Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen (Algonquin Books), picked by store manager, Emily
Maeve Murray has complicated feelings on just about everything: her family, her friends, her English boss, Protestant co-workers and most of all preparing to leave her small town in Northern Ireland.
In the Summer of 1994 as they wait for their school test results Maeve and her two best friends, Caroline and Aoife, take the only jobs available to them. Working in a shirt factory is hard but made all the more difficult with The Troubles brewing inside and outside of the factory walls.
I found this book to be in turns funny and somber. Gallen captures the time and place but with characters so relatable everyone can enjoy their story.
Ed note: Read a Q&A with Michelle Gallen.