“Louise Kennedy’s debut has all the drama we need as our era of ironic devout Catholicism comes to a close. “ deeply evocative novel in the particularity of social description and ambience, in its atmosphere of menace, and in the urgency of the emotions portrayed - sexual passion, guilt, shame, fear, hatred and compassion. “Kennedy’s powerful writing, tragic humor and vivid characters will move and haunt you.” -San Francisco Chronicle “A gorgeous, searingly intimate debut about the perils of following one’s heart.” -People Magazine It’s impossible not to be gripped by her story.” -Douglas Stewart, author of Shuggie Bain, on CNN Cushla’s world is so acutely rendered, her inner life so vivid, that as she finds a new freedom with Michael you will genuinely worry for her. She demonstrates how artificial it is for fiction to divide love and war.” -The Atlantic

By attending to romance and courtship, and by writing about beatings and bombings alongside gossip and domestic detail, Kennedy refuses to shrink or ignore any part of her characters’ lives. “Kennedy doesn’t shy away from either fun or femininity. wise far beyond its first book status, Trespasses vaults Kennedy into the ranks of such contemporary masters as McCann, Claire Keegan. Kennedy has written a captivating first novel which manages to be beautiful and devastating in equal measure.” -The Washington Post And that reading about a long and difficult period from the recent past feels not like history, but like a warning.” -J.Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Book Review It’s a testament to Kennedy’s talents that we come to love and care so much about her characters. I am not a crier, but by the final pages of Trespasses, I was in tears. A rising sense of tension throughout comes to a shocking head.

Then the father of a student is savagely beaten, setting in motion a chain reaction that will threaten everything, and everyone, Cushla most wants to protect. Against her better judgment, Cushla lets herself get drawn in by him and his sophisticated world, and an affair ignites. There she meets Michael Agnew, a Protestant barrister who’s made a name for himself defending IRA members. Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and a dangerous passion.Īmid daily reports of violence, Cushla lives a quiet life with her mother in a small town near Belfast, teaching at a parochial school and moonlighting at her family’s pub. “TRESPASSES vaults Kennedy into the ranks of such contemporary masters as McCann, Claire Keegan, Colin Barrett, and fellow Sligo resident, Kevin Barry. “Brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking.”-J.Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Book Review SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST

Trespasses louise kennedy review