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Trespasses

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Trespasses

By: Louise Kennedy
Narrated by: Brid Brennan
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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, read by Brid Brennan.

**SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SERIES – COMING SOON TO CHANNEL 4**

THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER (The Times), SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023

'Intense, unflinchingly honest, it broke my heart a million times' MARIAN KEYES
'A beautiful, devastating novel' NICK HORNBY

One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice.
If Davy had remembered to put on a coat.
If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street.
If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt.

There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub owned by her family. But here, love is never far from violence, and this encounter will change both of their lives forever.

As 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. In the class Cushla teaches, the vocabulary of seven-year-old children now includes phrases like ‘petrol bomb’ and ‘rubber bullets’. 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.

Tender and shocking, Trespasses is an unforgettable debut of people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times.
______________

* WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR: DEBUT FICTION *
* WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 *
* WINNER OF THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2023 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2022 *
* AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2022 *
* A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME *
* THE CRITICS' MOST-PICKED BOOK OF THE YEAR*©2022 Louise Kennedy (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Short Stories Thought-Provoking Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking

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All stars
Most relevant
I really loved this book, the tale of a very believable love affair across the Ulster sectarian divide, expertly narrated by Brid Brennan (who has a full grasp of the Belfast idiom). Louise Kennedy evokes every detail of the city in the mid 70s, which ring true if you happen to have lived through them. Cushla Lavery, the main character, is a teacher at a Catholic school and this allows us to see the horrors unfolding around her in a variety of compelling ways through the eyes of her pupils. Her lover Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister, brings not only the reek of whiskey and tobacco to our nostrils but also many of the complexities that his liberal-leaning co-religionists had to deal with at the time, especially those in the legal profession. All around them the hard men come and go, with waves of bigotry threatening to turn to violence at any moment. But for me the revelation was the emotional depth that Kennedy has created throughout the story. The plot itself is more than strong enough to carry you through the narrative, but as each chapter unfolds you are drawn into the multiple layers of turmoil the characters face. The choices in the difficult life they lead are treated in a masterful way, richly nuanced, and the reader emerges at the end a humbler, wiser, richer person for the experience.

A Powerful and Poignant Look Back at the Troubles

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Amazing accuracy and very poignant. Belfast during the troubles, no exaggeration, no romanticism, a really brutal and real depiction of life.

Heartbreaking

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Left me with an ache in my chest and a need to start at the beginning again to re-live every moment

Heartbreaking and wonderful

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Heartbreaking to read about life during the troubles and the fine line people had to follow. Great story and characters.

Emotional

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Lovely story, beautifully read. Made me cry on the bus. What awful times we lived through.

Made me cry on the bus

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