They also drive each other completely nuts. KELLY: The other relationship that really intrigued me is between Cushla and her mom, Gina. And I suppose his interest in the Irish language, for me, is maybe a sign that he's embracing some aspects of Ireland in a more broad sense.

So he probably has a much broader way of looking at Ireland. And he spent time in the south of Ireland. So I wanted to show Michael isn't a typical Protestant of his generation. There are different ways of expressing the sentiment no - you know, a refusal in Irish. I mean, I think the most interesting example really is there is no word in Irish for no.

And as often happens, there are words for which there's no direct translation from Gaelic to English. So the way in that he finds is he invites her to give Irish lessons to him. He can't ask her to, you know, go to the movies. As their relationship is starting to progress, he can't ask her out to dinner. KELLY: So we heard a little bit of their very beginning flirtation, where he's watching her in the mirror. And this is in a place where things were - I guess they weren't just divided along religious lines, this was - to an extent coincided with class lines as well. It's basically to identify what religion, you know, a person belongs to. You know, it's a kind of football euphemism. So I think the idea is that Catholics kick with the left foot. I mean, I guess that's slang, Irish slang, really. One of those questions people asked when they wanted to know what foot you kicked with - Louise Kennedy, explain. What's your name? What's your surname? Where did you go to school? Where do you live? It was one of those questions that people asked when they wanted to know what foot you kicked with. And there was a squalid opulence about the jade green tweed that upholstered the banquettes and stools. Behind him, the shabby lanterns that were fixed to the walls were casting circles of warm lights on the teak tables. Would you like one yourself? He closed his fingers around the tumbler. She was emboldened by having her back to him and didn't look away. (Reading) She glanced in the mirror as she was pouring his drink. And the backdrop is her family owns a pub.

KELLY: I want you to get us going by reading a bit of the moment where Cushla first lays eyes on Michael. And while she doesn't know it yet, his life has further complications. He's the wrong religion - Protestant to her Catholic - in a deeply, violently sectarian society. It's a love story starring a young woman in her 20s who falls in love with a man wrong for her in every way. The new novel 'Trespasses' unfolds in 1975 in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Trespass novel louise kennedy