The Belfast Express, #author Brigid Carrick

Dublin, 1971. Free spirited 18-year-old Brianna Robinson defies her Mother’s expectations, her neighbour’s judgment and the authority of the local Parish Priest by enrolling in nursing college in London. But made to stay in Dublin by her father, she befriends fellow nurses Muriel, Iris and Shauna and the four friends are assigned midwifery in the grim slums of Dublin.

Corporation Place was home to large families, cramped spaces, hidden violence, desperate poverty and perpetually pregnant women. The four friends soon learn that it’s not just ”girls with loose morals” who have unwanted pregnancies.

When Brianna is assaulted by her parish priest she finds herself needing to end her own pregnancy. From then on, she finds the strength to champion the rights of Irish women against the Catholic Church. A raucous trip to Northern Ireland gives access to contraception unheard of in the south and The Belfast Express train becomes a regular arrival at Dublin’s Connolly Station.

Brianna finds her power, purpose and love in this heartwarming story of being a young woman in 1970s Ireland.