There was something about this that I just couldn’t get into. I think I just struggled to click with the characters and as a result speed read the last quarter of the book.

It’s 1975 and the North of Ireland is tearing itself apart. Twenty Five year old Cushla Lavery lives with her mother and works part time at the family bar in a Garrison town, when she gets involved with a Protestant barrister nearly twice her age who asks her to teach him and a couple of his friends some Irish. Her other job is as a teacher and after an act of kindness towards a child who turns up at school with no coat, finds herself befriending a family from a mixed marriage living under constant threat in a loyalist housing estate.

Each school day begins with the news headlines, at the behest of the principal ‘to encourage children to be aware of the world around them.’ So these seven year olds start their day hearing ‘A booby trap bomb that was intended for a British Army patrol exploded prematurely, killing two boys near the border. They died instantly.’ It says something of my own memories that I thought this referred to something that happened in my own home town. There’s a mental rolodex of atrocities you can flick through. I was also a primary school child during the seventies and these were the headlines you were hearing constantly on the TV, radio or headlines in newspapers. As a characters says at one point, ‘Children here know too much.’

The writing is clear, sharp and crisp, conjuring up memories from my own school days.

‘Cushla doled out squat bottles of milk from the crate paddy the caretaker left bizarrely by the radiator every morning and told the children to take a few extra minutes. They lingered by her desk, ripping off he foil caps and stabbing their tongues into the inch of cream that had settled on top.’

The atmosphere in the book is often overwhelming and oppressive, and weighs heavy on the pages. It feels monochrome and battleship gray, something like the grainy pictures we see when there’s a flashback to these times on TV. But Louise Kennedy makes it feel fully alive, and vibrant, with such a strong sense of place and time, not like anything I’ve read in a while.

One of the things I did notice as I read was the occasional gaudy colour making an appearance, with ‘purple and orange dressing gowns,’ ‘three quarter length coat in orangey shade of tan,’ ‘wall tiles with orange geometric patterns.’

Speaking of orange, there’s also an interesting reference to Stanely Kubricks ‘A Clockwork Orange’, a film I was obsessed with in my teenage years, as well as Burgesses’ book of the same name. Micheal, the barrister mentions the ‘exquisite violence’ of the movie, and that Patrick Magee, who played the writer Frank Alexander in the movie, was from Armagh. I must admit I didn’t know this but I had seen the plaque in Edward St that marks his place of birth. There’s a bit of foreshadowing going on here as Alexander is left in a wheelchair after a horrific beating at the hands of Alex and his droogs, as a character in this book also suffers an act of extreme ‘ultra violence.’

The prose is sparse and lean, often startling in its clearness. And although the sentences might be short and pointed, there’s such emotion running through the book. There’s an incredible feeling of tension that builds throughout the book. Like the times themselves, tragedy and heartbreak were never too far away.

What’s also recognisable to anybody from the north reading the book is a the rich seam of black humour that runs throughout. This was much needed in terms of coping, of dealing with the psychological weight of the times. If you didn’t laugh, you’d crack up. Gina, Cushla’s alcoholic mother ( ‘Aye but I’m not a hundred percent today, said Gina. She was a hundred per cent hung over, eyeballs juicy, the skin around them puckered) is especially caustic. On the radio once morning we hear the announcer say:

‘The body of a man was found off the shore road by a woman out walking her dog.

‘I wouldn’t thank you for a dog, said Gina. You’d be odds-on to find a corpse.’

Another bit that made gave me a much needed laugh later, a place I also visited on a school trip:

Cushla and Gerry were bringing their classes to the park for a picnic; next year they would have a proper school trip, a visit to the safari park on the north coast, where the biggest attraction was a monkey that smoked benson and hedges.’

Some characters made my skin crawl. When Slattery the priest enters the story, I couldn’t wait until he exited stage left. He ‘roamed the playground and school corridors, entering the classroom unannounced to deliver his frightful catechism.’ There’s one great moment when he’s telling these young children about Loyalist murder gangs and their torture rooms , when a teacher bravely interjects with his guitar to start up a song.

