Girl on the Leeside

Siobhan Doyle grew up with her Uncle Kee at their family pub, the Leeside, in rural Ireland. Kee has been staunchly overprotective of Siobhan ever since her mother’s death in an IRA bombing, unwittingly isolating her from other people and the full richness of life. Still, Kee and Siobhan consider themselves comfortable in their quiet haven, serving drinks to locals and reading and discussing Irish poetry. But then fate intervenes.

A visiting American literary scholar awakens Siobhan to the possibility of a fulfilling life away from the Leeside. Meanwhile, secrets from the past threaten to tarnish her relationship with Kee. In the face of these changes, Siobhan reaches a surprising decision about her future. Lyrical and heartfelt, Kathleen Anne Kenney’s Girl on the Leeside deserves a place alongside contemporary literature’s best-loved coming-of-age novels.