Belfast Song

'Belfast Song' is a beautifully written, engaging and informative novel. The central character and narrator of most of the book, Nan Rose Murphy, draws the reader into her world as a young mill worker in pre-World War 1 Belfast. Through herself and her relationship with her best friend, Bridie, we learn about the tensions created in their community by the struggle for Home Rule, industrial disputes and the suffragette movement. And then the heartbreaking impact of the first World War on Nan Rose herself, her family and close friends. The characters come alive on the page and we experience their emotions vividly, especially Nan Rose, her father and siblings. For someone who has never written a novel before, I am so impressed by the clarity and credibility of Mary Marken's writing and I encourage anyone who wants to get under the skin of working class life in early 20th century Belfast to read this book now.

I really liked this book. I felt engaged with the characters right from the start. I found it easy to imagine Nan Rose’s life, the house she lives in, her family and friends and her special friend Bridie. I’m not one for history so it was good to be in good hands reading this account, which although fictional feels very authentic. The book has stayed with me since I finished it, reflecting on the impact that war has on us all - on those who go and don’t come back, on those who come back damaged and the women who stay home with the childer. I thought the use of the spoken word was well done and accessible. The author must have done considerable research in order to describe so well the political context as well as the domestic detail. The clothes, the food, the language and the streets of Belfast. The sense of place was well drawn and I imagine would be particularly pleasing for people who know the city to trace the areas that remain the same and those that are changed. I also agree with other reviews that the ending was satisfying and left you wanting more.

I rate this novel very highly indeed. I was recommended a short story “Brothers in Arms” on the author's website (which is very easy to find: author name, book title). Set in the days of the Black and Tans, but focussing on the domestic. I found it very moving, so when I heard she was publishing a novel set in the period before, during and just after WW1 I made sure that I got a copy. The author has certainly done her research, but the main focus is coming of age rather than the history and the politics. Her millies: women and girl flax mill workers, and their families, friends and suitors are portrayed vividly, with some touching and genuinely funny moments, and they reached out to me. I loved the dialogue with its Belfast ways of talking. The stories of the two main characters are compelling and their relationship is touching and heartwarming. I found out things that made me more aware of that period, not just in working class Belfast but also well-to-do people there and in Sheffield. All this against a background of the struggle for Irish independence, the Sufragettes, and the War, especially the Home Front, and the day-to-day struggles of poor people hoping for better conditions. I say “background” because although we are made very aware of the political, it's not rammed down our throats. Real historical events and real historical people affect the lives of these ordinary people. Dialogue, descriptions of characters and places are all sharp. I liked the ending; it suggests that Nan Rose has a lot more that Mary Marken could bring to life. It's a book I shall definitely be re-reading.

Mary has written a beautiful first novel that blends the lives of young female mill workers in Belfast in the early 20th century with the conflict, Labour struggles and the fight for Irish independence at the time. This isn’t done in a ‘freestanding’ way but rather by helping the reader have a better understanding of the impact of social and political events on the lives of her characters. I particularly liked how the voices of these young women came across strongly and they felt very real to me. Mary’s characters are believable and well-rounded, and evolve throughout the story. Her use of language often communicates so much to the reader in simple but powerful phrases such as ‘war-worn’ to describe a character at the end of World War 1. This book is hugely enjoyable, offering a gripping narrative and well-researched background.

Against a complex historical and political time in Ireland and England this story of family life and of those working in the mills in west Belfast held me throughout. I was keen to follow what happened to the young women as the story developed. My family background in N Ireland was of a different religious and political persuasion. For this era my connection was in understanding how much of the N Irish community was invested in the linen industry. Memories of my father’s stories, as a farmer, of growing, harvesting and cleaning the flax before delivery to the scutch mill. My grandfather was a chauffeur to one of the linen “lords”, driving the car used to run guns from Larne in 2014 for those opposing Home Rule. A political backdrop of connection and disconnection that includes here the first world war and the growing appeal of the suffragettes. Mary deftly holds the reader and carries the story of the girls and their families throughout to a satisfactory conclusion.