I requested this book for a discussion we hosted on BookBrowse. It went very well and our moderator thought highly of it; so in addition we reviewed it with five stars: https://www.bookbrowse.com/casbah/books/index.cfm?fuseaction=edit_book&book_number=4719

‘Trouble the living’ by Francesca McDonnell Capossela begins in Co Tyrone in 1997 (Coalisland to be precise), where we find Bríd and Ina Kane doing the normal things that teenage sisters do, whilst a conflict rumbles on in the background. Bríd is a bit more politicised than her younger sister, encouraged by a mother who feels she missed out on contributing to the ‘struggle’ because she got pregnant and married young.

The story then moves to Southern California in 2016, where we meet Bernie, during an active shooter drill in school (a character wearing a balaclava means we don’t feel too far from the north). Bernie’s a teenager who is exploring her sexuality whilst dealing with an over protective mother, and both are about to face challenges that will either bring them closer together or further fracture their fragile relationship. The chapters alternate between the two settings and I'm not going to say anymore on how they are connected - as usual when I start a book, I knew just the general jist of the story, and I think you should do the same. (Is it old fashioned to ignore as much of the blurb as possible?)

I was a bit concerned at the beginning of this book, with mention of a 'Station wagon' and 'candy' but I needed haven't worried because the author did a pretty good job of recreating the nineties in the north of Ireland. It also helped that I’m familiar with places such as the cathedral in Armagh and family life from that period. The Irish chapters in particular have a strong sense of place.


Trauma
I was born in the seventies in South Armagh and brought up during the worst of the troubles, so I'm always looking for authenticity in books that describe those times. It's an era that is soaked into the pores of my skin. This is a very different book from ‘Tresspasses' but I think Francesca McDonnell Capossela does a lot of research, has obviously spent time here and gets a lot of the difficult stuff right.

For example, there’s a part where the family are stopped in their car by a police and army patrol. It really brought back to me that fear, that dread in the pit of your stomach, as my da would slow down and tell us all to be quiet in the back. Looking at the uniforms and insignia to see who it was, some regiments more feared. Trying to spot the young English boys hiding in the hedgerows, fingers on the triggers of machine guns.

Difficult stuff like trauma, such as losing loved ones and taking that hurt and channeling it into revenge. It takes that to fuel a conflict, that never ending loop, but then there's the guilt that comes with that - can you live with what you have done? Falling into cavernous depressions that force you to take to the bed for days. And sometimes you just run out of road.

I’ve often felt that the English should have been required to employ about a thousand counsellors and trauma therapists to deal with the mess they left, as part of the Good Friday agreement. There are so many people still suffering from PTSD.

A few years ago I sat with a man in a bar, who recalled the night he pulled people from the rubble of a non warning car bomb that exploded outside a pub. He was a nurse, and just went into autopilot. When he went home later, washing the blood of his friends and neighbours from his hands, he just broke. More than forty years later with me at the bar, and he was still standing at that sink. (For anyone interested in that period, Lethal Allies by Anne Cadwallader is the book you’re after.)

Back to the book. Guilt at leaving people behind, because you’re worried about being swallowed whole by a place. You also get a sense of the decisions that lead to people feeling they have to protect their community, and I think the author brings this across really well. The pain of being away from home, because there’s a huge part of you still there and you are constantly being pulled back towards it. Reading about events like Brexit, and knowing how disastrous it could be for a peace as delicate as a spiders web.

Mothers and Daughters
The relationship between mothers and daughters form the beating heart of the book - dealing with the expectations of the mother, whilst asserting your own independence. The deep bond between the two sisters also felt very real and moving. I also really liked how family life was captured in the home in Coalisand, that was familiar to me. The different personalities squeezed under one roof, the shifting dynamics. The small, innocent decisions that people took during that period that end up having devastating consequences.

The dual timelines worked really well in telling the story and allowing the author to shift the pace when needed. It was also helped by Bríd, Ina and Bernie being likeable, complicated people that I was fully invested in. The writing itself was evocative, tender when it needed to be and I’m a sucker for incisive and realistic dialogue, which ‘trouble the living’ excelled at.

Really enjoyed this, some difficult themes explored and I cared for these characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy and Leilani Fitzpatrick for getting in touch and recommending ‘Trouble the living’ - I’ll be doing the same.

I unfortunately was not able to get into this one. The synopsis made this book sound interesting, but the plot didn’t keep me engaged.

Wow, I can't believe this is a debut novel! The writing was so beautiful and really draws you in. I enjoyed the alternating POVs and timelines. The story is more of a slow-burn, but because of the writing, it flows and moves quickly. Really excited to see what else this author will write!

