Big Girl Small Town, by Michelle Gallen

For anyone who loves Derry Girls you really should read this! It’s very funny and quirky, set in Northern Ireland in the 2000s. It is about a girl (Majella) with undiagnosed autism, who is in her 20s, works in a chip shop, and looks after her alcoholic mother, and the whole story takes place in the period of 1 week. By the third or fourth day, we can begin to see how repetitive and routine-based her life is - she eats the same food, watches the same TV show, goes to the same places, wears the same clothes, and has the same conversations with people each day. When Majella’s grandma dies mysteriously however, people start to pay her more attention and her life starts to be unpredictable. I absolutely loved the third person perspective stream-of-consciousness writing style - it's so honest, doesn’t shy away from every-day details, and is believable and entertaining.

How accessible is it?

There is a lot of dialogue and words written in Irish Accents or Irish dialect - and I didn’t realise until I got my hands on a paperback copy - because I listened to the audiobook version. Here is an example of the dialogue:

Och aye, aye. Musta been in tae his late eighties. Great health he had too. Ye wouldnta have taken him for wan that’d be dead before Christmas

For people who might struggle to read this, I highly recommend the audiobook on audible because it’s narrated by the amazing Nicola Coughlan who stars in Derry Girls!

Accessibility rating:

3 stars, but possibly a 4 or 5 stars when listened to as an audiobook.