Number 5- Trespasses- Louise Kennedy

 

As I might have mentioned before, romance novels are not my bag.  It’s one genre I don’t get on with.

Therefore, this book, a romance set in the Irish troubles in the mid-70s is almost by definition a book group read.

However, despite the genre I really quite enjoyed this book.

Cushla is a young Catholic teacher in a primary school in Northern Ireland. She has an alcoholic mother.  She works part time at the pub her brother runs where the English soldiers frequently drink and sexually harass her. She has a soft spot a mile wide for Davey, a disadvantaged child in her class.  She also has an illicit lover in the form of Michael, a prominent protestant lawyer nearly twice her age.

That’s pretty much it as far as the plot goes. What makes this book special and kept me reading throughout was the depiction of simply trying to live as a Catholic in Northern Ireland during the troubles. That’s not to say it’s a pro-catholic book, it’s not.  The local priest is one of the nastiest characters in the story.

The struggles the characters face in their day-to-day living are presented in a matter-of-fact way that makes them feel worse than if the book was a melodrama.  Her escape into the arms of a man she knows deep in her heart is no good for her is almost understandable.

Her relationship with young Davey and his family provides a warmth to her character that is missing elsewhere. Cushla’s relationship with her mother is so well described, the sense of frustration over her mother’s drinking is palpable.

It’s not flawless by any stretch of the imagination. Michael doesn’t have much personality. That may be because we only see him through the infatuated eyes of Cushla, so we have to piece together any other details about him, in which case it’s a skilful piece of writing, but still frustrating.

The ending was more than a little bit predictable. I guessed what was going to happen a good 100 pages before it did.  It did confirm one of my prejudices against romance novels and the lack of alternative endings.

The other thing that makes this book as good as it is, is the writing.  It’s beautifully written.  I would read a shopping list for pleasure if it was written as prettily as this. I found my internal voice turned broad Irish for much of the book, although not the Ardal O’Hanlon broad Irish who narrates in my head when I read Patrick McCabe books.

Even with the lack of plot and the predictable nature of what was there, I found myself sucked into Cushla’s world.  It was compelling storytelling and I felt for all the characters I was meant to feel for. The cruelty of the society provided the emotional core for me, rather than the infatuation she had for Michael.

I scored it 7.5 out of 10 at the book group last night, but I think that might be a bit mean in retrospect and think it probably deserves at least an extra half a point.