Factory Girls

by Michelle Gallen

A funny, fierce, and unforgettable read about a young woman working a summer job in a shirt factory in Northern Ireland, while tensions rise both inside and outside the factory walls.

It’s the summer of 1994, and all smart-mouthed Maeve Murray wants are good final exam results so she can earn her ticket out of the wee Northern Irish town she has grown up in during the Troubles. She hopes she will soon be in London studying journalism—away from her crowded home, the silence and sadness surrounding her sister’s death, and most of all, away from the violence of her divided community.

As a first step, Maeve’s taken a job in a shirt factory working alongside Protestants with her best friends. But getting the right exam results is only part of Maeve’s problem—she’s got to survive a tit-for-tat paramilitary campaign, iron 100 shirts an hour all day every day, and deal with the attentions of Handy Andy Strawbridge, her slick and untrustworthy English boss. Then, as the British loyalist marching season raises tensions among the Catholic and Protestant workforce, Maeve realizes something is going on behind the scenes at the factory. What seems to be a great opportunity to earn money turns out to be a crucible in which Maeve faces the test of a lifetime. Seeking justice for herself and her fellow workers may just be Maeve’s one-way ticket out of town.

Bitingly hilarious, clear-eyed, and steeped in the vernacular of its time and place, Factory Girls tackles questions of wealth and power, religion and nationalism, and how young women maintain hope for themselves and the future during divided, violent times.
 

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Audiobook, Contemporary, Historical

294 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2022

Reviews

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eighteen year old Maeve Murray has her future planned out. Waiting for her A-level results to be published, she decides to take a summer job in a shirt factory with her closest friends Aoife and Caroline to earn some money before she moves to London to pursue higher education with the intention of embarking on a career in journalism. She can’t wait to get out of her Northern Ireland town and start a new life. Her first step towards independence is getting a summer job (despite the fact that she has to deal with an unpleasant boss whose treatment of his female employees is disrespectful to say the least) and renting a flat with her friend Caroline near her (temporary) workplace. Over the next few months, we follow Maeve as she adjusts to life as a factory worker, meets new people and makes new friends all the while hoping for a better future.

Michelle Gallen’s Factory Girls is an entertaining novel. Maeve is spirited (a bit brash at times) and resourceful. She observes and learns from her experiences, not all of which are pleasant. Set in the summer of 1994, in a small town in Northern Ireland during the last years of the Troubles, this novel gives us a vivid picture of the social and political landscape during those turbulent years. The author touches upon themes of divisiveness between the factions (more political than religious), sectarianism, bias, conflict, sexism and economic hardship, through an engaging narrative and a protagonist you keep rooting for. The narrative is shared from Maeve’s perspectives and we get to know more about her from her memories, which are presented to us through flashbacks. Maeve’s experiences in the factory in a mixed group of people which she considers to be a learning experience that will help her when she moves to London. A likeable protagonist, a cast of interesting characters, a good dose of humor and wit, and the historical context is what works for this novel. However, it took a bit of time to get into the story and I felt that the initial fifty percent of the novel suffers from minor repetitiveness. It also took a while to get used to the dialect. Despite some minor flaws, I did enjoy Michelle Galen’s Factory Girls. I can’t help wonder if we will get more stories from the author featuring Maeve, as she embarks on a new life.

Many thanks to Michelle Gallen, Algonquin Books and NetGalley for the advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released in the USA on November 29, 2022.

My Rating : 3.5⭐️

#FactoryGirls

[Michael Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an American of Irish descent in the 1990’s I was concerned about “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. I did what little I could; I wrote President Clinton (in the snail mail of the time) and sent letters to the editor of Irish America magazine urging a peaceful solution. Living in Los Angeles, what did I really know? I knew people were fighting each other and people were dying in the land my great grandparents came from. Obviously, you cannot really know what is going on unless you live the life.

In “Factory Girls” Michelle Gallen brings us right back to those streets. In a small Northern Irish town Maeve Murray and her friends are awaiting the results of their academic exams, Maeve hoping to escape to study journalism in London. While waiting, she and her friends find work in a shirt factory for the summer. Being Catholic, she has rarely encountered Protestants and the factory is split between the two groups. There are rumors a peace treaty is imminent and the area is tense as the two sides are stepping up activity in order to be in a better position when and if hostilities are halted.

Maeve is outrageously funny, passionate and sharp and not about to take “gruff” from anyone. Her “posh” friend Aoife comes from an upper-middle class background and sees the world from a different point of view. Another friend, Caroline, is a little less ambitious and does not seem as restless. Looming large is the memory of Deirdre, Maeve’s troubled sister who was unable to cope with their world and resorted to suicide.

I loved the characters in this book and the sense of how hard and dangerous life was like for these people. I understand Michelle Gallen’s previous book “Big Girl, Small Town” is excellent and left some reviewers disappointed in this one. I can only say I look forward to checking out that earlier work, having enjoyed "Factory Girls.”

Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #Factory Girls #NetGalley

[Jessica J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you like Derry Girls? Because I fucking loved Derry Girls and comparisons to that show are 90% of the reason I picked up Factory Girls, a novel focusing on several teenage girls reaching adulthood in Northern Ireland in 1994.

This novel is much...bleaker than Derry Girls, though. Maybe that's a function of being set a few years earlier, before there was as much progress toward reconciliation. I'm not super well-versed in The Troubles, but I do know that the final season of Derry Girls takes around the time of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended the worst of the violence. There's a strong sense of hope in the show, a level of feel-good even though the characters were literally living through an era called The Troubles.

