Cushla. Twenty-something primary school teacher.
Michael. Fifty-something barrister at the courts.
They meet at her family’s pub where she works the occasional shift.
The place is the Belfast area.
The time is the mid-seventies.
Cushla is Catholic. Michael is a married Protestant.
Michael has outspoken political opinions.
Cushla has been taught to keep her opinions to herself.
Everything about their relationship is asking for trouble.
I’m not sure why I liked this book as much as I did. In a way, it’s nothing new or spectacular and I absolutely cannot stand for cheating and do not like reading about it. But the way this story is written has something that lifts it and made me enjoy it nonetheless.
Although “enjoy” might be the wrong word to use here, because if you couldn’t guess already, this story does not come with a happy ending: it has a dark cloud of doom hanging over it from the first page. Maybe it’s the awful reality of the time and place in the form of returning news headlines. Maybe it’s the writing itself, in a stripped-back style that still manages to provide the necessary details for a complete picture. Which is quite something because at the same time, there is a lot left unsaid, left out.
This book seems to be all about opposites that way.
The last chapter takes place in the near-present, by way of a very brief reunion between some of the characters. Strangely, for me this wasn’t something I needed: I think I might have liked it better as an open-ending because it was so brief anyway.
I wholeheartedly agree with all the accolades this book has earned (blurbs, prizes, nominations) and I just couldn’t put it down. It was the kind of story that transported me for a bit to another time and place, and that stayed with me after finishing it, making it difficult to start a new book.
Want to experience what that’s like? Add this book to your TBR.
Bookworm in the City 