"Trespasses" by Louise Kennedy

PBS will be showing a four-part adaptation of Louise Kennedy's debut novel, "Trespasses," starting this Sunday night (Sept. 20th).  I like to read the book a TV show or movie is based on before watching, if I can, and so I picked this one up about a week ago.   

"Trespasses" takes place in a small town near (suburb of?) Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1975 -- during a fraught period of violent sectarian conflict between Catholics and Protestants, republicans and loyalists to the British Crown, known as "the Troubles."  Cushla Lavery is a 24-year-old Catholic primary schoolteacher. She's concerned about Davy McGeown, one of her young pupils, who is the target of bullying, and whose family is struggling. In the evening, she often works a shift in the bar her brother inherited from their father, while also tending to her alcoholic widowed mother at home. 

One night at the bar, she meets Michael Agnew, a much-older, married, Protestant lawyer, who (nevertheless) defends suspected IRA terrorists in court. Sparks fly, and a passionate affair begins... 

Given the time and setting, I knew when I started reading that there wasn't going to be a happy ending for at least one (and probably more) of these characters. (I was right.)  It was a grim read in some respects -- but I kept turning the pages as the tensions mounted, and wound up staying up late to finish it off last night. I could not put it down. 

Framing the book are two brief chapters set in 2015, which rounded out the story beautifully (particularly the final chapter) and gave us a satisfying glimpse into what happened to some of the main characters during the 40 years in between. (And confirmed a couple of things I'd guessed while reading!)  

Midway through, I wasn't sure what the rating for this book was going to be -- but towards the end, I knew it would be at least 4 stars if not higher.  

4.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads.   

I'm looking forward to seeing how this story is handled on screen!  

Content warnings/ALI notes: There are sex scenes.  There is an authoritarian priest who, quite frankly, gave me the creeps.  Obviously, there is violence and threats of violence. A man is horribly beaten. A minor character tells Cushla about a recent miscarriage (one of several she's endured). 

This was Book #28 read to date in 2026 (and Book #3 finished in September), bringing me to 70% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am currently back on track to meet my goal! You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."