There's much less of that sense of hope in Factory Girls. The novel focuses on Maeve, who has just finished secondary school and is waiting for the results of her A-level tests that will determine whether or not she can go to college in London in the fall. She and her two closest friends get a job for the summer at the town's shirt factory, and much of the story focuses on the less-than-ideal conditions at the factory - long hours, inconsistent pay, a boss who seems to be trying for a world record in sexual harassment. The job also represents the first time that Maeve, a Catholic, has spent an extended amount of time with the Protestants who live in the same town. As she celebrates her impending jump to adulthood by moving into an apartment with her friend Caroline and going out for drinks after work, Maeve also ponders what life would look like if she doesn't get the marks necessary to move to London – or what would happen if she decides she doesn't want to make such a huge leap into the world of the people who have oppressed her and her peers.

While it is at times bleak – and while there are multiple examples of how Maeve's life has been directly impacted by the violence in her town – the book isn't entirely hopeless. Maeve has many typical teenage experiences: she tiptoes around a flirtation with her sister's older brother, she befriends one of her new coworkers, she dreams of becoming a journalist who can tell what she views as honest accounts of what is happening in Northern Ireland. And this book is hilarious, with quick-fire banter that reminded me of Derry Girls and lines like "he had a face perfect for modeling balaclavas."

I will warn readers that Michelle Gallen seems to take for granted that her readers will be able to follow the ins and outs of the various paramilitary groups. I don't think you necessarily need to know all the complexities of a very complex situation, but it will help to know that though we tend to think of it as "Protestants vs. Catholics," it was more about nationalism and sovereignty than religion. That being said, Ulster typically refers to Protestants who were loyal to the British crown and most Catholics either wanted the North to be joined into the "Free State" of Ireland or to become their own country independent of both.

[Erin]

Thanks to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

After several attempts to sit down and read this, I find myself admitting that I just couldn't get into it. I found myself skimming onwards to get to a part that would grip me but it never happened. I have decided only to leave my thoughts and not give it a star rating




Publication Date. 29/11/22
Goodreads review published 18/12/22

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels strangely underbaked after Gallen's confident debut, BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN. I can't figure out why it doesn't work exactly. All the pieces are there. Maeve and her two closest friends spend their summer working in the town shirt factory while waiting to see if their school results are good enough to get them into college and a real life somewhere else. It's the early 90's in Northern Ireland with The Troubles as a constant backdrop to the girls' lives, even more complicated by the Factory employing both Catholics and Protestants, putting Maeve in close proximity with "Prods" for the first time. Maeve is still recovering from her older sister's suicide after she got out but then left college, complicating her wishes to follow in her footsteps. There is the factory's rich, weaselly owner making trouble. There are the three girls' more complicated relationships as they consider their futures. All of this sounds great and sounds like it should be a delight, after Gallen had such a strong voice-y novel before. And yet it just kind of lies there.

For the first half things feel quite repetitive, there is lots more explaining than we need. And I was confused that we really only have Maeve's first day at the factory given in detail and after that apparently she adjusts just fine and it's no big deal? Which I didn't really buy.

Throughout there are too many flashbacks to Maeve's childhood to illustrate some point Gallen wants to make but that always feels like too much and could have been done without.

Does Maeve grow up and have a summer she'll never forget? Well, yes. But do we know Maeve all that well by the end? Do we ever get a real sense of who she will be if she does get out? Not really.

If I hadn't enjoyed Gallen's first novel so much I'm not sure I would have finished it as the pacing didn't always have enough momentum to move things along.

[Emmkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Everyone from the town had an attitude for anyone from the town who’d an attitude about the town. Everyone resented anyone who’d hope of getting out, especially - Maeve knew well - someone like her, who came from a white family. It was alright for Aoife O’Neill with her accountant father and artist mother to have notions, but Maeve’s da had been invalided out of the pig factory when he got sick of the guts and gore, while her mam’d swapped her marching and civil rights for the fags and bennies…There wasn’t a single shopkeeper, publican, priest, nun, teacher or doctor in Maeve’s family, and looking at the cut of her brothers, there wasn’t much hope of one in the future. They couldn’t afford to buy their council house. Nobody as poor as Maeve could afford to have notions about herself. Which was why she treasured them.”

A really enjoyable 1990s coming-of-age story about teenage Maeve and her two best friends, who get jobs in a ‘mixed’ (Catholic and Protestant) local shirt factory as they await their exam results. If Maeve does well, she’ll be able to leave their conflict-ridden Northern Irish town and take up a scholarship in London, defying the odds. Meanwhile, she joins the workforce, navigating a mix of sexual harassment by and attraction to her English boss, tensions with “Prod” coworkers, the strains of a cross-class friendship, and the anxiety that comes with the prospect of escaping the bounds of her roots. I liked how Gallen illustrates all kinds of different tensions - not just Catholic/Protestant, but also class tensions, tensions between Northern Irish and ‘ Free Staters,’ and gender lines. In the end, it’s all a little neatly tied up, but I was relieved rather than disappointed.

“Of course he was in the living room. Men like Ciaran Friel didn’t sit in the kitchen, perched on a chair, cupping a mug of tea to their hands. They sat in front of the telly, waiting on the cups of tea women brought to them without being told.”

