Author Name
Author Name
LITERARY, FILM & TV AGENCY
MARIANNE GUNN O'CONNOR
Jul 17, 2022
‘Factory Girls’ continues to garner rave reviews
Michelle Gallen’s
Published by John Murray on June 22nd Factory Girls tells the story of Maeve and her two best friends, as they try to squeeze as much fun as possible into their last summer at home in small town Northern Ireland. But as marching season raises tensions among the Catholic and Protestant workforce, Maeve realises something is going on behind the scenes at the factory, forcing her to make a choice that will impact her life - and the lives of others - for ever..
Praise for Factory Girls
“Brilliantly, wickedly funny and soul-crushingly sad, Gallen has written the Vienetta of books this summer”
Irish Independent
“An original and compelling book that describes a pre-ceasefire society that is both distant and familiar”
The Irish Times
“If you want an easy, blackly humorous summer read, this one’s for you”
The Sunday Independent
“Full of the stuff that we're starting to expect of Michelle Gallen; wild, hilariously angry characters, and language that is vital, bang-on, and seriously funny”
Roddy Doyle
“A wee novel with an enormous, furious heart . . . Honest, hilarious and such a recognisable portrait of 90s Northern Ireland, Factory Girls is an essential read”
Jan Carson
“Majella O'Neill was no flash-in-the-pan - Factory Girls is a powerful second novel. It has all of Gallen's flair for character, her ear for dialogue and her unparalleled sense of comic timing. And this novel cuts deeper, throbs with pent-up fury, a palpable sense of real and urgent despair. Viciously funny”
Lucy Caldwell
“Brilliantly observed and full of heart, Factory Girls will be up there on my list of best books for this year”
Sheila O'Flanagan
“A gorgeous, gritty and hilarious love letter to working class Northern Ireland in the 1990s. Gallen's protagonist, Maeve Murray . . . is a compelling creation who crackles brilliantly from the first pages”
Maeve Galvin
“A riot of a read. A masterclass in voice, the North and the 90s”
Sue Divin
“One of the most moving and hilarious novels I have ever read . . . Factory Girls is one of the best books ever written about the Troubles, and one of the best books I've read in a very long time”
Silas House
“Provocative in more ways than one!”
Melatu-Uche Okorie
“A much-awaited second triumph of dark humour - fabulous, dirty dancing words, that lift the soul. Gallen knows how to move us and make us roar at the same time. Jumping out with hysteria, Maeve is the hilarious queen of truth we all want to be”
Helen Lederer
“Some writers make you think; some writers make you laugh till you cry. Michelle Gallen belongs to that rare, rare group of writers who make you think even as the tears are tripping you. Factory Girls is a seriously funny novel - that manages at the same time to be deadly serious - about work, about friendship, about Northern Ireland in the months leading up to the 1994 ceasefire, and about being a teenager, any time, anywhere”
Glenn Patterson
Pressing matters: Coming to terms with the Troubles and the past
Big Girl Small Town author Michelle Gallen revisits her Border town in her new novel, Factory Girls
Michelle – Ryan Tubridy show, RTE radio 1
https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22111965-michelle-gallen/
https://www.image.ie/living/the-best-new-books-to-add-to-your-summer-reading-list-457089
https://stellar.ie/life/heading-on-holidays-heres-some-gripping-reads-to-get-stuck-into/107486
