Where They Were Missed

by Lucy Caldwell

Where They Were Missed is a heartbreaking story of domestic tragedy and the loneliness of suffering. In a world where everyday violence taps on the surface of people's lives, Lucy Caldwell evokes the pain of an incomprehensible loss, as she charts a young girl's search for forgiveness.

Genres: Ireland, Fiction, Irish Literature, Historical Fiction, Novels, Coming Of Age, Family

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess this is the problem for Northern Irish writers who want to write a book about their own experiences- to write with 'the troubles' or not. I m not too keen on books where the story is so dependent on the troubles that it becomes much more than a back drop. Nonetheless this is a confident novel and while it feels a bit niaive and dated (even tho written in 2006), that's perhaps testament to the authenticity of the narrator

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story about how the Troubles has affected the domestic sphere/ home in Northern Ireland - told from the perspective of a child of a mixed marriage.

I found this novel incredibly moving; especially the first section which is narrated by “not-quite-seven” year old Saoirse.

Easily the best novel I’ve read in a long time 😊

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is tackling an extremely tricky…somewhat delicate…subject…but she captures vividly a particularly troubled part of Ireland's past. Her use of Irish myths…some I grew up hearing from my grandmother who left this area in 1926....was a really good part of the book. The stories are entrancing and a great deal about the situation she describes is what relatives that are still there have described and lived through. The book definitely shows that Caldwell was a promising writer and attempts to shed light on an important chronicle in a very dark chapter in Irish history. However it appeared that the authors believed that in order to write tragedy you must spread the misery on as heavily as possible. The only thing it did was just produce more misery on top of what these people were experiencing at the time. The parts that chronicled Saoirse's relationship with her aunt and uncle and her dreams of school and those wonderful Irish myths lightened the atmosphere to some degree but not enough to make the reader come away with any real good feeling…but then this time in Ireland’s history didn’t produce many “good" feelings. If anyone is interested in pursing this bleak subject to more extent… may I recommend Deirdre Madden's One By One In the Darkness.

[Eve Batten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up from 2.5

[Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

At only 231 pages this isn't very long but it's so repetitive that I can't understand why it was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She goes, I go, he goes, we go, they go. By page 43 I was seriously considering packing it in and by page 54 I had to stop. I left it until the following day to try again.

Here is an example from page 54:

Then the priest goes, You're six years of age, are you, Saoirse?
-Six and three quarters and soon I'll be seven
-You'll soon be seven, will you? Ach, sure you're almost grown-up so you are!
-I'm four, goes Daisy.
-Are you indeed? he goes. Then he goes, Do you girls say your prayers?

The priest clasps Mammy's hands for a long time.
-You've done the right thing, he goes.
-Thank you, Father, she goes.
-Sha-sha? goes Daisy, tugging at my sleeve....
-Shh, I go.

There were a couple of times I genuinely thought a character was going somewhere before I realised they weren't leaving they were just speaking. On each and every page go or goes was repeated so many times that it quickly became irritating and it didn't help that the book is extremely dialogue heavy. One of the first things we're taught at school is to use a range of words. Muttered, whispered, shouted, bellowed. The author did use 'said' a few times - which I much appreciated.

There were some interesting ideas and I enjoyed the setting. The first part of the book set in Belfast was most vivid and described beautifully. Part 2 was very bleak, not just in subject matter but also the setting. I enjoyed the Irish dialect, which was easy to follow because the author always made the meaning of the words clear in context. There were a couple of lines of dialogue that were just perfect but the story was slow and there wasn't enough suspense or action to keep it from being boring, particularly after Part 1. While the Irish stories that were woven in were a nice touch, once or twice they were just too long. If this book hadn't been so short I would never have read beyond pg 54.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belfast in den 1980er Jahren: Saoirse und ihre kleine Schwester Daisy sind noch zu klein, um zu verstehen, was um sie herum passiert. Sie bemerken, dass der Beruf des Vaters zu Streit zwischen den Eltern führt und dass sie bei Paraden im Haus bleiben müssen. Trotzdem sind sie glücklich, denn ihre Mutter schafft es immer wieder, sie die negativen Dinge vergessen zu lassen. Aber genauso wie die Temperaturen in diesem heißen Sommer ansteigen, so steigen auch die Spannungen zwischen den Eltern, bis die Situation unerträglich wird.

