Stormclouds: New Friends. Old Differences.

by Brian Gallagher

Overview

Big changes are coming to late-Sixties Belfast. At first life seems normal for Sammy and Maeve, two children from the opposing republican and loyalist communities. Sammy tries to avoid trouble with his unemployed father, while Maeve has lived with her aunt and uncle since her mother’s death.

When twins Dylan and Emma Goldman move from Washington to Belfast they strike up friendships with Maeve and Sammy. Gradually the nationalist girl and loyalist boy overcome their suspicions of each other, and all four children become friends. But even as they have fun at local sports clubs, attend the Goldman’s barbeques, and secretly make their own radio programmes, they can’t ignore the trouble that is slowing gripping the country. And when the simmering tensions in Northern Ireland erupt into violence it threatens not just their friendships – but their very lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847175793
Publisher:	Irish American Book Company
Publication date:	11/16/2013
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

BRIAN GALLAGHER was born in Dublin. He is a full-time writer whose plays and short stories have been produced in Ireland, Britain and Canada. He has worked extensively in radio and television, writing many dramas and documentaries.

Brian is the author of four adult novels, and his other books of historical fiction for young readers are One Good Turn and Friend or Foe – both set in Dublin in 1916; Stormclouds, which takes place in Northern Ireland during the turbulent summer of 1969; Secrets and Shadows, a spy novel that begins with the North Strand bombings during the Second World War; Taking Sides, about the Irish Civil War; Across the Divide, set during the 1913 Lockout, Arrivals, a time-slip novel set between modern and early-twentieth-century Ontario, and Pawns, set during Ireland’s War of Independence. Brian lives with his family in Dublin. His latest book, Spies, is a sequel to Pawns.

Find out more about Brian's books at briangallagherwriter.com

Editorial Reviews

2013-12-11
Gallagher opens with a blockbuster: Maeve, just 12, is caught squarely in the Troubles in 1969 Belfast, Ireland, trapped inside her home, which Protestant extremists have just set on fire. Unfortunately, it takes nearly the rest of the tale to reach that level of suspense again. Catholic Maeve has been befriended by Jewish twins Emma and Dylan, in Belfast while their father reports on the sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics. Through the twins, she meets Sammy, the son of an oft-drunk Protestant extremist. Although initially shaky, their friendship grows until, in a thrilling climax, Sammy assumes the huge risk of making his way across the violence-torn city to rescue Maeve. While readers are familiar with wars that wrack distant parts of the world, this accurate depiction of violence in a familiar and seemingly benign area will surprise and educate many--a worthy accomplishment. Less admirable is the prose that nearly always defaults to telling rather than showing. Even Maeve's relationship with Sammy is merely reported: "The more he got to know her the more he liked her, and although he didn't share her nationalist views, he had found himself influenced by some of the things she said." Although the divisive violence of the Troubles is clearly shown, the storytelling is less successful, minimizing the potential impact of this tragic tale. (Historical fiction. 11-15)

Kirkus Reviews