I found Cushla a sympathetic character, juggling these intense emotions and all the other shit going on. The love affair gives the book a much needed lightness, even though the trespasses of the title refers to the ‘sin’ we’d associate with the bible. (Just thinking about it now, I suppose the other trespass relates to the McGeown family living where they did.) It feels like like the only hope that Cushla has, the only source of joy in her life and I wanted badly for it to continue for her. The affair felt real and intense.

It’s one of the best novels I’ve read on the north in some time. It’s painfully realistic to read, sometimes depressing, always brave, and tough going but that’s as it should be. At times it made me emotional and angry and I thought about things I hadn’t for such a long. A book from this period, told honestly, couldn’t really be anything else.

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 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.

I was blown away by this novel - straight away the tone really grabbed my attention. I loved Cushla as a character, she is so poised between naivety and irony throughout. Kennedy really brought the intricacies and complications of small-town life during such a turbulent, violent period of history to life, in a way that few writers manage successfully. I'm incredibly excited for this to be released and to be able to press it into people's hands - I really think it will have broad appeal across fans of both Sally Rooney and Douglas Stuart.

Kennedy's novel is absolutely to my liking, aesthetically and as far as the plot structure and development are concerned; will definitely be looking forward to reading more from this author.

Northern Ireland is publishing some really great women writers at the moment and Louise Kennedy is one of those. Trespasses is her first novel a fascinating story of Cushla a catholic young woman who is a teacher but also helps out in her brother's pub which unusually has a mixture of catholic and protestants. We follow her life as she struggles with her mum's alcoholism, navigating her relationship with a married protestant and trying to help a young pupil whose family are in the midst of sectarian abuse. Set in the 70's when 'the troubles' were getting increasingly dangerous, the tension and the bleakness of the impact of living in such a place is palpable and often claustrophobic. The writing is fabulous at embodying that tension, creating a sense of place that will be recognisable for those who come from NI and may help others who don't, to understand the residual secrecy and trauma that is still alive today.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I mainly read Crime and Psychological Thrillers, but I've been enjoying books set in Ireland and by Irish authors so was interested to give this a try.

Cushla Lavery is a primary school teacher in a small town near Belfast in the mid 1970s.

Cushla's everyday life is lived in the shadows of sectarian violence, religious divides and her mother's alcoholism. Cushla helps her brother Eamonn out in his pub, one of the few that hasn't closed down or been bombed or burnt down.

The writing is dry and understated, it really allows the characters come alive through their words and actions. Cushla is one of the most memorable and real characters I've met in a book for a long time. She sees the community from all angles, as a teacher, bar maid and as a supportive daughter to her mother.

No spoilers. There are some great characters on the journey, including Davy, the stoical outsider who Cushla teaches, who just wants to join in at football, and Michael, the sophisticated barrister who drinks in Eamonn's pub sometimes.

With richly drawn characters, full lives and relationships I was completely sucked in, deeply moved and often close to tears.

Deeply moving, powerful, memorable and unexpected and I didn't want it to end.

I absolutely loved it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

This is a wonderful novel. Understated and yet packs a powerful punch that stays with the reader long after the last page. Every aspect of life is examined here in an unassuming fashion - poverty, misogyny, racism, the perennial search for human connection - it's all here.
A triumph!











Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the ARC

I really liked this book set in mid 1970's Northern Ireland. You can tell it's written by an Irish writer as the rhythm of the speech and colloquialisms used are authentic and add so much texture to the narrative.
The story is about Cushla, a 24 year old Catholic Primary School teacher in a small "mixed" (religion) town outside of Belfast whose family run a small pub. Whilst helping out in the pub she meets a much older (in his early 50's), married, handsome "ladies man" customer who is a barrister and they begin an affair. Cushla is a bit lost and has a dull but stressful life, caring for her alcoholic widowed mother, feeling under restraint from the hypocrtical Catholic priests in the school and of course, dealing with the depressing daily reminders of "The Troubles." and the constant watching of your tongue and movements that living in NI entailed. It's really well written and drew me. I was a bit tentative starting the book as I feared it would be another total misery fest dealing with deeply abusive relationships such as books I've read recently by other Irish Women Writers such as Sally Rooney,Anna Burns and Meg Nolan which were well written but depressing.. This story has more light and shade and moments of levity and the kind of "gallows humour" that the Irish excel at..

It's 1973, in a small town on the outskirts of Belfast. We meet Cushla Lavery, who is a 24 year old Catholic primary school teacher. She cares deeply for her pupils, none more so than the heartbreaking Davy McGeown. His family are singled out as targets for sectarian bullying, as their parent's marriage is mixed. She lives with her Mum, Gina, who has been drowning her grief for her dead husband in gin. Cushla helps out in the family bar and it is here that she meets Micheal Agnew, a protestant lawyer, 30 years her senior. Micheal asks her to teach him and his erudite friends how to speak Irish (or how to cosplay as Fenians) and so begins their illicit affair.

I thought this book was exceptionally good. The writing is understated but evocative; I can picture the 1970s fashions and orange formica-heavy decor she describes perfectly, as well as the creeping, claustrophobic dread of the headlines that The Troubles create. Her characters are fully realised, from the monstrous Fr. Slattery to Gerry, Cushla's closest friend. I found the female characters to be particularly well written; flawed, human, whole. I highly recommend this gorgeous, tender book.

I've yet to read Louise Kennedy's short story collection "The End of the World is a Cul de Sac" but this, her debut novel, has bumped it right up my reading list.

*Trespasses will be published on 14th April. Many thanks to the author, the publisher @bloomsburypublishing and @netgalley for the advanced digital copy*

'Trespasses' is an immensely powerful debut novel which fully immerses the reader in the world of Troubles-era Northern Ireland. 24-year-old Catholic primary school teacher Cushla Lavery finds herself in a relationship with the older married Protestant civil rights barrister Michael Agnew as both are affected by the sectarian violence around them. We also see Cushla's strained relationships with her alcoholic mother and her brother who is trying to keep the family pub open, and her efforts to care for a boy in her class whose father is seriously injured in an attack.

I was so impressed by Louise Kennedy's writing - she effortlessly conjures up a vivid sense of time and place through Cushla's perspective. We enter a world in which violence has become so normalised that the children in Cushla's class can recite the acronyms of different paramilitary organisations, while their innocence is further corrupted by the parish priest's inflammatory rhetoric. Kennedy also writes very perceptively about class consciousness - it is not just religion but social status which separates Cushla from Michael, and her acute sense of embarrassment about her own background and discomfort milieu is convincingly rendered.

The plot becomes increasingly compelling as different strands of Cushla's life combine with horrifying effect. This is an unavoidably grim book in some respects but it still feels like there is an underlying warmth in the community Cushla inhabits amidst the darkness and violence so it is not an unremittingly bleak read. Above all, I was completely absorbed in these characters' lives and experiences due to the startling clarity with which Kennedy depicts the recent past. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC to review!

This is definitely a book which will stay with me for a long time. It takes you right back to 1970s Belfast at the height of the Troubles. It is unflinching in its portrayal of sectarianism, poverty, violence and despair. It is ultimately heartbreaking as families are torn apart and lives lost. The characterisation is wonderful which really makes the story come alive and I liked the catch up at the end. Highly recommend this book.

Despite best intentions, this is a story of how politics and personal does not always work. Genuine and relateable characters whose lives would have been so much easier if they were played out just about anywhere else. As a work of fiction, it's good. As an educational text, it does a pretty good job as well.

