Factory Girls -- Michelle Gallen, Paperback

A funny, fierce, and unforgettable read about a young woman working a summer job in a shirt factory in Northern Ireland, while tensions rise both inside and outside the factory walls.

It's the summer of 1994, and all Maeve Murray wants are good final exam results so she can earn her ticket out of the wee Northern Irish town she has grown up in during the Troubles--away from her crowded home, the silence and sadness surrounding her sister's death, and most of all, away from the simmering violence of her divided community. And as a first step, Maeve's taken a summer job in a local shirt factory working alongside Protestants with her best friends, kind, innocent Caroline Jackson and privileged and clever Aoife O'Neill. But getting the right exam results is only part of Maeve's problem--she's got to survive a tit-for-tat paramilitary campaign, iron 100 shirts an hour all day every day, and deal with the attentions of Andy Strawbridge, her slick and untrustworthy English boss. What seems to be a great opportunity to earn money before starting university turns out to be a crucible in which Maeve is tested in ways she may not be equipped to handle. Seeking justice for herself and her fellow workers may just be Maeve's one-way ticket out of town.

Bitingly hilarious, perceptive, and steeped in the vernacular of its time and place, Factory Girls is perfect for fans of voice-driven stories with bite, humor, and realism, such as the Netflix series Derry Girls and novels by Douglas Stuart, Roddy Doyle, and Anna Burns.


Author: Michelle Gallen
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 11/29/2022
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.14h x 5.81w x 0.68d
ISBN: 9781643752457

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 07/01/2022 pg. 5
Library Journal 08/01/2022 pg. 88
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2022
Publishers Weekly 09/19/2022
Booklist 10/01/2022 pg. 23