The quirky female narrator in a Northern Ireland novel is not a new thing but it’s often an enjoyable thing.

Big Girl is Majella O’Neill, an underachieving young woman of stout proportions who is squandering her considerable academic potential by working six nights a week in her local chip shop. The small town is Aghybogey, a thinly disguised version of Castlederg in County Tyrone.

So Majella keeps a list of all the things she doesn’t like, including sub-categories. She also keeps a much shorter list of things she does like, many of which are related to food. She uses these lists to narrate the story of a week following the murder of her grandmother. Given that her father has disappeared ten years ago, Uncle Bobby died while priming a bomb 16 years ago, and her mother is a non-functioning alcoholic, this presents Majella with an opportunity to become an adult and master of her own destiny. Or she could just keep working for the Hunters in the fish shop.

In truth, not much happens during the week; and what does happen is glossed over by Majella as she focuses her thoughts on the foibles of the chip shop regulars, hating alcohol (because of what it is doing to her mother and her home life) and looking for bedding. She drinks a bit, has sex a bit, and eats fish suppers. The charm is in her cynical, comical way of looking at the world, mixed with tragedy that she resolutely refuses to take her place in the real world, instead just hiding behind routines and tics.

This is a really good evocation of small town Ulster, told in a local vernacular that will bring a smile to those who know it and frustrate them those who don’t. The self-segregation of the two halves of the community (the Protestants would only dare come to A Salt and Battered in daylight, even though it serves better chips than the Protestant chip shop); the relatives away across the water; the stories of what you did in the war... If there’s something that sets this apart from similar semi-comic Northern Ireland novels it would be the rural setting west of the Bann allowing for ludicrous ideas like the poshy-woshy Omagh accent and thinking of Strabane as urban.

I just wish Michelle Gallen had done something a bit more with Majella. The story is mostly back-story. The story of the dead grandmother, although acting as a McGuffin, never really takes off and I’m not sure there’s any real character development. This means that some of the repetitiveness of Majella’s life does seep into the text. There are only so many ways of ordering a fish supper or having banter with your work colleague as you put the chips in the fryer.

So four stars rather than five.

Oh, and I read an advance copy. I do hope the final version is more consistent in the name of Johann-Pol, or Johann-Paul, or Yawn-Pawl, or Yawn-Paul...

I’ll be honest I did struggle to get into this read but on the whole I’m glad I persevered. Big girl small town’s central character is Marjella who lives in a small Irish town (with an unpronounceable name!!) in the aftermath of The Troubles. She’s an interesting character, an oddball who works in the local chipper. Her grandmother has just passed away and her mother is, quite frankly, a waste of space, partial to the whiskey in addition to a fondness for strong painkillers but lacks any housekeeping skills. Marjella’s dad disappeared years ago, no one knowing whether he’s dead or alive.
With Marjella as the narrator, I did initially find it quite hard to understand the language, written in the style of how the characters speak and I had no idea what some of these Irish terms meant!! However I did come to love some of the phrases used and I particularly liked the scenes that are set in the chipper, with the working relationship between Marjella and Marty rather sweet. Marjella is a character you can’t help but like;she loves her food, can definitely hold her drink and stand her ground despite being somewhat free with her affections. She’s caring in the sense that she makes sure her mother isn’t quite drinking herself to death, supplying all the tea and toast that seems to be the main staple of her diet, which is admirable as there appears to be no real love between mother and daughter.
This is a novel that is humorous and down to earth with some colourful language and once you get used to the dialect, is enjoyable to read. I definitely got a sense of life in a small town community where everyone knows your business and many of the chipper’s customers have great names although you don’t really get an in depth sense of who these people are, except perhaps Jimmy nine pints!! I do feel it’s a book that you can’t read in really small doses because otherwise it makes it harder to engage with the storyline.
Although it took a while to grab my attention I was going to review this as a four star read but unfortunately the author has decided to end Marjella’s story with so many unresolved issues, which I found disappointing.
Funny and with an interesting central character this novel is well written, only let down by a storyline that stops too abruptly.
My thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

