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!

I really enjoyed Big Girl Small Town and have found myself thinking about the book, Majella and the fictional yet so realistic town she lives in.

One endorsement I read described the book as beautifully ‘bawdy’, and there’s definitely plenty of fairly explicit humour and content. This didn’t detract from the heartbreaking depiction of Majella’s life; the extent to which she’s frozen and trapped in a small rural, post-Troubles border town. It was also described as Derry Girls meets The Milkman which was a helpful comparison, but while I love Derry Girls I really didn’t enjoy the Milkman, so was pleasant surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

I did feel it ended a little abruptly and overall there were several narrative threads which weren’t finished. The writing and characterisation drove the book and kept me reading, but the plot could have been stronger.

Received this book for free via NetGalley and thank goodness for that as I would have been really disappointed if I'd actuall parted with any money to read this.

It's very rare that I start a book and give up but this book so nearly achieved that for me.

It meandered, repeated and whilst an Irish small town life (or any small town life) might be exactly that, it doesn't make for a good read to keep telling the reader all about it.

The most excitement in the whole book was when the lead character buys a new duvet!!

What I found so frustrating is there were a couple of totally unexplored potential plot lines that could have made this significantly more interesting.

Unfortunately I can't recommend this for any reasons.

I can only describe this Book as Derry Girls meets Eleanor Oliphant. I absolutely love Derry Girls and felt Eleanor Oliphant was one of the worst books I have ever read. This book gave me a few laughs and I did keep reading to the end but there really is no story with any conclusion and just walks you through the day to day life of an autistic girl (who doesn't know she is autistic) who works in a chip shop and has an alcoholic mother.

There is a brutal murder in the book which you may think will eventually be an explosive part of the plot but you will be sadly disappointed. There is also the missing father who has links to the IRA story line which, again, could be an exciting plot and leads to nothing. So, to reiterate, there really is no exciting or gripping plot to be enjoyed.

The only other comment I have on this book is it really did make me crave a chippy!

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review, I will not be posting my review elsewhere in this case.