On Midnight Beach by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick

This is apparently an old Irish tale rewritten but I didn’t take the time to explore the history, far too engaged in Marie-Louise’s prose to stop reading. It is set in 1976, and gave me a similar feel at times to SE Hinton’s Outsiders (see previous fave reads), although Hinton’s is set a decade earlier, in an urban setting, and this one has a wonderful rural backdrop of a coastal Irish village.

The story follows two seventeen-year-old main characters, one on each side of the divide between rival villages on the Donegal coast. A dolphin comes to hang out in the cove of one of the villages, bringing with it excitement and the wealth of tourism, as well as the envy of the other village. This in turn brings conflict between the rival gangs of teenagers which escalates to an exhilarating climax.

The main characters are wonderfully crafted, with emotional reactions and driving force that feels spot on for those at this transitional age between the end of school/college, and the rest of their lives. Well worth reading.