Book description
Spanning the decades that saw Northern Ireland move from brutal
conflict to uncertain peace in the 1990s, this powerful new take on
the literature of the Troubles is both a political coming-of-age novel
and a fast-paced literary thriller. Aoife, a young girl growing up in
1980s Belfast, finds herself the last line of defence between the
violence and her family. While her mother sinks deeper into a
medicated stupor, and her father leaves the family for the comforts of
the local bars, Aoife cares for her brother Damien, trying to keep him
out of harm's way, while all around her friends and neighbours are
swept up in the conflict. Meanwhile Cassie, a Republican paramilitary
and honeytrap, lures and seduces her victims, inflicting lasting
damage. But her infamous tactics have their repercussions, and before
long her past catches up with her. So It Is is an unflinching and
suspenseful debut that reflects the factions and fractures of the
Troubles from a new perspective, culminating in a breathless sequence
in which the choice between violence and personal morality becomes
shockingly acute.
