The Twelfth Day of July by Joan Lingard was first published in 1970, so it was probably written just as ‘The Troubles’ of Northern Ireland started to become really serious.
The book begins on the 7th of July, just five more days to go until the Glorious 12th, in the Jackson’s Belfast home they’re all counting the days until the members of the Orange Lodge bands will be marching wearing their smart purple and orange uniforms and playing their instruments, it’s the highlight of their year, commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. This year Sadie is taking part for the first time.
But the night before the big day the huge mural of King Billy on his white horse which is painted on the gable end of the Jackson’s house is daubed with green paint by some Catholic youngsters who live in a nearby neighbourhood. Sadie and her brother Tommy are incensed, and so begins a tit for tat battle between them and the boys they know to be the culprits. The youngsters are able to move quite easily between the two areas, something which was stopped by building a massive wall between them, to keep the two factions apart. It was still there when I visited Belfast in the mid 1990s, I suspect it might still be there.
Sadie Jackson is a great character and Kevin is obviously an admirer. This is the beginning of a series featuring them as a couple who are caught up in the religious sectarianism of the divided and violent Northern Ireland. I’m looking forward to reading the others.
I see from her Wiki entry that Joan Lingard died at age 90 – on the 12th of July. Thank you so much for bringing this novel to my attention. I’m now interested in reading it.
A nonfiction book on the same subject, written near the beginning of the Troubles but mid-70s when they had kicked into high (or higher) gear, is Dervla Murphy’s “A Place Apart”. She was already a known travel writer, so was able to gain entry into places on both sides of the divide that were not available to outsiders. It’s well worth getting ahold of, while the Lingard is fresh in memory.
Bonnie Shaljean,
Yes, it seems quite spooky that she died on the 12th of July. I have so many books to read, but I’ll certainly look out for the Dervla Murphy book. I should have said that Lingard’s Kevin and Sadie series is one she wrote for young teenagers but the writing is still high quality, as successful books for junior readers always are. Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to comment.
Katrina
I really enjoyed this series as a teen, although I knew nothing about the Troubles. I am not sure all five books were available at my library but I read or reread the whole series during the pandemic and enjoyed it. I think I remember you had read one of her adult books about the same time – maybe you inspired me!
I have a very good friend from Belfast who I met through work and she has got me very interested in going there. But I am eager to go practically anywhere! I am even excited about a trip to Shreveport, Louisiana next month for a conference, although it is apparently not very interesting.
Constance,
I had to buy this one as it wasn’t in the library, I hadn’t heard of it until you wrote about it on your blog. The violence of N.Ireland seemed to haunt our lives with bomb scares even in Scotland although nothing ever happened, but when we moved to England for a few years it was more serious with actual bombs planted in the town we lived in. I’ll email you soon about our trip to Belfast if you don’t mind.
I was quite excited to visit Dundee one day last week and that’s just 20 miles from us and not a favourite place!