[Patricija || book.duo · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Maeve hated how women‘s clothes came in extra small, small, medium and large while men‘s shirts came in medium, large and extra large – like there was no such thing as a small man.“

4/5

Nuo pat tada, kai pažiūrėjau Derry Girls, norėjau ir vėl tos emocijos – to humoro, to akcento ir tų kietų merginų. Factory girls, iš karto sakau atvirai ir nuoširdžiai, nėra taip gerai, bet pakankamai – čia irgi Troubles metais gyvena jaunos merginos, irgi svajoja apie didelius ir mažus dalykus, irgi gaudo bet kokios aktualios muzikos atgarsius (ypač Placebo ir Nirvana), irgi truputį pykstasi, truputį kovoja su traumuotais tėvais ir truputį per daug geria. Angliškai skaityti ypač malonu – gyva kalba, tie nuostabūs airiški išsireiškimai, žargonas ir kitos smagybės – dialogus norisi net garsiai skaityti, jie užrašyti ne literatūrine kalba ir tai – absoliutus malonumas. Autorė užkabina aktualias temas – savižudybė, seksualinė prievarta, socialinio statuso keliamos problemos, patyčios, skurdas, nedarbas. Ir nors vietomis praplaukia čiut paviršiumi, o ir ne visi veikėjai iki galo atskleisti, mano laimei nesusikoncentruoja į, pavyzdžiui, romantiką – čia jaunos merginos išmoksta dirbti, užsidirbti ir būti tikromis draugėmis. Net su tais, su kuriais manė, kad niekada nebūtų pakeliui.

Neseniai skaityta „Niekam nesakyk“ tobulai papildė mano žinių bagažą ir dėl to skaityti buvo tik įdomiau – čia autorė nesiteikia smulkmeniškai aiškinti Troubles niuansų. Todėl knyga vietomis atrodo orientuota tik į vietinį skaitytoją. Ir visgi, nėra kažkokia neišgūglinamai nesuprantama. Nemažai kas tarp eilučių, nutylėjimuose – kaip kad jau būna, kai aplink siaučia karas. Rekomenduočiau – toli gražu ne visiems, tačiau prijaučiančiems Airijai ir ypač – merginų coming of age istorijoms. Ir Derry girls, žinoma. Tai jei kaip ir aš jaučiate nepaprastą meilę tam puikiam serialui – pabandykit. O jei dar nejaučiat – pirma pažiūrėkit ir pabandykit neįsimylėt.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summer after high school graduation, waiting for the test scores that determine if she will to London for university and escape her small Irish town, Maeve takes a job in a factory. Her best friends also get jobs there. It’s 1994, and as good Catholic girls, the friends have spent their lives separated from the Proddies. Now, they will be working with them in the factory.

The factory boss Andy Strawbridge is gorgeous and rich, and uses his allure to his advantage. The girls are warned about him. Maeve is wise and contrary and verbally spars with Andy, very aware of his attractiveness. He seems to favor her.

The novel is well grounded in its time period and place, giving the reader a full sense of the political and religious contentions of the time. Growing up in The Troubles, self protection is second nature. The girls hang at the bar–sure to find seats away from windows where bombs may be thrown in. They know innocent people who have died.

The factory worker’s daily lives at work and in leisure, from the impoverished to the well off, make the bulk of the novel. Maeve and her friends rent an apartment. They go out drinking, learn their jobs, dream about the future.

Maeve and her friends become suspicious that the factory’s finances don’t align. And when paychecks don’t arrive, there is an uprising.

I enjoyed how the novel took me into the reality of Irish life. The threat of violence is always there. There is humor, too, and Maeve is a plucky and spirited gal. I was glad to be reading on my Kindle so I could quickly look up the Irish slang and lingo. It’s an entertaining read.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Andrea Gagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book truly captured the "humor as a coping mechanism for trauma" experience.

It was laugh-out-loud funny, but also had a lot to say about conflict, religious division, class, and gender -- and about who gets pushed down to the bottom of the food chain.

Maeve and her two best friends, Caroline and Aoife, set themselves up with factory jobs in the summer of 1994 in their town in Northern Ireland. Working alongside Protestants is something new for the three of them, having grown up Catholic in a mixed town in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. At the end of summer they hope to move on to college, and Maeve has her heart set on getting out and moving to London. But they have to make it through the summer first.

The narrative voice in this book was so well done. It was crass, raunchy, and absolutely hysterical. The characters' Irish brogue came through perfectly in the dialogue, which complemented the wit flawlessly.

But in addition to being hilarious, this was also a book that tackled genuinely serious topics of conflict, division, class inequality, and misogyny. There was a complexity and intersectionality to these discussions, too. Whether you're Catholic or Protestant, class and gender manifest into those with power and those without. But even with the layers, divisions run deep. There were some difficult-to-read scenes where violence between the loyalists and republicans boiled over.

Thankfully, the wit of the writing was able to keep the harder scenes from becoming too heavy. I thought the author managed to strike the right balance.

I did feel, though, like the end didn't quite hit the mark for me. Not that it was bad, by any means! It's just that it felt like it could have been built out more. There was a confrontation or two that I was hoping to see come to a head that didn't end up happening.

This was very nearly a 5 star read for me! But because the end left me slightly dissatisfied, I'm feeling like it settled at a 4.75.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was charmed by Big Girl, Small Town so looked forward to this next novel by Michelle Gallen, which I picked up on seeing that she's again been shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize UK/Ireland.

