Books

LOUISE DEAN This Human Season ' r z ' l ' .0...

It’s impossible to write a book that will be universally loved, but even more so if your subject is the ‘Troubles‘ in Belfast, 1979. With Ireland now less visible in the news, Louise Dean's excellent novel makes a welcome return to addressing this complex situation. Through the lives of two beautifully realised characters, the author manages to achieve a fairly balanced and deeply affecting portrayal of life both

inside and outside the prison walls.

The book begins with Kathleen Moran, a chain-smoking, hard- nosed Catholic mother of four, whose eldest son Sean is detained on the protest block at the notorious Maze prison. Her story alternates with that of her son's keeper, an English prison officer named John Dunn, who works in the knowledge that many of his fellow ‘screws‘ have already been killed by the IRA. Although the various relationships may be difficult to follow at first, the reader is gradually drawn into the nitty gritty of life on the violent streets of Belfast and

the horrific conditions inside the Maze.

Dean's use of language is beautifully understated and her attention to detail immaculate, allowing every personal tragedy the same importance as the political unrest. All this is underlined by an incredible sense of pathos, in scenes such as the one in which John listens to the prisoners talking at night, like ‘men who'd died together, trapped in the hull of a boat or a building on fire, hundreds

of years ago'. (Rachael Street)

Reviews

CARL-JOHAN VALLGREN

The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred

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