Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
I enjoyed this book just as much as I had enjoyed Siobhan's other book, The London Eye Mystery. It was about an Irish family during Margaret Thatcher's time in office when the IRA were bombing England and the hunger strikes were happening in prisons all over Ireland. The main character, Fergus, is half way through taking his exams for his dream job, his brother is in prison taking part in the hunger strikes and his mum, dad and two younger sisters are all living in a small house in a village called Drumleash. Suddenly, Fergus finds a body buried, whilst peat digging with his Uncle Tally. Almost immediatley it is found out by forensics to be ancient, dating back to around Jesus' time. Now Fergus is on a mission to get his brother to stop the strike and to find out who and why the body is there. I read this book quite quickly even though before I had started it, I was hesitant as I wasn't so sure about the front cover and the blurb but it turned out all right in the end. I am giving it 7/10.
MB
I was looking forward to this as I had enjoyed another of her books. The London Eye Mystery. I was intrigued by this story which is aimed at older teans. It revolves around the main character who is good Catholic boy who has a brother in prison two younger sisters and his parents. he is 18 and is doing his A levels looking for a way out of the small town that he lives in in Northern Ireland. The book is set at the time of the hunger strikes and the death of Bobby Sands. I remember this period of history clearly as I was about the same age as this character at the time. It deals with a lot of adult issues in a way that clarifies it for the younger reader. There is love, betrayal, conflict of loyalties and death dealt with as a number of main issues. I give this a 9/10.
JB
