No Place for a Girl Like Me

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(33 37 41 1)>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.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(33 37 41 1)>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.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(33 37 41 1)>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.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(33 37 41 1)>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.</span></p>