries to protect from the menaces of the over-zealous catholic priest; she is fair-minded and hard working and through no real fault of her own gets entangled in what can only be described a heart-wrenching story. The consequences of her actions are devastating not only for her, but – like the ripple effect of a stone being thrown into a pond - for many others too.

The style of the narration can be described as staccato, the tone laconic, understated and matter-of-fact with many jumps in the narrative – all this helps to drive home a chilling and grim reality: daily killings, harassment suffered at the hands of police and army, the sectarian bigotry of the job market, and the everyday fear of being seen talking to the wrong person or even wearing the wrong school uniform.

This book, centred around a sensual and deep-felt love story, which for many reasons was doomed to fail, makes very clear that the private, even the intimate is dominated by the political. The phrase coined in the 1960s, that ‘the personal is the political’ seems to carry its own meaning within the context of the violence and political problems suffered during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set in Northern Ireland, Belfast, in the 1970’s in the midst of The Troubles.
Cushla last is a young catholic woman, she lives with her mother Gina who is an alcoholic. Cushla is a primary school teacher and in the evenings helps her brother in his pub, the pub clientele is a mixture from both sides of the community.
Cushla’s life becomes complicated as she try’s to help a young pupil, Davy, and his family, who have been on the receiving end of sectarian abuse, she is also having an affair with a married Protestant man and struggling to take care of her mother who continues her relationship with gin. Cushla is caught between her loyalties to her own community and the man she loves.
It’s a slow read, well written and the atmosphere of troubled Belfast in the 1970’s is captured.
Thanks to Net Galley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

This story of Cushla, a primary school teacher, against the backdrop of the Northern Irish troubles in the 1970's is as close to perfect as you can get. Kennedy has a magical way of ensuring the characters and their fates worm their way into your soul and leave you totally bereft.
We're immersed in the terrifying world of sectarian violence and how it impacts upon the community where Cushla lives, affecting every decision she makes. Hearing the children she teaches recount the horrifying news they are subjected to on a daily basis really brings home what life was like for those growing up in those harrowing times.
Essentially, this is a story about forbidden love. Catholic Cushla embarks on an affair with the Protestant Michael Agnew, a married barrister who takes risks with the cases he works on. You find your heart aches for them as their story continues. We also see how Cushla tries to care for Davey, a young boy in his class who comes from a 'mixed marriage' and how he has to deal with the bigots who won't accept his family.
This is complete masterpiece of writing; the narrative is completely striped back to the bare essentials and yet hauntingly beautiful. It deals with the issues of hatred, poverty and injustice and I was left completely devasted once I'd finished. Kennedy's writing takes us right back to the time and place. The tiny touches and details bring the settings to vivid 1970's life. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review.

Is this book my favourite book of the year so far? Quite possibly.

Set in 1975, Belfast, in the midst of the worst of The Troubles, Cushla Lavery is diving her time between her full-time job as a school teacher and helping out in her family bar which is remarkable for its Catholic ownership and Protestant customers. Cushla ends up falling into an affair with customer, and older, married man Michael, while also helping out a young pupil whose family have fallen on hard times.

I just loved this - there was hazy quality to the writing as it was set in the lead up to the summer holidays as the air got warmer, and Cushla's dreamlike, never going to end up, affair began which was all suffocating passion and obsession and never having enough of each other despite the danger. The atmosphere in this book is very tense, and therefore the story is so gripping as there is so much violence and anger everywhere in the story - the chapters begin with the headlines which are always centered around violence - bombings, shootings, the discovery of bodies - some of which are closer to home such as Davey McGowan's father Seamie's assault.

It definitely felt like there was a lot of foreshadowing in this book for bad things to come, and because of that, the snatches of joy Cushla experienced when she was with Michael, or her classroom of pupils felt all the more precious when writing it. I definitely felt the chemistry and connection between Cushla and Michael, and while their affair never felt anything but doomed, I wanted them to just run away together.

This book is wonderful, and so well written. There's parts of that have echoes of Milkman by Anna Burns but it's written in a much more accessible way for the everyday reader, and is not so intimidating.