There’s no doubting Michelle Gallen’s writing talent and ‘Big Girl Small Town’ is a brave and often witty portrayal of a young autistic woman’s day to day life in small town Northern Ireland. Each section of the novel is organised according to Majella’s list of stuff that she’s not keen on, such as physical contact and small talk. There are ninety-seven items and subcategories of these too!
Majella’s father disappeared during the Troubles, her mother is an alcoholic and pain-relief addict, and her grandmother has just been murdered. Majella’s routine is the same, day in day out. She works in a chip shop, eats said chips, occasionally has sex with her co-worker, puts up with the abuse she gets from drunk customers, and, as a treat, watches Dallas in her bedroom. Little changes.
Majella’s life is day-on-day, year-on-year boring, greasy and dull. No one really cares much for her and, for the most part, she exists in a monochrome world. She’s neither happy nor all that unhappy. Even the ending, whilst suggesting that something has changed for the better, doesn’t fill the reader with much hope. Michelle Gallen very skilfully portrays the world of someone who’s got pretty much nothing going for her. This novel is not an easy read and, despite the craic, it’s not meant to be. Despondency lingers in the air after the last page has been turned.
My thanks to NetGalley and John Murray Publishers for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

This was a lovely story about Majella's life in Ireland. Her mum is an alcoholic, her dad has disappeared and her gran was murdered. Majella's story is about her holding down a job, looking after her mother and grieving for her gran.
It was a very easy read and funny in places. Very much like Eleanor Oliphant goes to Ireland.

Thank you to Netgalley, Michelle Gallen and John Murray Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I wasn't sure about this book at first but the writing style and the tone grew on me as I got further in. Majella is a very compelling character and I loved the interiority of the novel, allowing us to truly experience what was in her head. I also liked the way that the story was set in Majella's normal routine of going to work at the chipper, looking after her ma and interacting with the other people in her small town, which allowed the bigger themes of death and grief to come through without seeming overwhelming. The portrayal of a functioning autistic adult is also welcome. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of Gallen's work.

I find hard to review this book because I loved it and it's not easy to put into words the emotions and how great this story is.
It's not an easy read, at the beginning you have to go through all the routines and discover small pieces that makes Majella's life.
It's not a glamorous or exciting life but after a bit I started feeling affection for this weird and great characters.
It's a story that ask you to be patient and you will be rewarded because it's one the best I read in a long time.
Please read it, it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Set in Ireland. In this book we follow Majella just after the murder of her gran. Majella works in the local chip shop. We follow Majella's daily grind and see the world through her eyes. Majella has no real friends, even though she knows lots of people. She is also on the autistic spectrum. Her father is missing and her mother is an alcoholic.

The story is told from Majella's point of view. It's told over one week in November. She's quite a funny and interesting character. Majella is naive. We learn a little of what it was like to live in a small town near the orders to Southern Ireland during the troubles. Theres ot a lot goes on in this story but there is something there that keeps you reading.

I would like to thank Netgalley, John Murray Press and the author Michelle Gallon for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The new Elizabeth Oliphant set in Northern Ireland. Majella a character who favors routine and is probably on the autistic spectrum is entertaining and difficult.at the same time. It takes time to warm to her so persevere. Hoping there will be a sequel.

Marjella as a character is an absolute star in this, her daily life as a woman with ASD living in Northern Ireland and having grown up through The Troubles was fascinating. The humour was spot on, whether it’s the repetitive conversation with the regulars in the chippy where she works (painfully similar to when I worked in the social club) or reminiscing with old friends, missing being pulled over by British soldiers and held at gunpoint because that was when craic was at its best.
I definitely get the comparisons to Eleanor Oliphant, in terms of dealing with trauma although it was delivered in a different way.
At times when I stopped reading I constantly felt like I was just waiting for something to happen, but the writing was strong enough that I didn’t really mind and just enjoyed the reading experience

This novel describes the life of Majella, whose life is predictable and safe until it gets shaken upside down. Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, when her father was supposedly murdered, Majella has to navigate life after losing her grandmother. It's entertaining and engrossing.

I loved this book. I laughed my way through it. Majella’s view of life is compelling reading. I felt so sorry for her. She has lost her dad and her gran and is trying to look after her alcoholic mum as well as work in her local fish and chip shop. I thought the way that the book was written was brilliant. It added to the story and immersed me further into Majella’s world.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I really struggled to get into this book and it ended up being a disappointment.

The plot felt very slow – almost to the point of being non-existent. There are lots of topics brought up (i.e. missing father, missing grandmother) that could have been easily used to create a far more exciting plot, but alas, no.
I found certain scenes to be completely unnecessary (especially the one with the kittens?!) and they added very little. These sort of scenes felt like they have been added in purely for shock factor.