She is a writer that makes me laugh while reading, a rare quality indeed.

Factory Girls is a story that takes place over the summer of 1994, while three friends, living in an unnamed northern Irish town, await their exam results and confirmed university placements, and therefore the projectory of their future lives.

They've taken a job in a shirt factory, and two of the girls Maeve and Caroline have rented a place opposite. Maeve aspires to study journalism in London, Aoife has her sights on Cambridge and Caroline, Magee.

They'll receive a different kind of education over the next two months as they enter a 'mixed' workplace, learn how to navigate an adult environment and discover how life plans can change drastically overnight.

It will also expose differences in their family patterns and habits and how these impact their perceptions and decisions and their friendships.

All three of the girls will be confronted with the need to adapt their expectations, in this humourous yet serious and insightful look at Northern Irish society on the cusp of peacetime.

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen will hit the shelves June 23rd and is published by John Murray Press. Described by Roddy Doyle as ‘vital, bang-on, and seriously funny’, I think it’s fairly safe to say that if you’re a Derry Girls fan this might be just what you’re missing right now.

Set in Tyrone in the summer of 1994, Factory Girls introduces us to Maeve Murray. She has just sat her final school exams and has plans, big plans, for her future. After an emotional few years, Maeve plans to leave Northern Ireland and head for London. With her sights set on becoming a journalist, she has a conditional place in college but she needs her results before she can finally be accepted. With 74-days to results day Maeve is considering the summer ahead as she takes up work in the local shirt-making factory. The plan is to save as much as possible for the year ahead but to also enjoy her summer with her friends Aoife and Caroline. Maeve can’t wait to get away from the chaos of home and when an opportunity arises to rent a small flat, she jumps at the chance, persuading Caroline to move in with her. Independence is a driving force for Maeve but she also is looking to escape a dark shadow that is a constant over the family home since her sister Deirdre died.

Littered through every chapter are cultural references like food and music that really put the reader in a time and a place. Anyone remember when pasta arrived in their home for the first time?

‘Pasta had only arrived in the town when Maeve was thirteen. Her Auntie Mary’d told her mam that cooking pasta was dead easy – you just boiled it like spuds. So Maeve’s mam’d always cooked their pasta as long and hard as a pot of potatoes. Until Maeve’d learned how to cook pasta in school she’d no idea that pasta wasn’t supposed to be a sticky pile of porridge-coloured worms on the cusp of disintegration.’

Maeve knows that her new boss Andy Strawbridge has a reputation for the ladies so she is well-prepared for his innuendos and smart remarks. In her interview ‘he sat licking her with his eyes’ and, although he had ‘a snotty English accent’, something stirred deep within her.

‘Maeve was well used to bucks his age gawping at her down the town, eyeing her up in pubs. But most fellas that deep into their thirties were fat and filthy. Andy was in great shape. And he knew it.’

Maeve Murray has a filthy mind and a filthy mouth to go with it. She takes no bull from anyone and shows no fear. Growing up in the Troubles forced her to be able to stand-up for herself and her friends. She uses her cocky attitude as a defence mechanism and Michelle Gallen really brings her to life with brilliant descriptions of her provocative image and her smart and witty dialogue. Maeve has seen a lot in her eighteen years and in the summer of 1994 a spate of paramilitary activities has the community on high alert. British soldiers on the streets, Orange parades and Republican campaigns give rise to a city living on the edge.

The shirt factory was a workplace that incorporated employees from all sides of the religious divide so, when Maeve and her crew started working there, they were taken aback by the atmosphere. Some days everyone got along but on others tempers frayed. Summer 1994 the World Cup was taking place, an exciting time for the Irish and a passion for the game united folk across all borders for a brief time. (A ceasefire was enacted later that summer which held for approximately eighteen months). During all this time Maeve lived her best life, working all week, partying all weekend, tentatively looking for love but also slow to commit.

Factory Girls is, as the name suggests, a tale about life on a factory floor and the shenanigans of a bunch of eighteen-year-olds on the cusp of adulthood. It is written as a countdown to Maeve’s exam results, adding a sense of urgency and desperation to the story. It is hilariously funny from the opening pages right through to the end but Michelle Gallen has also incorporated some very relevant societal themes throughout. Sectarianism, suspicion, violence, poverty, class, religion and so much more add to the authenticity of a novel that excellently portrays life for the ordinary person caught up in an extraordinary situation. Learning to live with the daily horrors by invoking humour at every turn is the norm for many families. Dark banter and a cheeky attitude go a long way to helping folk survive another day and it truly is captured superbly by Michelle Gallen.

Raw, emotive, provocative and so funny, Maeve Murray is iconic, a symbol of a place and time. I feel very privileged to have relived the summer of 1994 through the eyes of such a sassy and saucy young woman.

“The novel invites the reader to consider with Maeve the terrible consequences of focusing on minor differences in the workplace, sport and society instead of celebrating diversity and uniting to strengthen common needs” – Michelle Gallen

[Britta Böhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

30 Books in 30 days / Book #26

[Jennifer Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Factory Girls surprised me. It is very much a period piece, set in 1994 in Northern Ireland. This would have been during The Troubles when living in this part of the world was dangerous and miserable. Even civilians were targets and no one was safe from the violence.