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

A powerful debut novel exploring mother-daughter relationships across time and distance.
Francesca McDonnell Capossela's wonderful debut, Trouble the Living, opens in Northern Ireland during the late 1990s—the waning days of "the Troubles." Eighteen-year-old Brid has a complex family life; her mother is an IRA supporter, while her father is a violent drunk. Each of them feels trapped in their marriage, and Brid and her siblings constantly navigate the hazards of their parents' volatile relationship. It's clear that Brid's mother sees her daughter as a younger version of herself, attempting to groom her into a future IRA partisan—a role Brid at first relishes but later comes to regret.

Fast-forward eighteen years, and Brid is now a mother herself, living in California with her fifteen-year-old daughter, Bernie. As the plotline shifts to Bernie's story, readers will identify parallels between the complicated dynamics in both timelines; Bernie's teenage crises echo in many ways those encountered by her mother at the same age.

The narrative voice alternates between the younger Brid's and Bernie's first-person perspectives. As Brid's timeline converges with Bernie's, each is forced to reckon with her identity and understand the role their mothers have played, for better or worse, in shaping the people they've grown to be.

Capossela's writing is beautifully descriptive throughout, every paragraph bringing to life her characters' observations and emotions:

"Coalisland was closed as a fist to the outside—suspicious of strangers, gossipy about anyone who looked or dressed or spoke differently from us—and while to me that felt like protection, I could imagine it feeling like a prison, too. Maybe that was why [my sister] was always looking over the horizon line, studying the backdrop of the music videos we watched on MTV, looking for palm trees and white beaches and skyscrapers. For cacti and exotic birds."

Capossela is also adept at capturing teen angst. Each of her heroines is on the cusp of adulthood in her timeline—an age at which many struggle to define themselves. Her visceral, spot-on portrayals of their confusion, anger and search for identity will likely evoke readers' memories of their own teenage years.

The narrative touches on many themes: mother/daughter relationships, domestic and political violence, sexuality and dysfunctional families, to name just a few. A book that covers this much ground might feel overstuffed, but in this case Capossela weaves together these thematic threads so seamlessly that only after the conclusion does one truly recognize and appreciate the novel's density.

The book's highlight, though, may be the author's skill with character development. At first Brid and Bernie seem swept away by people and events—passive players trying to live up to others' ideals. In the end, though, each is empowered to decide her own destiny; they assert themselves and choose the path they feel is best, no longer controlled by their mothers' expectations. It's a powerful image of the inner strength we all are capable of possessing, and one that will likely resonate deeply with many readers.

Trouble the Living is an impressive debut that will likely draw a wide audience but will probably appeal primarily to female readers. Its many weighty themes would also make this a great selection for a variety of book groups. The novel's exploration of mother-daughter relationships as well as the challenges of becoming an adult will ring true for most, and its fast-paced storylines will keep readers riveted.

"'That's because it isn't real,' she said. 'They drew a line on a map, and they want us to live by it.'" I picked up Francesca McDonnell Capossela's book, Trouble the Living, right after reading Songs for the Dead and the Living by Sara M. Saleh, and it's pretty much about the same thing: the impacts of dispossession on subsequent generations of women. Set in Northern Ireland and California, the book maps the story of Bríd Kane and Ina Evans, and the way The Troubles (1868–1998) has impacted their lives.

Capossela lays bare the way that intergenerational trauma of war shapes the women's lives, and through them, shapes the lives of their daughters, and their daughter's daughters. Aiofe Kane inducts her daughter into the Irish Republican Army (IRA) by making it her job to hand over the household's empty bottles, giving "something secret to my motherland. The song of the empty bottles. A kiss for my country." Bríd takes forward Aiofe's anger and desire for retribution and pays a life-long consequence for it, one that she transmits to her own daughter, Bernie: "turning me into something dangerous."

"It's about them coming into our country and taking our language and our land and our houses and our jobs and our food and making us second-class citizens." What is interesting is the way this historic subjugation plays into the lives of future generations and their bodily experiences as women: "Like I was a car the IRA had stolen, explosives tied to my soft belly." The Troubles colours all the mother–daughter relationships in the book: "The past had sprouted into me, into my mother as I knew her, into our life together." For Bernie this leads to an unpleasant first sexual encounter and teen pregnancy, and it is through this event that the women in the book finally come together: "I wondered how she could abet an act of terrorism but condemn an abortion." This book constructs war as something not only relevant to women, but in fact carried by them: "I knew, I'd always known, that war was a woman's thing." I enjoyed reading this book, and thinking about the intersections between Northern Ireland and Palestine.

