WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2022 AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2022 A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: THE TIMES * SUNDAY TIMES * GUARDIAN * TELEGRAPH * NEW STATESMAN * DAILY MAIL * IRISH TIMES * IRISH INDEPENDENT * BELFAST TELEGRAPH 'Like Sally Rooney mixed with a political thriller' RUSSELL KANE 'Intense; unflinchingly honest; it broke my heart a million times' MARIAN KEYES 'Absolutely loved it' MAX PORTER 'A beautiful; devastating novel' NICK HORNBY One by one; she undid each event; each decision; each choice. If Davy had remembered to put on a coat. If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street. If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt. There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael; a married man from Belfast; in the pub owned by her family. But here; love is never far from violence; and this encounter will change both of their lives forever. As people get up each morning and go to work; school; church or the pub; the daily news rolls in of another car bomb exploded; another man beaten; killed or left for dead. In the class Cushla teaches; the vocabulary of seven-year-old children now includes phrases like 'petrol bomb' and 'rubber bullets'. And as she is forced to tread lines she never thought she would cross; tensions in the town are escalating; threatening to destroy all she is working to hold together. Tender and shocking; Trespasses is an unforgettable debut of people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times.