Ashes on the Tongue

by J.J. Grafton

FAMILIES STEEPED IN CRUELTY AND BETRAYAL A COUNTRY TORN BY SECTARIANISM In 1950s Northern Ireland, two families are connected by a history steeped in secrecy, violence and betrayal.Ruby and Victor Crozier are Protestants, with one daughter, Fen, still at home. When Victor forces Fen out of school and into work in a linen mill, she begins to learn about the darkness in her family’s history. Rose and Dermot Quinn are Roman Catholics and parents of fifteen children. Their eldest son, John Joe, has just come home from England where he works and sends home much needed money. When Fen and John Joe unwittingly witness an atrocity, they are drawn into a web of danger emanating not only from within their own homes but also from the violent campaign for a unified Ireland. In fear of reprisals, they each make decisions which will have far-reaching consequences and change their young lives forever.

382 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 15, 2021

About the author

JJ (Jacqui Jay) Grafton was born in the province of Ulster and spent her formative years there before following her parents to England. She left school at the age of sixteen, going back into education in her early thirties to study English and Psychology. After a long career in the world of litho print, specialising in the production of art catalogues, Jacqui returned to university to study photography.

For nearly ten years, she competed internationally as a creative photographer, winning many awards and having her work published worldwide. As a natural progression, she became a judge on the British camera club circuit.

In 2020, Jacqui self-published her first book at the age of seventy-seven. To date, she has written five books in a variety of genres, including domestic noir, Irish historical sagas and cosy mystery,

Now an octogenarian, Jacqui lives in Nottingham with her partner of forty four years.

Reviews

[Amanda Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ashes on the Tongue is the second book by J.J. Grafton and it is one of the best books I have read in a long while.

Northern Ireland in the late 50's is the setting and it is the story of a young girl named Fen and how she is caught up in the poverty, the discrimination, the bigotry and the simmering tension and the violence that was life in the province back then, and it would be for many years to come.

Ashes on the Tongue is beautifully written. The author, a native of Northern Ireland, takes care with the dialogue of the place and the time so that the speech and the slang are perfectly correct.

She delves quite a lot into the treatment of women in this era. How they were still almost chattels, tied to the kitchen sink, working in menial jobs and not allowed education.

And woe betide any one, woman or man, who thought love could cross the religious divide.

I loved this book so very much. It is definitely one to be read again and again.

[Marcia Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ashes on the Tongue is a well-researched piece of fiction which brings alive the troubles in Northern Ireland during the 1950s. Fen, a young teenage girl, is forced to give up her schooling and start work in the linen mill. Fen’s parents, Victor and Ruby Crozier are Protestants, and Fen is well aware of the hostility they feel towards Roman Catholics, particularly the large Quinn family that lives just across the road. However, at the mill, she is put to work as a dobber amongst the Catholics, and she begins to learn things about her family’s history that would be better left hidden in the past. Initially, the reader will feel little sympathy for Fen’s mother, Ruby, who has not spoken to her daughter for over two years. However, the flashbacks to the 1930s, which occur throughout the book, show that Ruby has reasons for her behaviour and it is a sad tale. I remember news reports of the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland. This book brought it all back to me and helped me to understand the situation better. Ashes on the Tongue is a beautifully written book and a gripping lesson in history. I strongly recommend it.

[Ann Dudzinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Northern Ireland in the 1950s, the story revolves around Fen Crozier, a fifteen year old Protestant girl who’s forced to leave school and work in a linen mill by her father, the sometimes violent and cruel Victor. She gets no support from her mother, Ruby, who hasn’t spoken to her directly in two years.

At the mill, she learns that the family across the street, the McDermotts ( who Victor regularly derides for being Catholic), are her relatives. More shockingly, Rose McDermott is Ruby’s estranged sister. In direct defiance to her father, Fen meets her aunt, uncle, and cousins, becoming friends with the oldest son, John Joe.

Doing her best to fit into her new world and refusing to be drawn into the fight between Protestants and Catholics, Fen attends a Catholic dance with John Joe, where they witness the atrocity of a Protestant B Special attack on members of the IRA, one of whom is John Joe’s friend. On a visit to see if his friend is okay, John Joe and Fen are drawn into the web created by the IRA, but the real danger to Fen might be closer to home. As tensions and violence escalate, Fen can no longer straddle the fence between the religious divide, and will make decisions that have consequences more far reaching than she could have imagined.

