wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

Is this book my favourite book of the year so far? Quite possibly.

Set in 1975, Belfast, in the midst of the worst of The Troubles, Cushla Lavery is diving her time between her full-time job as a school teacher and helping out in her family bar which is remarkable for its Catholic ownership and Protestant customers. Cushla ends up falling into an affair with customer, and older, married man Michael, while also helping out a young pupil whose family have fallen on hard times.

I just loved this - there was hazy quality to the writing as it was set in the lead up to the summer holidays as the air got warmer, and Cushla's dreamlike, never going to end up, affair began which was all suffocating passion and obsession and never having enough of each other despite the danger. The atmosphere in this book is very tense, and therefore the story is so gripping as there is so much violence and anger everywhere in the story - the chapters begin with the headlines which are always centered around violence - bombings, shootings, the discovery of bodies - some of which are closer to home such as Davey McGowan's father Seamie's assault.

It definitely felt like there was a lot of foreshadowing in this book for bad things to come, and because of that, the snatches of joy Cushla experienced when she was with Michael, or her classroom of pupils felt all the more precious when writing it. I definitely felt the chemistry and connection between Cushla and Michael, and while their affair never felt anything but doomed, I wanted them to just run away together.

This book is wonderful, and so well written. There's parts of that have echoes of Milkman by Anna Burns but it's written in a much more accessible way for the everyday reader, and is not so intimidating.