Older than Cushla, and with an air of superiority and knowledge about him, Cushla is soon embroiled in a furtive and passionate relationship. Michael Agnew is a Protestant barrister, known to Cushla's family and occasionally takes a whiskey in the family pub. When Davy's father is brutally attacked and left with life changing injuries, Cushla does everything she can to protect and care for him, whilst his older brother Tommy becomes more bitter and more distant. The priest despises him his mother and father are a 'mixed marriage' and poor Davy suffers for that. Davy McGeown is one of the most vulnerable, but also one the smartest and brightest of her pupils. Cushla's family have a pub, the customers are a mixed bunch and include British soldiers from the nearby barracks.Ĭushla cares deeply about the children that she teaches, going that extra mile to protect the vulnerable, especially from the cruel jibes made by the obnoxious headteacher and his ghoulish, vile sidekick, the local priest. Neighbours and colleagues look at each other, trying to judge where allegiances lie. It is 1975 and Northern Ireland is ripped apart by The Troubles. I hope very much that she continues to write full length novels if this one is anything to go by.Ĭushla Lavery is a primary school teacher. Trespasses is Louise Kennedy's debut novel, she recently published a collection of short stories that was very popular. This is an extraordinary book, written by an author who is so very talented. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Circus on 14 April 2022. Tender and shocking, Trespasses is an unforgettable debut of people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times. And as she is forced to tread lines she never thought she would cross, tensions in the town are escalating, threatening to destroy all she is working to hold together. In the class Cushla teaches, the vocabulary of seven-year-old children now includes phrases like 'petrol bomb' and 'rubber bullets'. But here, love is never far from violence, and this encounter will change both of their lives forever.Īs people get up each morning and go to work, school, church or the pub, the daily news rolls in of another car bomb exploded, another man beaten, killed or left for dead. There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub owned by her family. If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt. If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street. One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice.
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