Maeve, our narrator, is waiting on her GCSE results. She needs decent grades to go to the school at which she's been offered a place, in London. To save money for their respective moves Maeve and her bffs Caroline and Aoife work at the local shirt factory for the summer.

What follows is a humerus but damning portrait of the summer of '94 in small town Northern Ireland. We see the turmoil between the Catholics and Protestants, the Irish and the British, the IRA and everyone it seems. We hear about Maeve's older sister who committed suicide, and we slowly learn that she wasn't someone who could mentally handle all of the violence and fighting in her community. There's one scene where the girls, as young children, are at a practice for a Christmas pageant that gets bombed. Luckily both girls are okay, Maeve was cut badly but otherwise both were fine physically, but Deirdre seemed very much affected on an emotional level. She says that their mother put them to bed but her sister couldn't sleep:

"She'd stayed awake for hours that night, watching Deirdre blink in the bed opposite, her eyes glittering like broken glass." (pg218)

We hear other instances where Deirdre seem to internalize a lot of her feelings, which appears from the outside to have greatly contributed to her suicide. It's beyond sad, even more so because Maeve doesn't seem to connect this, or if she does she doesn't verbalize it in this novel.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away but we find Maeve maturing during the summer, expanding her horizons when she meets and attempts to befriend Protestants, and finally figuring out what is really important to her. She grows while coming to terms with the violent community she's known her whole life.

I would definitely recommend this to my reading friends. Especially those who love introspective novels where the protagonist is easy to love and root for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Initial thoughts:

This will be a 3.5⭐ rounded up! That's a surprise even for me, I was expecting to round down but after finishing I'm happy to round up!

Longer review to follow

Look for Factory Girls, it will be on sale starting November 29th 2022 . A huge thanks to the author Michelle Gallen, Algonquin Books, and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC for my review purposes. This did not influence my review in any way.

[Aoife · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Hachette Ireland in exchange for an honest review.

If you ever wanted a lead story centered around a smoking, drinking, cursing character similar to Derry Girls' Michelle, Factory Girls is one for you.

It's 1994 and in Northern Ireland, truce talks are around the corner meaning a flurry of revenge attacks on either side before the guns are put down. Maeve is 18 years old, and waiting to find out if her school results will allow her to attend journalism school in London - she's desperate to leave her family home, still shadowed by the death of her sister some years earlier, and she and her friends get jobs in the local factory to save up during the summer. For the first time, Maeve has a semblance of an independent life, and also works and somewhat socialises with the town Protestants which is a learning curve in itself.

This is a fantastic, entertaining book that hits so many great spots while at the same time carrying off a youthful, hopeful energy about it. The atmosphere and moment in time of Northern Ireland in the early 90s - the fear, the fatigue as well as the disbelief that the fighting could finally be nearing its end. Maeve is a hardened character who despite her age has had to live through some horrible times from experiencing bombings, and deaths, and hearing about new violent crimes almost every day of her life. But she also has youth on her side, and that hopefulness that college in London will lead to bigger and better things. We also see stark comparisons between Maeve's childhood and family home circumstances in comparison to her friend Aoife whose family are wealthy and Aoife will always have a different, easier trajectory in life than Maeve.

The factory scenes were really vibrant and interesting to read from the creepy, handsy boss Andy Strawbridge to the hierarchy among the women from Mary to Marilyn and Mabel, and that's without taking religion into account as one of the only workplaces to hire both Catholics and Protestants to work the factory floor together. The relationship and tension between the two sides ebbed and flowed depending on outside news, and also how close it was to the Twelfth and marching season.

I think this book highlighted what life was like in a small Irish town in Northern Ireland in the 90s really well, and Michelle Gallen is able to bring drinking, cursing, horny young women to life in a great way - giving them stories, conviction and depth all while making sure they have a hell of a good time.

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the moment I finished reading "Big Girl, Small Town" I have been craving more from Michelle Gallen. To my utter delight, "Factory Girls" is as blindingly brilliant as I'd hoped it would be. It's a huge dose of 90s nostalgia and a valuable insight into the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Like Majella before her, Maeve is a marvellous character. Full of piss and vinegar, we join her as she awaits her exam results and takes a summer job in the shirt factory, whilst planning her escape to London to go to University.

I loved the banter between the workers, and the women's families. Their community is divided in many ways but at work, they've to put up and shut up. Tensions rise but friendships are made along the way. The book reminds me of Tony Roper's brilliant play "The Steamie". Gallen's aces up her sleeve are her ear for dialogue and her sharp observational humour. The patter is first class!

Aside from the many moments of hilarity, it's a story of social mobility, class barriers and trying to fit in. There's a lot going on beneath the surface and nobody does hilarious with deep, dark undertones better than Michelle Gallen. "Factory Girls" is highly entertaining, incredibly powerful and needs to be on the telly!

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose that’s the difficulty – how to follow a smashing debut such as Big Girl, Small Town. It seems that Factory Girls was written part before and part after Big Girl and was heavily edited, but for me it still felt too long.
Big Girl Majella is unusual and unpredictable and she managed, paradoxically, to be a person who is a million miles from anyone else and one you could still relate too. Maeve and her friends Caroline and Aoife failed to emit the magic. Neither the three friends, nor Fidelma nor Andy Strawbridge gelled. One of the reviewers has likened this book to Derry Girls set in the Coronation St factory but not in any good way. Unfortunately Factory Girls is neither consistently funny nor are the points made just sharp enough. I wondered at times if some of the content might appear distasteful and disagreeable to some readers.
Disappointed in this one.
With thanks to Netgalley UK and John Murray Press

[Becca Maree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Factory Girls is sharp as broken glass. Set in 1990s Northern Ireland during The Troubles, Michelle Gallen gives us girls on the brink—hungry, blistering, and tender—daring to want beyond a town too small to contain its daughters.

