Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

I bought Trespasses because it was a Waterstones Book of the Month, which is always a good thing in my eyes. Also, the cover reminded me in some way of Shuggie Bain, which was the best book I read in 2021.

Set in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, Trespasses is the story of Cushla, a 24 year old Catholic primary school teacher. Cushla works part-time in her family’s pub, where she meets Michael – a married Protestant, twice her age. Michael is different from the pub’s other customers and Cushla becomes infatuated with him. The feeling is mutual and the infatuation soon turns into an affair. The affair is a dangerous one – any hint of sleeping with a married mean, least of all a Protestant, could mean Cushla loses her job.

At school, her class of 7-year-olds talk about the daily news – the shootings, the bombs and the arrests which are a part of their everyday lives. When ‘the news’ affects one of her pupils, she takes him under her wing and looks after him and his family, despite the objections of the headteacher.

At home, she struggles to care for her volatile alcoholic mother (the one thing the book did have in common with Shuggie Bain!), while her brother, Eammon, is free to get on with his own family life.

Trespasses is a slow burner and it took me a while to get into it. I wondered where the affair with Michael was heading, but then about three-quarters of the way through the book, I found out. Then I didn’t stop reading until I got to the end because it was just so good.

And the ending absolutely broke me.

Trespasses isn’t an easy read. It paints a picture of a time and place which was dark, brutal, dirty and scary. But, if you can handle those things, I would definitely recommend it. It is a book which will stay with me for a very long time.