Domestic hostility is echoed by gunfire in the streets as this terse, understated novel evokes the gyp of war-torn childhood now in Northern Ireland. don't let me grow up'') and his hopes die at once within doors and without.

No wonder he fears the homecoming of older brother Brendan, Dad's favorite, who will take over his father, his bed, his friend, and fulfill-with Joe's unwitting help-Kathleen's fear of ''something awful happening.'' So Joe's innocence (''O God. No wonder young Joe, who wants only to be ''safely loved,'' is devoted to Kathleen, the young, lonely, chain-smoking schoolteacher who befriends him with hot chocolate and talk.

Around him, in contemporary Londonderry, some British soldiers die by sniper fire while others come by night to turn out his street, his house, his sodden father. While I’m familiar with most of her hugely extensive back catalogue, I haven’t really touched her earlier work. Jennifer Johnston is my favourite living writer. Joe Logan, at age twelve, endures the illness and alcoholism of his father, a ''retired hero'' of the Irish Rebellion, the teary bitterness of his mother who works at ''menial tasks'' because someone must, and the peevish sarcasm of the schoolmistress who mocks his fledgling poems. Jennifer Johnston: Shadows on our Skin 2002 paperback Derry in the 1970s: teenager Joe Logan is growing up in the teeth of the Troubles, having to cope. ‘Shadows on our Skin’ by Jennifer Johnston Jkimbofo Fiction paperback Headline Review 224 pages 2004. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Shadows on Our Skin: A Novel by Jennifer Johnston (English) MP3 CD Book at the best online.

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