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I'd loved this. I found the MC okay, I liked her spunk. I found her friends odd but also just okay, at least they sometimes felt like okay friends, but they were always on the brink of drama. I liked learning about the factory and the work. I liked how we learned more about the two fighting factions in Ireland and how it affected this small factory (and the town) and the violence always just under the surface.

But I never felt drawn into a story. I felt like I was doing every boring daily chore with this character, including her bathroom breaks. I felt like the plot never moved, we just went through her daily life. I wish I'd liked it more.

[Barb reads......it ALL! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of Derry Girls enjoy!

[TheArtemisDuology · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - Michelle Gallen’s second novel Factory Girls is a droll and dark period novel that drags its feet at times as it explores its setting in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, depicting the wit, resilience, and hardships of the people (namely the women) during this moment in history. This fierce novel relishes its good humor while also exposing the stresses of living in Northern Ireland during the ’90s, bringing its readers through a historical coming-of-age story.

In a small Northern Irish town during the summer of 1994, cheeky and bold Maeve Murray is waiting for her exam results. She needs them to be good enough so she can leave her hometown, one she has grown up in throughout the Troubles. Maeve desires to go to London to learn journalism where she can escape her cramped home, her community tormented and tense due to the divide between Catholics and Protestants, and the air of sadness that constantly stays because of her sister’s death. While waiting for her results to be given to her, Maeve takes a summer job at the local shirt factory along with her two closest friends, Aoife and Caroline. The shirt factory has both Protestants and Catholics working side by side, and it is the first time Maeve has had to work so closely with “Prods.” The factory labor is difficult with long, strenuous hours, and unpredictable pay, and the factory’s weaselly English boss, Andy, is known to be less than pleasant to the ladies under her supervision. While Maeve is determined to push through, tensions are high both inside and outside the walls of the factory. With British Loyalists marching and the suspicious actions of her skeevy boss, Maeve tries to live through her last summer in her hometown, but Maeve wants to do more than live: she wants to be free of all the burdens that have suffocated her town since childhood.

Factory Girls is a balancing act of prose that both amuses in a similar way to Derry Girls but also presents a grim atmosphere that is caused by the Troubles. Gallen’s tightrope walk of these two consistent and contrasting energies in the story is a thematic energy that suggests that reality cannot be smothered through laughter, but laughter will remain all the same. The chapters are divided by how many days are left until Maeve receives her grades back, allowing the reader to feel the stagnation and anticipation Maeve undergoes as she waits. Gallen reminds readers that life does not slow don’t or let up, so while the background of Maeve’s life is always consumed by the Troubles, she also must navigate the world while trying to live with oppressive men, trying to be the first in her family to escape their situation, trying to understand her purpose in life, trying to succeed because of her class status, and trying to be brave even if it is dangerous to be a woman with demands: “No matter how shitty things got for a man, they were always shittier for a woman.”

The narration often goes back and forth between the present day in the shirt factory to Maeve’s memories of being a schoolchild during the Troubles. The Troubles is primarily presented through Maeve’s lens and the outside things she hears from radios and television, so the historical content may not be as in-depth for this historic issue, but it allows for a personable, youthful read: “...only now she had the added pressure of proving to Marilyn that Catholics could be just as fast and accurate as Protestants.” The novel features many flashbacks, though the amount makes the novel a bit drawn out rather than adding to the historical setting. Gallen knowledge of the historical background is very apparent, with clear references to the Troubles that feel real and biographical. The novel’s prose features a lot of Northern Irish slang and words consistently on the page, made to also abut against the English characters’ differing vocabulary (which is a patterned point of friction between the Brits and the Irish). A constant note in Factory Girls is Maeve’s disdain for the English, though it is shown in numerous ways such as through language, with Maeve fighting a silent, personality battle against her English boss: “‘I think learning how to speak English properly would be an excellent start.’ Maeve considered spitting in Andy’s face.” Moments like these emphasize the frustration that is constantly chewing at all the characters.

The novel is strongly grounded in its time period and setting, encapsulating the tension and everyday life of a young woman in Northern Ireland. The religious and political are present on every page, such as in Maeve and her friends’ observations that “The UK’s the only country in Europe that routinely recruits minors,” and readers get a real sense of the town’s dreariness but the necessity to push through even if there is a constant risk of being bombed or out of a job, even if the job at the shirt factory is borderline abusive as “low wages are better than wages.” For those unfamiliar with the Troubles, Gallen emulates the stress well and supports her readers in getting a sense of why the characters react to each other the way they do, showing her commitment to understanding the time period.

