This is a book about feelings, family, sex, and Ireland--but don't tell Amelia that. She's the one growing up in the mad family, in the mad society, who doesn't want to know what's going on. But things are going on: eight-year-olds collecting very peculiar treasure; babies who might be, or might not be, bombs; schoolgirls bringing guns into schoolyards; and, of course, lots of food and bad, bad sex. If Amelia is to live she needs to change. Can she, though, in a place where people don't know how to look after themselves, and so wouldn't know how to look after one another?
This is a book about feelings, family, sex, and Ireland--but don't tell Amelia that. She's the one growing up in the mad family, in the mad society, w...
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2002 - a stunning debut novel about a little girl growing up in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
Every single night and every single day Amelia goes upstairs to look at her treasure: a miniature plastic sheep, a Black Queen chess piece, a penny prayer for serenity, a tube of glitter - and thirty-seven black rubber bullets she's collected ever since the British Army started firing them...
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2002 - a stunning debut novel about a little girl growing up in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