An interesting and different book but very grey and depressing in some respects. It was set in the troubled times in Ireland and I was not readily able to identify. Thanks to netgalley for an ARC.

Trespasses is set in 1975 in a Northern Ireland torn apart by the Troubles. Cushla Lavery is a Catholic primary school teacher in a mostly Protestant community outside Belfast. She looks after her alcoholic mother and helps out in her brother’s pub, mostly frequented by Protestants and the security forces. That’s where she meets Michael, an attractive, older, married barrister who has outspoken views on the justice system and civil rights. At school, she takes a young boy, Davy Mc Gowan, under her wing when his father is beaten and left for dead by a Protestant gang. Her decisions and actions have far-reaching consequences for her and her family.
This book was not an easy read. The Troubles were a bleak time in Irish history and this is excellently portrayed by the author, Louise Kennedy. It’s in the little details as much as in the main narrative – the children starting their school day with news of bombings and beatings, the casual misogyny of the security forces in the bar with their groping and comments, with the automatic answer of ‘going to a party’ at roadblocks. I thought that the menace of the parish priest, Slattery, was very well done – every time he appeared, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up! The characters are well rounded and credible and the story just keeps pulling on your heart-strings. The short, snappy sentences pull you into the stories. It’s a fantastic debut novel from an amazing new writer. I recommend that you check out her collection of short stories – The End of the World is a Cul-De-Sac – if you enjoy this.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Bloomsbury for the eArc of this book in return for an honest review.

I found this book to be a bit of a slow burner in the beginning but the beautifully understated writing kept me reading and, slowly, I became engaged with Cushla and Michael's strange love story. The backdrop of Belfast in the 1970s was seamlessly woven in and ancillary characters were three dimensional and worthy of their place in the story. I was slightly disappointed in the ending, which seemed to heading for a large bang but ended with a genteel whimper. Overall, though, a book I would recommend.
I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There is no doubt that this is 1970s Belfast, at the height of the Troubles. Kennedy evokes that time period with immense skill with all its tension, divides and navigational skill required for any person trying to live their life. For Cushla, a young Catholic primary school teacher who occasionally helps out at her family’s bar on the suburban outskirts of Belfast it’s not different. In the bar, which is in an area known for its relatively peaceful mixing of religious backgrounds, the paths of both Catholics and Protestants cross. And it’s there Cushla becomes fascinated and attracted to the older Michael Agnew, a well-known Protestant barrister and acquaintance of her parents. It’s a story you know from the beginning will not end well, but its execution is so poignant and beautifully told you can forgive the tragedy of its ending. It’s without a doubt an Irish story, fit for any Irish ballad. The style, though, despite the words, woven so well, makes it difficult to parse at time, and interrupts the telling. The style is part of this awful trendy penchant I’ve seen lately, disguised as cutting edge, envelope pushing aren’t-I-Joycean-in-cleverness, to cluster dialogue by different speakers in a single paragraph, omit dialogue punctuation marks and only occasionally and randomly capitalise proper nouns and beginnings of sentences. That is my one complaint about this book and it’s a big complaint. Thanks to Netgalley.

Trespasses - Louise Kennedy


Trespasses is a novel set in 1980s Belfast, told through the eyes of Cushla, a teacher struggling to support her alcoholic mother, the family pub, the absence of her father and the all too real threat of civil war breaking out on her doorstep (again).

As a Scot born in the 80s, I have some idea of the unrest and all out war in Northern Ireland, that continues today. As someone brought up Catholic, I have a little insight into the Catholics vs Protestants, Loyalists vs Unionists at the crux of the problem. Living in England, I have seen and felt the difference a lack of media coverage and a few hundred miles has made. The 12th July, for example, does not hold immediate significance or memories of marches and bands, practicing for weeks before in the early hours of the weekend up and down the streets of Scotland.
I have a tiny glimpse into what it must have been like in that time (and to some extent, even now) and this story, humanised and centred, makes it more real and more shocking.

