When I saw the front cover of this book was adorned with praise from both Irish author Donal Ryan "A heartbreaker" and Scottish Douglas Stuart "I never wanted it to end," I knew I had to read it. Here are two of our finest contemporary writers acclaiming the second novel from this Irish author who lives in Glasgow.
It is set in and around Dublin sometime during the 1980s – although the time is kept rather vague. Juno nicknames her spindly limbed twelve year old classmate "Legs" and the two form a bond which attempts to deny the economic and emotional poverty in which they live.
The two rail against the stifling Catholic education, Juno through reading and visits to the library and Legs through art but they cannot keep on the right side of the system and tragedies continue to stack up and limit the choices open to them. They find themselves lashing out at the society which promotes such inequality.
Douglas Stuart is a good point of reference here as the lives of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo themselves are echoed in this Irish take on poverty, neglect, alcohol abuse and cruelty which they face with black humour. Circumstances strive to drive them apart but Juno loves Legs.
Heartbreaking may seem an obvious term given this description but that's what this is. The characters are never sentimentalised. Juno, in particular can be pretty hard to like at times, even she considers herself "a bit too much" but that won't stop readers scouring the text hoping their luck will change.
A powerful novel, like the work of the aforementioned Messrs Ryan and Stuart it is full of episodes that will stick in the mind for a long time. Right from when I found out about this book it seemed inevitable that I would be giving it my top rating and now having read it, that is exactly what I am going to do.
"Juno Loves Legs" was first published in March 2023 by Harvill Secker. It is now also available as a Vintage paperback.
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