Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

I listened to this book on a whim because a friend was traveling to a mixed-religious neighborhood in Ireland that had been a ground zero for The Troubles. Trespasses brought to life the conflict in Northern Ireland that I heard about on the news growing up. 

Twenty-something Cushla straddles both Catholic and Protestant as a parochial school teacher living in a somewhat mixed town outside Belfast. She’s dedicated to her young students, especially a young boy from a mixed Catholic/Protestant family who is under threat from all sides. When she falls in love with a married Protestant lawyer who defends members of the IRA, it thrusts Cushla into the center of the Troubles’ broiling sectarian conflicts to both heartwarming and heartbreaking ends. 

The prose was spare and direct, and very well written. The audio version narration was extraordinary. Louise Kennedy puts the reader right into the taut survival mode and hunkered-down mood of people who are trying to get by, carve out lives, and find love amid a war zone.  A wonderful historical read that brings to life—and to heart—a painful era that is within the living memory of many readers. It also reminds us both that while troubles pass, history repeats itself until we let go of old grudges and choose peace within and toward others.

Read All My Reviews