Im ersten sieht man die Dinge durch die Augen von Saiorse. Im Gegensatz zu den kleinen Mädchen weiß ich, was hinter ihren Erzählungen steht. Während der Unruhen in Belfast stehen die Eltern auf verschiedenen Seiten, denn die Mutter kommt aus dem Süden Irlands. Dass ihr Mann bei der RUC arbeitet, ist ein ständiges Streitthema zwischen den beiden. Aber das ist auch etwas anderes, das Saoirse zwar sieht, aber nicht begreift. Immer wieder verschwindet die Mutter tagelang im Schlafzimmer und kann sich nicht um die Mädchen kümmern. Diese Episoden werden immer häufiger und länger und führen zu immer mehr Spannungen, bis die Ehe der Eltern zerbricht.

Im zweiten Teil lebt die Teenagerin bei Tante und Onkel im Süden Irlands. Dorthin sind sie und ihre Mutter nach einem tragischen Ereignis in Belfast gezogen, aber jetzt ist Saoirse allein zurückgeblieben. Sie fühlt, dass ihre Verwandten Geheimnisse vor ihr haben. Das frustriert sie und drückt sich in ihrem Verhalten aus. Sie ist an einem Wendpunkt in ihrem Leben und ist auf der Suche nach etwas, das ihr den richtigen Weg zeigt.

Diesen inneren Kampf beschreibt Lucy Caldwell sehr eindringlich. Sie bringt die Leser in eine Zeit, in der unangenehme Dinge oft verschwiegen wurden, weil es zu peinlich war, darüber zu reden. Aber auch in eine Zeit, in der man vorsichtig sein musste, wem man vertraut. In dieser Zeit aufzuwachsen, ist schon unter normalen Umständen nicht leicht. Für jemand, der so viel erlebt hat wie Saoirse, ist es ungleich schwerer.

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite having a high level of interest in fiction emanating from Northern Ireland, until recently I had neglected to read many novels written by female authors, something which I am working to rectify. Hence my late arrival at this, Lucy Caldwell's debut novel, my first experience of her work, which was a quick read, but one that I'm not completely sure about.

The novel is written from the point of view of Saoirse and is broken into three parts. The first portrays her life as a 7 year old in late 1970s East Belfast, as she and her younger sister Daisy cope both with sectarianism on the street and with the strain this, and the wider conflict, puts on the relationship between her mother, a Catholic originally from Donegal and her Protestant police officer father. The second finds her in Gweebarra Bay in County Donegal, living with her Aunt and Uncle in a run down B and B, dealing with the fallout of a number of catastrophic events, and aiming to get closure on unanswered questions from her past. Finally, the short third section sees her return to Belfast and brings some closure for her.

I found that this novel did grow on me, although I didn't love it. Content wise, I would question a couple of small points of accuracy in relation to aspects of narrative related to the Troubles, but given the fact that the narrator is a 7 year old at the point, these simplifications may be deliberate. The writing in the Donegal section reminded me of Bernard McLaverty for some reason, which I suppose is no bad thing, although in this section, there were aspects of the narrative that seemed a little 'forced' in, and weren't that relevant to the story. Perhaps it's just that I didn't identify too well with the narrator in general, although I did have sympathy for her as she coped with all that life had thrown at her.

All in all, a book that has its merits, but one that wouldn't be up there with my favourites. I will read 'All the Beggars Riding' to see how Caldwell's latest novel compares, though maybe not for a while.

