As an Irish person who has flown to America, I was delighted to read about a young lady flying the other direction. She lands in Dublin and heads north to Belfast. While exploring ALL THE WALLS OF BELFAST, young Fiona Kelly explains that she is Irish but has lived in Madison, Wisconsin, since she was small. With her mother. Her father, now a reformed character, used to be a trouble maker.

Daniel Stewart hails from the other side of the forty-foot high Peace Wall. At one time this construction kept Protestant and Catholic communities apart, separating the Falls Road from the Shankill Road. Today, Fiona sees that the Troubles have gone, but old memories linger. For instance, her father Peter Kelly is on a no-fly list, and her step-brothers Patrick, Seamus and Finn are strangers, because her mother was too afraid to contact her family. She meets Daniel by chance in the city centre. He's come from an army recruiting office; he wants to train as an army medic, to escape from his abusive father. True to form, Daniel is unable to walk past a teenage girl who looks ill, so he stops to offer help. The Fading Stars t-shirt Fiona wears encourages conversation, since Daniel is a fan; and they're both on WhatsApp.

I enjoyed seeing the City Hall, Queens University, and the Botanic Gardens, from a tourist's viewpoint. Because Fiona arrives in July, some Loyalists are determinedly constructing massive piles of material to make giant bonfires, for cultural reasons. As a counterpoint, former Nationalists have thoughtfully painted memorial murals for fallen friends. No matter how much life changes, some divisions remain. This is clearly the point of the title - that all the societal walls still exist, crumbling brick by brick as someone from a deprived community gets a better job, or the police force opens up recruiting across the board. Hope for a brighter future comes from the younger folks, and those who have lived outside the narrow-minded societal boundaries. To Fiona, everyone she sees is just another Belfast citizen, but Daniel automatically labels people based on their looks.

Some of this coming of age tale by Sarah Carlson is hugely gritty. More of it is just plain detailed, well observed, interesting, and full of character growth. The tale at times is distressing and has strong language, so best for mature teens or adults. Ultimately, I found the book heartening. ALL THE WALLS OF BELFAST are not disappearing, we understand, so it's up to this generation to paint some hope on their blocks.

Book Summary

The Carnival at Bray meets West Side Story in Sarah Carlson’s powerful YA debut; set in post-conflict Belfast (Northern Ireland), alternating between two teenagers, both trying to understand their past and preserve their future. Seventeen-year-olds, Fiona and Danny must choose between their dreams and the people they aspire to be.

Fiona and Danny were born in the same hospital. Fiona’s mom fled with her to the United States when she was two, but, fourteen years after the Troubles ended, a forty-foot-tall peace wall still separates her dad’s Catholic neighborhood from Danny’s Protestant neighborhood.

After chance brings Fiona and Danny together, their love of the band Fading Stars, big dreams, and desire to run away from their families unites them. Danny and Fiona must help one another overcome the burden of their parents’ pasts. But one ugly truth might shatter what they have….