Overall it really wasn’t for me sadly but it did have me craving chips for the whole thing!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

An enjoyable read- your taken on the journey of a young lady who lives near the Irish border. The book flows well. It’s well written.
Great read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book

This was a really interesting novel that focused on a young woman living near the border in Ireland. The way it switched between past and present was interesting and I thought it was generally clear when the action was happening. The character was well fleshed out and made for some interesting scenes. I thought that with the blurb mentioning autism and where her father is that it would be mentioned more and the readers would be given a diffintive outcome to both of them points but they weren't really given a proper conclusion. The ending was open-ended which gave it kind of a hopeful feeling.

I enjoyed the book, enjoyed reading Marjella story. Pretty easy read and I found I could put it down and pick back up at any time, characters were good a real to life.
Enjoyed the story

I very much enjoyed this slice of life for a twenty-something girl living in a fairly unremarkable town in Northern Ireland.

Whilst it was a story with quite a simple storyline with no particular shocks or surprises, it nevertheless was a book which I was invested in and I found it very entertaining. The language was perfect to portray Majella's character and her ineractions with the locals.

I hope to read more by Michelle Gallen.

Now, any book that frames itself as “Milkman meets Derry Girls” is always going to pique my interest. After all, we know I loved Milkman – that fabulous Anna Burns prize-winner about an awkward young woman’s coming of age in war torn Northern Ireland – and who the hell doesn’t love Derry Girls, that exquisite sitcom about schoolgirls growing up in Derry, Northern Ireland, in the 1990s.

So, how does this debut from Michelle match up to that great expectation?? You know what, pretty damn well.
Not that you’d think that from the first 100 pages, mind, as the first half of this book is hard going, in that it is tough to find an in here, difficult to discern a narrative drive or plot.

We are in the hands of Majella, a profoundly introverted young woman whose life is defined by predictable routine – her care responsibilities at home for her alcoholic, pill-popping mother and her six days a week job at the fish & chop shop, Salt & battered!

At first glance, nothing else seems to impact this bubble – the Prods and the Catholics get into fights around her, the British are loathed, and poverty and hopelessness is implicit and endemic. Yet all of Majella’s focus is on her routine. For pages and pages, we are following her getting to work, wiggling herself into her uniform (a little tight), casual sex with the boss (he’s married), coming home late with her fish supper (eaten alone), all whilst avoiding any in-depth communication with her mother.

It is these pages that have broken my readers; you will see on Goodreads quite a few ‘did not finish’ and complaints about boredom. And you do wonder what the hell this is all for. But then, as you concentrate, tiny fragments of information burst through the monotony – Majella’s father is missing, part of Disappeared, her uncle dies in a bomb explosion, and her Granny was murdered at home. Majella doesn’t seem to focus on these parts of her life so their sudden arrival – and equally quick dismissal – deliberately jar in the cleverest of ways.
Majella is ignoring this information because she is focused wholly on her routine – a reflection that, much like Milkman, this protagonist may be on the autistic spectrum. But these seemingly peripheral events are going to change her life forever. And the steady (then sudden) fallout from all of this is what shapes and makes for a terrific second half.

Yet, as I reflected on the book, re-reading parts of the first half, I realised that there was so much more craft here than I had appreciated the first time I read through. Take for example, all the chapter intros that extract a number from Majella’s well-maintained lists of things she likes and things she doesn’t…

“5.55pm. Item 3: Pain: Other people’s pain.” Then you will read that following section and it may slip your mind that this is Majella’s focus; in fact, you’re not sure if another person’s pain is referred to. But then you read it again – carefully – and that scene changes. There is pain there; not on the surface, not obvious, but it is there. And suddenly this book reveals a rich world of hidden depths to this community and its characters that could so easily be overlooked. A hugely rewarding read and a world that I am so keen to return to again as soon as I can.

Unfortunately I didn't connect with this book at all. It started off quite promising but is far too slow paced to hold attention. Added to that is the very strong dialect which it is written in that seemed to slow it down even further. A real shame as I was looking forward to this book.

This is a lovely, down to earth, story of Majella and her alcoholic mother who live in a small town in Belfast. Majella talks about her life and those she comes in contact with from her experience of working in the local chip shop. Her father, missing for 16 years, her uncle blown up and then her beloved granny is murdered. How does Majella deal with her problems.

I found this book very difficult to read or get into. The plot is very, very slow and the entire book is also written in dialect which means I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the sentence said rather than getting into the story. I wouldn't recommend it. There's much, much better books out there showing "regional" (ie non-london) life!