No Place for a Girl Like Me

Louise’s tragicomic memoir is set in Belfast at the start of the Troubles, but the madness in the streets is just a backdrop to the chaos she’s experiencing at home. When we meet her in 1969, she’s living with her seven younger brothers, a live in teenage ‘mother’s helper’, her chauvinistic ‘fixer’ father and her deeply religious, golf mad mother. Louise explores with humour, the unique challenge of trying to experience a semi normal teenage life when the IRA (and her mother!) are doing their absolute best to scupper her plans. The complicated nuances of identity in Northern Ireland are illustrated by Louise’s close relationship with her maternal grandmother, who once a proud Ulster Protestant is now happily ensconced in an IRA stronghold. Louise dreams of emigrating to California (or anywhere with a bit of sunshine), where she’ll become a celebrity hairdresser, and no-one will ask what school she went to. But things don’t quite work out like that, and Louise unexpectedly finds herself training to be a teacher. Then, just as things are looking particularly grim, along comes what seems like the perfect opportunity to escape.