Maeve Murray is a compelling and fierce protagonist with her loud-mouthed attitude and less than subtle hatred toward the English— “centuries of British rule had taught her she could for trust the Brits as far as she could throw them”— but Maeve’s attitude paints a portrait of how a girl on the cusps of adulthood can be so quickly hardened by the stress of her community. Readers immediately feel the fire of Maeve Murray’s character, as the novel opens stating “Maeve Murray was just eighteen years old when she met Andy Strawbridge but she knew he was a fucker the minute she laid eyes on him. In fairness, she’d expected it. He was an Englishman who drove into the town for work.” She is sharp-tongued, dislikes the English, and is young yet derisive which allows for lots of jocular one-liners. Her determination rings throughout the entire novel, but her character simmers with an anger that she cannot quite overcome or reflect upon, leaving her character to be somewhat repetitive in her thoughts and decisions. When the novel shows the world around Maeve, it pulls at one’s curiosity and attention, but the mundanity of Maeve’s other interests and her job sometimes leaves little for the eye to want to be stuck to.

A key strength of the novel is its exploration of misogyny and womanhood through the Troubles. Maeve makes consistent observations of how the women in her town are treated and how the pressure of the Troubles only furthers the misogyny they face. Maeve’s boldness is smothered under multiple threats and she is well aware of this: “Maeve knew only too well where her firebrand female heroes had ended up: Joan of Arc, burnt at the stake. Emily Wilding Davidson, trampled under the hooves of the king’s horses.” While it would most likely be a disservice to not include discussions of womanhood in the historical novel, Gallen’s awareness of the multitudes of oppression for women in Northern Ireland provides great insight and conciseness to her thematic elements. All the recurring themes of the story (misogyny, class divide, religious tension, violence, new beginnings) ring true on every page, though it is often directly stated on the page rather than implied.

The historical tidbits and character reactions are interesting for those wanting to understand the Troubles more, but the plot lacks excitement. Maeve’s goal in the novel is to receive a great grade from her school so she can go to London and study journalism, yet other than that goal readers are left to meander with her through the summer, encapsulated by how the best Maeve “could do was put her head down and try to keep her focus on her own target.” The humor in the story carries with the plot and the insights into the period feel wildly personal, yet the simplicity of Maeve’s goal and the fact that we are waiting with her for a grade doesn’t leave much character development or driving forces to feel invigorated by in the story. It feels like it is dragging its feet; it was difficult at times to even guess where the plot was going despite its straightforward goal. For instance, the novel constantly reminds us that Maeve “needed money for rent, and to save for London,” but it doesn’t necessarily provide a deeper understanding of Maeve’s reasoning and the implications of her choice rather than it is an escape. Can someone who dislikes the English so much, as other characters point out to Maeve (“Well, us Irish have a long tradition of that, now. Sending our brightest and best over the water”), feel comfortable going to the city that has controlled the historic issues in her country? All the pieces of the novel don’t seem to quite connect, from the factory work days to Andy’s secret that lingers through the novels, to the female friendships, to Maeve’s academic aspirations; all these plot devices imply large importance to the makeup of Maeve and her town’s complex personality, yet the novel doesn’t dissect these ideas as much as it potentially could.

Gallen’s Factory Girls offers humor, a grim atmosphere, history, and important themes of womanhood and survival, but its slow pace makes this less than 300-page novel feel much longer. Despite the mundanity of its character goals, Factory Girls is a good introduction to the Troubles through a fictional female lens, providing insight into class division and the harsh realities of women in a landscape that already is tense. It acts like a slice-of-life story that hinges on the determination of one girl, allowing the reader to observe if her cruel words and hard work will protect her from a harsher reality.

*Thank you Aardvark Book Club for sending me a copy!*

[Cecil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dare you to read this without picturing Michelle from “Derry Girls” as the protagonist. Sláinte, motherfuckers!

[Con · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think this is a unique take on the colonialism specific to northern ireland. what do you do when not only your oppressors are cruel, but your supposed countrymen are too? most free staters stood idly by during the troubles, so feeling resentment towards them & the idea of a united ireland is a perspective i haven’t seen much of (as most irish people i know are from the republic, though ulster.. if that makes a difference) (no one on my goodreads is irish sorry) but makes a lot of sense. despite hating the english, maeve, in ways, prefers them to the irish and aspires to be them. obviously, she wants to move to london, and turns up her nose at those who immigrate but don’t assimilate. andy represents the english in many ways, and yet he turns her on in a sick way! that she acknowledges! and the end of the book definitely shows her throwing away her irishness to try and fit in with brits. and i know in most cases it would be seen as a bad ending or message, but you see her point! the irish don’t even want her, and they’re oppressed too, so at least if she could assimilate with the brits it would get her ahead in life. i don’t think we’re entirely meant to agree with maeve, she’s kinda unlikable in ways that she hates everything ever but she’s still relatable, but it’s definitely meant to have us think about if she’s in the wrong. it’s well done considering i feel like some of the other themes are explicitly said to the point where you’re like GEEZ i get it 😭 especially the feminism like ok i could’ve came to that conclusion without you completely spelling it out for me. it makes me wonder if this nuanced view of northern ireland’s colonialism is less intentional and something the author internalized growing up there. since there’s more obvious, straightforward messages i wonder if it was accidental.. but it’s probably the best part of the novel to me. its interesting how maeve can understand oppression & segregation when it comes to catholics & prods but theres a throwaway line about how “black ppl and irish ppl should’ve just stopped fighting each other to unite against the british” like diva that was definitely irish ppl’s fault 😭 THEY felt like they had more in common with their OPPRESSORS than their fellow oppressed & made it everyones problem?! like i said it was a throwaway line but it pissed me off like you understand ppl abandoning their fellow oppressed ppl when it comes to the free staters but not black ppl oh okay. also random but aofie is definitely a lesbian and i wish they explored that more 😭😭😭