Trouble the Living opens in 1997 as Brid, her sister, Ina, and her mother go off, supposedly to go shopping for her older brother's wedding, but in reality....to see the border. They live in Northern Ireland and this is during the time of The Troubles, with conflicts and violence separating the North and the South. Brid and Ina are very different and they approach their lives and the conflict in very different ways as well.
Their story then alternates between the late 1990's and 2016 in Southern California. Brid is an adult and has a high school age daughter, Bernie....and is trying to get through a life with challenges.
The characters and settings are all very well developed and the Irish sections were particularly interesting. Even though he was a secondary character, I especially liked Kaleb and the depth he brought to their lives in California. The two timelines come together nicely and their story is then told with the differing perspectives of Bernie and Brid.
Trouble the Living does a wonderful job of showing how history and actions early in life can continue to impact one's life into adulthood. This is Ms. Capossela's first novel and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read Trouble the Living in exchange for an honest review.

This was an exceptionally good novel. For me, it already had a formula tipped for reading success: Irish fiction, in particular a Northern Ireland setting within the years of 'The Troubles', grief, family, obligation and retribution - just to name a few key themes. It more than lived up to my expectations.

'Though I had not thought of him much over the years, though it was to my mother and not my father that all my thoughts led, I could still feel the loss of him somewhere underneath my skin. Another piece of my home gone forever. Another person I couldn't say goodbye to.'

Initially, I enjoyed Brid's sections more than that of her daughter Bernie, but as the novel progressed, I began to enjoy it all equally. There was a lot within this story, it is not light in any way, shape or form. It deals with serious mental health issues, inter-generational PTS, terrorism, fanaticism, grief, retribution, religion, identity and sexuality. I appreciated the no holds barred approach the author took. While at a glance at this list, it might seem loaded, all of this was woven into the story with such a precise attention to balance and detail.

'I tried to recall how I'd been taught to cope in the old days. The process of compartmentalising, stowing fear in your gums and carrying on. You don't say anything, don't answer even the most banal of questions. If you give them none of yourself, they cannot take more.'

Above all though, this is a story about healing. About family. About the things that bind women within the one family, about siblings, about the way we can miss so much of what is right in front of us, and about the way we can wound as well as love in equal measure.

'It was what we all wanted. To choose our own freedom, to choose our own pain.'

I liked the timing of when the earlier part of this novel was set, at the end of the Troubles, when peace was within reach, but not unification; I appreciated the insight into how this might feel for those who had been fighting for so long - for generations. It was really well done. Highly recommended reading, particularly for those who like their stories infused with politics and history.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

1997, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland: For Bríd, home and country are everything—but hers is a country divided. She is her mother's daughter, both determined to have a free and united Ireland at any cost. But she is not the apple of her mother's eye, and as the clock ticks forward they both say, and do, things that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

2016, Los Angeles County, California, United States: Life with her mother is all Bernie has ever known—her mother, who asks repeatedly for promises that Bernie will come home, and who wants Bernie to need no one else, and who sometimes stays in bed for days. Bernie knows nothing about her mother's life before her, and between Bríd's secrets and Bernie's occasional recklessness—and as the two timelines converge—things come to a head.

"Passive myself, I'd been shaped by others until I became potent, frightening, with the potential for disaster." (loc. 675)

Unusually for a dual-timeline story, I was fully invested in both plots and storylines. I'm reluctant to give too many details about the plot, as I think it's better to let the story unfold without knowing all of the themes straight away, but I will say that there are heavy themes of family, mother-daughter relationships, history (sort of) repeating itself (but also not really), and independence/choice. Every time I read about the Troubles, too, I'm reminded of how little I really know about that time and place, and I appreciate the way the Troubles are woven into the fabric of Bríd's life in Ireland, neither the intense focus of the story nor pushed to the background.

I will say that this isn't going to be a book to everyone's tastes: there are some hot-button topics in here, and even with that aside, both Bríd and Bernie make decisions that are...influenced by the rashness of youth, let's say. But I'm less interested in what decisions characters make (although: also, on board with certain decisions Bernie makes later in the book) and more interested in how they make those decisions, and what happens in terms of character development as a result. I love that romance is only barely a blip in the book and that not everything can be tied up with a bow by the end.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

This is one of those novels that can haunt you long after you've finished reading. This story could easily have been tragic. At it's heart this is a story of the violent death of one daughter that reverberates to a second generation as one tries to break free from the Irish Troubles or IRA fight for Irish unification by escaping to California, and her daughter trying to break free from her own mother's pathological need to control where her daughter is. There are a few too many themes in this novel that are cobbled together: abortion, homosexuality, suicide, which detract from the lush story of Ireland, patriotism, and family loyalty.