I did my best to summarize this novel without any spoilers because if there’s no other book you read this year, it ought to be this one. In full transparency, Jacqui (the J.J. stands for Jacqui Jay) is one of my critique partners and a friend. I was fortunate enough to critique about half of this novel last year but for various reasons, wasn’t able to finish it. So I bought it THE DAY Jacqui announced its publication - then had to let it sit until I had a large enough block of time to read the entire book because I knew I wouldn’t be able to start it and not finish it the same day

Obviously, I’m a fan, and there are plenty of reasons to be one. Every character is fully fleshed out and you may not like them, but you’ll certainly remember them. And there’s a lot of characters in here I love to hate. It’s also an emotional rollercoaster, taking the reader from aghast, to sad, to hopeful, to teary eyed, and right back to biting your nails. In some regards, this is a quiet book focusing on wonderful characterization, but there’s one hell of a plot moving the story along as well. It’s written in present tense omni and my hat goes off to any author who captures omni point of view really well. Up until now Robin Willett topped that list for me and I’ve added Jacqui to it.

My only complaint is the ebook formatting. Without paragraph indentations, it was sometimes difficult to follow the beautifully free-flowing prose.

[Onia Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ashes on the Tongue by JJ Grafton is a powerful commentary on Northern Irish history, that runs deep in the collective consciousness of the islands of the British Isles.
Set initially in the decade prior to the ‘recent troubles’ and dipping further back into sectarian recent history, the book paints a gritty picture of bigotry and ignorance that shaped and shapes the different cultures of the conflicted communities.
This story follows a bridge spanning a family with a foot in each camp, and challenges the reader to face their own prejudice. Early injustices pale as greater atrocities are committed and witnessed, as the plot develops and thickens.
This is a truly gritty and gripping read. Highly recommended.

[Beverley Latimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking tale.

This is the first book I've read by this author, and it won't be the last. A well researched piece of fiction concerning the troubles in Northern Ireland, during the twentieth century. Two sisters torn apart, and the needless deaths of young men, who were cut down in the prime of their youth, due to the hatred between the Protestants and Catholics of that time. It's very well written, and a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.
Highly recommended!

[Siobhan D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the narration of Morgan Ayre


Fen is a young girl who is live in Northern Ireland in the late 1950's. Fen is caught up in the poverty, the discrimination, the bigotry and the simmering tension and the violence that was life in the provinces back then.
We see the how women of that time are treated. Bare foot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Working menial jobs, education is poor and treated like chattels.
Oh sweet lord if two people who fell in love and cross the religious divide.

I loved this book.

[One Sentence Audio Critic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working class families struggle with life in Ireland during "The Troubles," with all the violence, economic hardship and strife that implies. I give this book a solid 4 stars, with a few slips of language not consistent with the popular speech of the era, as plot negotiates several time periods.

Morgan Ayre does a 5 star job, in her debut narration of an audiobook, with consistent characterization, use of accent and engaging presentation.

[Zara Drain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read

I loved this and from Northern Ireland very relateable. Couldn't put it down. Cannot wait for the next one in June 2022

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you take your teenage daughter out of school at a moment’s notice, putting her instead into the harsh adult world of work, she’s going to hear some adult things that you don’t want her to. And, being an intelligent girl, she’s going to start asking questions and acting on the information she discovers. It ill behoves you then to take your fist to her as though she’s an insolent child in need of a beating—while your other hand is stretched out to take the pay packet you sent her out to earn. But that’s the ignorant man that is Victor Crozier, and his family is obliged to cope with him.

Wife Ruby elicits little sympathy at first. Not having spoken to daughter Fen for over two years due to an imagined slight, Ruby seems as ignorant as her husband. As Fen’s search for truth turns up answers, however, it looks as though Ruby has her own reasons for her unappealing behaviour—and it’s a very dark story.

Author J J Grafton pulls no punches in this story of sectarian Northern Ireland of the 1950s, which alternates with flashbacks to the 1930s, and which resonated with me. Being from London myself, my early experiences of NI were confined to news reports of ‘the troubles’, yet this book took me back—within a few chapters—to my earliest experience of those. A picture on the front of a newspaper, and I as a child confronted with the image of a person tied to a lamppost and suffering the brutality which had been inflicted on him—or her—by a hateful mob as a punishment, presumably for betraying their ‘side’. I’d completely forgotten that picture, but Ms Grafton’s story brought it right back to me, along with a reminder of what a fearful thing hate is, and how vile people can be to each other when in its grip.

A well-written and gripping history lesson—with a sequel which I am now compelled to read.