Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is a haunting, intimate portrait of ordinary lives upended by political violence. Set in 1975 near Belfast, the novel follows Cushla Lavery, a young Catholic woman living a quiet life split between her family’s pub and her job as a schoolteacher. But in a town riven by sectarian hatred, nothing stays quiet for long.
When Cushla falls into a reckless affair with Michael Agnew — an older, married Protestant barrister — she crosses invisible lines that mark every street, every conversation, every choice. As their relationship deepens, so does the threat of exposure — not only to gossip and scandal but to real and devastating violence.
With sharp wit, aching tenderness, and a fierce moral clarity, Trespasses captures the claustrophobia of life during The Troubles — where love itself becomes an act of defiance. Louise Kennedy’s extraordinary debut is a powerful reminder that even in a divided world, moments of connection can be both beautiful and profoundly dangerous.