It's hard to believe that Trouble the Living is Francesca McDonnell Capossela's debut novel. An assured and powerful book it tells the story of close sisters Brid and Ina and their dysfunctional family during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990's. With the factional feuding around them causing a family tragedy Brid is encouraged by her Mother to join the IRA ,what happens when she does leaves her devastated ,traumatised and on a plane to America without saying her goodbyes.
Years later,living in California and wrestling her demons, she has a daughter of her own,Bernie,who is wrestling with her sexuality , her Mother's obvious lies about her background and secrets of her own. Mother and Daughter have cause to return to Northern Ireland and an uncertain reception.
Switching between timelines this is an involving and moving story of family,guilt,revenge,reconciliation and much more. The core of the tale is the 2 Mother/Daughter relationships,and they're certainly complex. My own view was that Brid's Mother, Aoife, was a bit of a monster,encouraging your young daughter to join a terrorist organisation didn't strike me as particularly maternal,whether you regard them as freedom fighters or not.
A quite incredible debut from a very talented author.

A very well written novel about Mothers and daughters
This is about the choices we make and the consequences
It goes from the eighties in Northern Ireland to 2016 in California
It's a coming of age that deals with different pressures in very different societies
However, Young Women's problems are still very similar
A thought provoking read
Highly recommended

Wow. What a fantastic read this was. I devoured this in hours. Definitely get this one on your list.

The book covers the difficult time period in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles. When Catholics and Protestants were mortal emeries and the paramilitary group, the IRA was on a warpath both in the country and in the UK with bombings, murder and retribution. In return Loyalist (Protestants loyal to the British Kingdom) doled it back. It was a horrific time to be alive.

We meet Ida and her younger sister Brid, both extremely different in their views on life. Ida, the eldest is coveted by Brid for her looks, boyfriend and carefree ways. Ida wants nothing to do with the war, the beliefs behind it and even refuses to attend Mass at Church (a great sin for Catholics back then). Brid has been influenced by her Ma, a hard woman who wanted to be a soldier for the IRA but pregnancy at a young age put stop to that. She wants to live out the life she could not via young Brid.

The characters and atmosphere of the times is done brilliantly. I loved both sisters. There are 2 brothers also, they play less of a starring role and their Da is drunk mist if the time and loaths everything to do with the IRA, much to his wife’s disgust.

A terrible tragedy occurs which devastates and fractures them all. Sadly it’s not so much fiction but a true reflection of events of the times. Everything changes. Innocence is lost and life altering decisions are made. I could not get enough. I loved in Ireland (in the South) so understand the times, the anger that Northern Ireland was “owned” by the UK and not a united country. I read a lot of books on The Troubles back then.

The book then flows forward in time to a new life established and a sister now a Mother herself. Her torment at events gone by impact her own daughter Bernie deeply. Why is her Mum so secretive about her past? Why so many lies? She doesn’t know where she came from. Bernie experiences her own struggles and also makes decisions that will change her life forever. It’s really heartbreaking at times. It will certainly challenge your own belief systems and moral standing as you read.

The book barrels to a brilliant finish, characters that shine in their own way, raw, damaged and very realistic.

Historical events that occurred over the many years are intertwined really well. Events almost everyone is aware of. Whilst the book tackles history and its impact on people what it shines at is the brilliantly portrayed characters. I loved each one in their own way. In a nutshell I loved this book, loved its honesty and the way it tackles many tough issues without flinching. A must read. 5 easy stars.

This is by far one of the best books that I read this year. Irish to a fault. Well written, well researched and just an overall great story of a dysfunctional family.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This is a great debut from an Irish American author. As a single mother of a teenage daughter, I loved the shifting perspectives between Brid and Bernie, and the way that the past is its own character clouding the space between them. The novel beautifully captures both N Ireland and Los Angeles, and keenly observes how The Troubles felt all-encompassing to those that lived through it. The analogies between American and Irish violence and their impact are defrly portrayed. I will look forward to her future novels.

Compelling exploration of the ties that bind families and the events that test family ties. The author skillfully describes the complexity of relationships between mothers and daughters while keeping the reader engaged with an engrossing story of survival and forgiveness. I found the book emotionally satisfying and gripping.

Loved it! The dual timeline, representation, and depth of the characters really stood out to me. It's been a long time since I burned through a book this fast. So impressive that this is a debut novel and can't wait for more!!

What a captivating debut novel — equal parts violent and tender, it’s a moving exploration of all the different ways we can love and fail both others and ourselves. Capossela explores love, trauma, grief, bravery, and generational bonds in beautiful prose, making you root for every character even as they make mistakes. Can’t wait for this book to be out in the world!

I love dual-timeline novels, and Francesca McDonnell Capossela's did not disappoint! Poignant, haunting, and captivating from the first pages, this story set during The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the '90s (and in the US in the mid-2010s) was nuanced, carefully delivered, and taut. Thank you for the advanced read!