This is the best kind of story. Emotionally complex and rich, with a simmering political backdrop, it is understated and seething with subtext. I came to this piece though a session at the Word Factory, and then went on to rip through the rest of Louise Kennedy’s work, including her fantastic novel Trespasses.
‘Sparing the Heather’ is set in Ireland near the border with the north, where the Troubles inform everything. The sense of place is impeccable, the description creates a doom-laden atmosphere, as the main character nearly treads on “a crow from an earlier cull, squeaking with maggots”. The characters are deftly skewered: the Englishman Hugh who “only ate meat he had killed himself”, and Brendan, his fingers tapping to the “those dreary pipe solos he liked to listen to”. An excellent read.
First published in Banshee Press Issue #8, spring/summer 2019, and available to read here; collected in Kennedy’s collection The End of the World is a Cul De Sac, Bloomsbury, 2021
A Personal Anthology 