Northern Spy
Northern Spy
Embedded Files
About the Author and Publisher
Flynn Berry is the author of Under the Harrow, which won the Edgar Award for best first novel, and A Double Life, which will be published in July 2018. Under the Harrow has been translated into sixteen languages and was optioned for television by Paramount. Flynn is a graduate of Brown University and the Michener Center, and was a Yaddo fellow.
Published April 2021
Published April 2021
by Viking Press
by Viking Press
an imprint of Penguin Random House
an imprint of Penguin Random House
Beyond the Book
For 30 years, Northern Ireland was scarred by a period of deadly sectarian violence known as “the Troubles.” This explosive era was fraught with car bombings, riots and revenge killings that ran from the late 1960s through the late 1990s. The Troubles were seeded by centuries of conflict between predominantly Catholic Ireland and predominantly Protestant England. Tensions flared into violence in the late 1960s, leaving some 3,600 people dead and more than 30,000 injured.
Themes and Big Ideas
How does our race and/or ethnic background influence our identity?
How does our family and other close relationships affect who we become?
How does where we grow up impact our future? Does our upbringing/geography matter?
First Impression Review
Tense, terrifying, and briskly paced, Flynn Berry's Northern Spy is not only a thrilling tale of espionage and conflicting loyalties in a deeply divided Northern Ireland, it is also a tender and honest portrayal of those fierce, all-consuming early days of motherhood and the complicated bonds between sisters, mothers, and daughters.
Personal and Real World Connections
As a history teacher, this story reminded me of the many Civil War stories I know that exemplify how sometimes regional politics can divide (and even destroy) families. People living in the same household somehow ended up on different sides of the war. We can even see this happening today as war grips the Ukraine. There are people in that region with roots in both Russian and Ukrainian cultures, and even some Russian soldiers are struggling with the notion of invading their neighbors, friends, and even relatives.
Report abuse