In throwing us into doubt about which-and more crucially whose-story we are supposed to be following, Burnet encourages us to look more closely at the inherent instability of fiction itself … Case Study is above all a very funny book, a wry look back at 60s counterculture in which Burnet’s inventions rub shoulders with real personalities.

“An interest in exploring complex psychological dramas through intricate narrative structures takes centre stage … The defining essence of Burnet’s work to date is to be found in…literary gamesmanship, a brand of metatextuality that is as much about exploiting the possibilities of the novel form as it is about blurring the boundaries between appearance and reality. Courtney Sullivan ( The New York Times Book Review) It’s a testament to Kennedy’s talents that we come to love and care so much about her characters.” I am not a crier, but by the final pages of Trespasses, I was in tears. A rising sense of tension throughout comes to a shocking head. “Brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking … Kennedy deftly reveals how violence in a conflict zone can more accurately be described as intertwined with and inseparable from daily life … In Trespasses,as in life, humor provides an antidote to the darkest times … Kennedy gives us children who are funny and surprising and uplifting in exactly the ways real children are, with none of the treacle that sometimes sneaks into fictional depictions of young people … Kennedy writes beautifully about love … As the novel progresses, it picks up a propulsive energy, the kind that compels you to keep reading straight through to the end.

Louise kennedy trespasses review