[Andrew McDougall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blew me away with its tragic beauty. A story of domestic pain set against the backdrop of the Troubles, the narrative takes place partly in Belfast and partly in rural Donegal. Caldwell evokes with excruciating clarity the intensity of personal suffering through protagonist Saoirse, a daughter of a mixed marriage: her mother a Catholic and her father a Protestant and a policeman. It is perhaps the perspective afforded by time and distance that enables her to make sense of her past, her family and her city.

Full review here

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first half was definitely the more solid one. getting some insight into what the beginning of the troubles was like for mixed marriages between catholics & protestants was fascinating, mainly because it’s a subject that’s been largely avoided in northern irish fiction as far as i can tell — i’ve read plenty of accounts from either sides of the conflict, but children of mixed-religion marriages had a very unique experience of the conflict that is often ignored from a broader perspective. i loved saoirse’s account of her life in belfast, and i ached for her and her family when tragedy struck — but the second half of the novel did become a little tedious, hence the four-star rating. i really did love the ending though — it was a very gentle & soothing way of giving such a bleak story an optimistic closure.

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It appears to be a simple story about a family in Belfast during the troubles. But there are a lot of underlying secrets. I liked that the narrator was a child and then a teenager so we are told the story in her voice. It is a sad book in many ways but at the end I was left with a feeling of hope. The one criticism I would have is that the background of the troubles was not instrumental to the story, they were just used as a construct to set up the relationship difficulties which I feel was a missed opportunity.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenneth Branagh should have used this as the basis for a film abt Belfast. It shows the sticky bits of childhood alongside the sectarian violence and is an excellent example of the “say nothing” tradition of the Irish and how that plays out for children, in particular.

My heart broke for Saoirse and her family (mixed Catholic and Prod) and how these forces outside of themselves worked to keep the family apart.

[Katie Grainger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a thought provoking book, having no real concept of what it was like in Northern Ireland during the "troubles" this book gave me an insight. I agree with the other reviewer that in places this book is bleak but then it isn't pretending to be anything else. It is a simple tale of a little girl who has it tough.

I thought the first section of the book from the 6 year old principle character's perspective fascinating. Through her naive childish thoughts it was possible to piece through and realise what was actually happening in the lives of the adults and the split between her parents. Although not allot of action occurs within the story what actually happens to the young character is immense.

The only thing that irritated me about this book was the style of speech used in that there were no speech marks and at times I was thinking is the person still talking- although this may be a literary devise I have completely missed the point of!

[Laura jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

IF YOU REMEMBER THE YEARS OF UNREST IN NORTHER IRELAND DUE TO RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU I READ ALL AT ONCE AS IT WAS NOT EASY TO PUT DOWN CONCENTRATES FIRSTLY ON A FAMILY LIVING IN NORTHERN IRELAND WITH FAMILIES FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS THE GIRLS GROW UP WITH THE TROUBLES ALL AROUND THEM HATE FROM THE NEIGHBOURS THEN THE MOTHER LEAVES THE FATHER AND GOES BACK TO HER FAMILY HOME ITS SUCH A GOOD STORY I DONT WANT TO SPOIL IT FOR YOU BUT IT FOLLOWS THE ELDER SISTER GROWING UP STILL HAVING PREJUDICE AND INCREASINGLY AWARE OF FAMILY SECRETS AND THE FRACTURED RELATIONSHIP WITH HER FATHER ITS A GREAT STORY AND I THINK LIKE ME YOU WONT PUT IT DOWN

[Laura Walin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a sad story of a sad family, torn between the two religions in teh Northern Ireland. Written from the viewpoint of the oldest daughter in the family the book leaves many open questions on motives and feelings of other family members. As teh writer does not go too deep into the thoughts of her narrator, for once I would have liked to hear also the other sides of the story - what were the mother and father thinking, what made them do the decisions that they did?

[Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Northern Ireland.

[Alisa]

*On recommendation from Clare Clark.