Factory Girls

Its the summer of 1994, and all smart-mouthed 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. She hopes she will soon be in London studying journalismaway from her crowded home, the silence and sadness surrounding her sisters death, and most of all, away from the violence of her divided community.

As a first step, Maeves taken a job in a shirt factory working alongside Protestants with her best friends. But getting the right exam results is only part of Maeves problemshes got to survive a tit-for-tat paramilitary campaign, iron 100 shirts an hour all day every day, and deal with the attentions of Handy Andy Strawbridge, her slick and untrustworthy English boss. Then, as the British loyalist marching season raises tensions among the Catholic and Protestant workforce, Maeve realizes something is going on behind the scenes at the factory. What seems to be a great opportunity to earn money turns out to be a crucible in which Maeve faces the test of a lifetime. Seeking justice for herself and her fellow workers may just be Maeves one-way ticket out of town.

Bitingly hilarious, clear-eyed, and steeped in the vernacular of its time and place,Factory Girlstackles questions of wealth and power, religion and nationalism, and how young women maintain hope for themselves and the future during divided, violent times.