Embedded Files
Joan Lingard
For ages I had the sequel to this, Across the Barricades, sitting on my shelf, I almost started reading it before discovering that it was second in a series, then in a charity shop somewhere I found this and was very excited to fill in that missing piece. It is always one of the things I love about collecting specific editions, I can't just buy the books I want so when I discover them it is all the more exciting. Anyway, on to the book!
This is a story of Northern Irish children on either side in The Troubles. On each side is a headstrong child, Kevin is a Catholic and Sadie a Protestant. They have both had insular upbringings, in common with the rest of their community. Their understandings of "the other side" are informed mostly by stereotypes but they are both children who want to push boundries and are not content to sit in the boxes they have been brought up in. An interesting element of the story was seeing the role of the police as enforcers of that segregation - taking the pragmatic view to keep people to their own side, something which may temporarily create a kind of negative peace but which, on its own, does nothing to prevent the rise in resentment between the two sides.
Kevin and Sadie form a rivalry as each engage in acts of graffiti and other forms of increasingly daring revenge. This creates a lovely microcosm of how conflicts play out - separation and otherness leading to an agressive act and then a need to have the last word continuing to escalate until the conflict becomes the thing rather than the original argument. However, this conflict also gives them glimpses of the others as people rather than merely Catholics or Protestants and sows the seeds of self reflection. Most other characters don't have this sense of the others as people, they might be less antagonistic or more likely to live and let live but that comes more out of worry at the consequences of the latest scheme or a desire for a quiet life than from any sense of empathy. The only other character with a bit of that empathy is Brede, Kevin's sister, who has that because she reads, illuminating another way to cross the barriers that cultural isolation can put up. Brede is much more cautious than either Kevin or Sadie however so ends up a bit in the role of peacemaker, something that makes her very easy to empathise with as the reader.
The book wears these themes very lightly, it is as much a story about the adventures of children as it is a study of how divided and conflicted communities intersect. When reading you care about the children and worry at the consequences of the latest escalation. This is partly because of the complexity of their interactions, there is a good array of supporting characters who challenge and contrast the main characters in interesting ways and make you question their decisions. It is also done by creating a really strong sense of place, I particularly enjoyed the texture of descriptions of eating bags of chips which made the children seem normal in an abnormal situation.
As with so many books of historical fiction it made me want to read more of the actual history, that endless branching thing that is reading where most good books spark a desire to read several more. It has a brilliant ending which I won't spoil for you here and the sequel Across the Barricades is a wonderful companion piece but should definitely be read second.
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