It’s so complex, though, that it almost feels that it could have done with a cliffnotes summary of who’s who, what the different slurs mean on both sides and if we should be afraid of the British army or not - I suspect both sides would have been in what was effectively occupied Northern Ireland.

On the surface and without knowing the ins and outs, it’s a story of Cushla as she goes about her day to day, looking after the kids in her class, planning Easter activities for them and wondering what her future holds. Loving her family and yet wishing she was out of the mess, the struggle of stopping her mother from drinking bottles of gin each day in an effort to drown out the absence of her husband.

One of the kids in her class is from a ‘mixed’ marriage - a Protestant and a Catholic. It might seem almost absurd to be an issue now, but we still see these clashes and harassment for same or similar connections. After his Dad is assaulted and left for dead, Cushla tries to look after the kids and help the family, even as it brings consequences on her and her own family.
A burgeoning relationship with an older man both further complicates her life, but also brings with it a much needed bright point for Cushla, a taste of a life she could lead outside of the creeping dread of attack.

The title itself holds many meanings, great for further discussion. It’s a well worn joke about the Lord’s prayer having ‘extra’ bits in the Protestant version, as well as that much loved but slightly idiosyncratic word ‘trespasses’, which takes a lot of explaining at primary school. There are characters in the book who both trespass against others and forgive those who trespass against them. There’s something about being somewhere you shouldn’t, rather than the moral betrayal, as well.

I recommend this if you’re looking for an interesting view on 1980s Belfast, to learn or remember what it was like back then and perhaps even reflect on how much change (or not) we’ve seen in the ensuing four decades.

Thanks as always to Netgalley and to Bloomsbury for the DRC - this is published in the UK on April 14th, 2022.

I enjoyed this book. Cushla Lavery is a 24 year old living near Belfast during the troubles. She works as a teacher to a class of 7 year olds, and some evenings she also works in the family bar. It is here that she meets Michael, an older married man, and they start an affair. I found that this book gave me an insight into what it was like to live in Belfast during that time, and it particularly struck me that the children in Cushla's class accepted this as normal. This is a depressing read but worth it nonetheless. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

4.5 rounded up

The year is 1975, the place is Northern Ireland torn apart by The Troubles. Cushla Lavery is a Catholic primary school teacher where she takes Davie McGeown under her wing, his parents are unusual as it’s a “mixed marriage. Cushla’s family, especially her brother Eamonn, run a bar in a garrison town where soldiers also sink their pints. Amongst other customers is Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister who has outspoken views on justice and civil rights, in particular the Diplock courts. He is one of a few prepared to take on cases challenging the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary). Michael,though much older than Cushla and also married, is a very attractive man and thus begins a kind of tantalising dance between them. Is Cushla too “Irish“ for Michael to say nothing of the age gap? Is it a dangerous dance because of their religion??

I’m not going to pretend this is an easy read, of course it isn’t, it’s Northern Ireland during the troubles. It’s vivid and shocking and still brings tears to my eyes many years later. What I can say is that it captures the times brilliantly and in fact I go so far as to say it’s one of the best novels of Northern Ireland that I have read.It has everything, it’s brutal and absolutely chilling on occasions depicting the tragedy of the religious divide and the bigotry. It’s tragic and so heartbreaking and poignant that at times it hurts.

I like the way it’s written with short sharp sentences which perfectly match the events but with plenty of emotion from anger to sadness and frustration. The characterisation is excellent, you feel what Cushla does and like her you want to wrap your arms around little Davey. One of the things that strikes an especially chilling note is in the classroom especially from the terrifying priest. You read with growing disquiet, you sense it clearly and some scenes make you gasp and you know in your book bones what the outcome will be you still hope against hope. It’s a no holds barred, honest account of life in Northern Ireland at this time and it doesn’t sugarcoat it as it shouldn’t.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Bloomsbury Publishing plc for that much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.