'Across the Barricades' af Joan Lingard, resume

ACROSS THE BARRICADES by Joan Lingard

Place: Northern Ireland, in the capital Belfast.

Time: 1980’s

Persons:

Main characters:

Sadie Jackson:Protestant, 16 (nearly 17) years old.

Kevin McCoy:Catholic boy, nearly 18 years old.

Sadie’s family:

Mrs. (Aggie) Jackson:Sadie’s mother.

Mr. (Jim) Jackson:Sadie’s father, Orange Lodge.

Tommy Jackson:Sadie’s brother.

Kevin’s family:

Mr. (Pete) McCoy:Kevin’s father.

Mrs. (Mary) McCoy:Kevin’s mother.

Brede McCoy:Kevin’s nice sister.

Gerald McCoy:Kevin’s little brother.

Uncle Albert:Kevin’s uncle.

Protestants:

Linda Mullet:Sadie’s old school friend, Tommy’s girlfriend.

Mrs. (Jessica) Mullet:Linda’s mother, «friends» of the Jackson’s.

Mr. (Bill) Mullet:Linda’s father, Orange Lodge together with Jim Jackson.

Granny McEvoy:The Mullets old neighbour.

Steve:Tommy’s friend from schooldays, keen on Sadie.

Mrs. McConkey:Local shop owner. Dies in an explosion.

Mr. (Twinkle) Blake:Sadie’s old geography teacher. Lets in Kevin & Sadie.

Catholics:

Kate Kelly:Brede’s friend, very fond of Kevin.

Mr. (Dan) Kelly:Kate’s father. Kevin works for him in the scrap business.

Mrs. Kelly:Kate’s mother, friend of Mrs. McCoy.

Brian Rafferty:Kevin’s old friend, beats and threatens Kevin.

Pat Rafferty:Brian’s father.

Mrs. Rafferty:Brian’s mother.

Moira Henderson:Neighbour of Mr. Blake. Catholic married to a Protestant.

Chapter 1:

Sadie meets Kevin by accident in the street one day. Sadie is a Protestant and Kevin is a Catholic. It is about 3 years since they have seen each other. They go for a cup of coffee and talk about their families and how they have been. Kevin is working in the scrap business, and Sadie is working in a hat department. They take a walk up to Cave Hill. On the way they meet Linda Mullet, who is Sadie’s old school friend and Tommy, Sadie’s brother’s girlfriend. Linda dislikes the fact that the two are hanging out together since he is a Catholic and she is a Protestant.