Two New Novels Explore Ireland and South Africa's Historical Struggles

Louise Kennedy’s novel 'Stations' traces the lives of Roisin McCaffrey and Redmond 'Red' Camelin, two teenagers in County Kildare, Ireland, in 1982. Their lives are shaped by strained relationships with their fathers and the broader context of the Troubles.

Roisin’s father, an alcoholic former Royal Ulster Constabulary officer, leaves the family after becoming a target for Republican paramilitaries. He later abandons Roisin and her mother, moving to London with a new family that he also later abandons.

Red’s father is less clearly defined, though Red runs away from home and avoids cohabitation with his parents. Roisin suspects there is something troubling in Red’s family, which becomes more apparent as their relationship evolves.

After secondary school, Roisin moves to London, working odd jobs and living in Red’s Pimlico squat. Despite her romantic conquests, she remains uninterested in Red, who becomes increasingly involved in a dangerous drug scene.

In the late 1980s, Roisin cuts ties with Red after making a difficult decision to distance herself. A gap in the narrative spans from 1989 to 2007, when Roisin finds Red again at her father’s funeral, prompting a search for him and uncovering more about his past.

Keletso Mopai’s novel 'We Belong to the Trees' is set in Tzaneen, South Africa, in the mid-1990s, and centers on the murder of a Black security guard at an Afrikaner-owned farm. The story is told through multiple perspectives, including the victim’s brother, the farmer’s wife, and an unnamed bystander.

The novel explores the ongoing struggle over land ownership, with Black South Africans owning only 13 percent of the country’s land in the 1990s, despite Nelson Mandela’s promises of land restoration. By 2026, white South Africans still control 72 percent of private farmland.

Mopai’s work is inspired by her father’s stories about their family’s claim to a white-owned farmhouse. The novel captures the paranoia and disorientation of characters navigating a society still marked by racial inequality.