[charlie medusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

il faut savoir que lorsqu'un livre est irlandais parle d'Irlande est écrit par quelqu'un d'irlandais je suis instantanément acquise à sa cause non parce que je suis biaisée mais parce que ce sont objectivement d'excellents facteurs de gage de qualité d'un roman. je veux dire tout est là. tout est propice à la tension à l'émotion à la nuance. un pays dont on peut faire le tour en trois jours de voiture. l'Angleterre qui a ramené ses gros sabots en disant tiens on va venir ici hihi mais par contre bon on ne va jamais non plus considérer ces gens comme nos égaux. des bombes. des églises. des factions fratricides. l'appartenance déterminante à une confession ou à l'autre. l'endroit où l'on est né. la classe sociale. comme partout, comme dans tous les autres pays, bien sûr, une infinité de facteurs qui nous placent quelque part entre les quatre carrés du plan orthonormé de la société, oui. mais c'est quelque part d'autant plus concentré et subtil et chaotique en Irlande. il y a quelque chose de l'extrême proximité, de l'extrême différence dans des nuances qui ailleurs paraîtraient infimes, voire négligeables. le fossé immense entre une catholique ouvrière du Nord et une autre catholique ouvrière du Nord parce que les parents de l'une ont fini le collège et pas ceux de l'autre. l'impossibilité de la rencontre, du dialogue entre deux collègues d'usine parce que l'une est protestante et l'autre catholique. c'est bien plus qu'une histoire de "est-ce que tu reconnais la confirmation comme sacrement ou non". c'est les prénoms, les caractères, les références, les réflexes, les goûts, le regard, tout est considéré comme opposé, donc cryptique, donc infranchissable et illisible, et dès lors ne peut que le devenir. bref.

pour cesser de parler des romans irlandais en général et commencer à parler de celui-ci en particulier, je dirai simplement qu'il est vraiment très bien (c'était bien la peine de passer un mois sans écrire de reviews goodreads pour revenir écrire ceci). ça parle de détresse, de bouts de ficelle, de grands rêves immenses qui se jouent à cent livres et un point de moyenne près, des compromis auxquels on se résout et des yeux qu'on ferme, des révolutions, celles qu'on ne raconte pas, celles qui sont déclenchées mais ne se lancent jamais, de l'été, des ventres, des peaux, des fers, des télévisions, des silences, et de ce truc que l'humain fait sans se rendre compte de combien ça forge et force et détruit parfois les vies, le collectif : parler. le ragot. la rumeur. bref. ce livre est vraiment très bien. lisez-le bonne journée !!!!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think fiction set during The Troubles is fascinating, and I learned a lot in this book, but it is a hard one to rate and review - while I did like it and always wanted to come back to it, it never really takes its foot off the gas. By that I don’t mean that it’s plot heavy, because it really isn’t, but there just is not a lot of rest or relief for our characters. You do get a very bittersweet, mildly hopeful ending, so you can picture Maeve building a wonderful life, but it was pretty bleak overall.
I listened to the audiobook, which I think added so much to it having the Northern Irish accent and hearing her inflection and the way she would deliver text, so I definitely recommend experiencing it that way.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is truly a lovely story. The author catches the essence of working class, Irish in the time of the troubles.

The book was a very easy read for me and went by very fast.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book

[Sindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this one! A hilarious coming-of-age that tackles serious topics such as politics & conflict, religion, class, and gender. I’ve been searching for a story that gave me the feeling this one did and I am so glad I finally found it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up

"Maeve wasn't mad about mortar bombs; she preferred ordinary bombs. They usually came with warnings, which didn't always get the timing right, or the location dead on, but you'd get the gist that there was a bomb nearby ..."

I actually don't know what I think of this book and why I don't know! Gallen captures the place and the times well but the constant "smut" for want of a better word, felt overdone. There is humour here, there is historical context, and confronting portrayals of the normalcy of death, sectarianism, and all of the characteristics of the troubles, but somehow, somewhere, something was missing although I cannot quite put my finger on what.

[Dana K · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You can talk sh*te about your Irish blood but ah'll tell ye for free, you're sure as f*ck not Irish."

---------------------------------

Maeve, Aoife and Caroline are three Catholic friends living the summer between high school and college in a small town in Northern Ireland in the 1990's. They go for a job at the local shirt factory where the workers are both Protestants and Catholics and learn what really goes on in the lives of the adults around them. Quickly they see how the factory exploits the poor, working them to the bone. The manager of the place is a bit of a lech making Maeve feel uncomfortable right from the get go. The girls begin learn that their differences aren't as stark as their similarities and that there may be even bigger, more sinsiter forces at work behind it all.

I really enjoyed living with Maeve, she is a teen on the cusp of adulthood realizing just how much she doesn't know about the world. Her viewpoints on the Troubles and the impact the violence and separatism had on her was so visceral. The ideas that were pervasive in that time separated logical and kind people so deeply that the chasm between them was almost impossible to cross. Maeve and her friends learn some lessons and teach us some as well. The writing is definitely a little gritty and at first it's a bit uncomfortable, so if that's not for you, I encourage you to stick with it. I'm glad I did.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.

[Kathie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so raunchy I felt dirty after the first three pages. It was not humorous in the least. If this is an accurate depiction of young women in Northern Ireland I feel very bad for them.

[Amanda Feldman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not gonna lie I zoned out for about 40% of this book but enjoyed the parts where I was present!