Belfast Girls

I have won awards for short stories and poetry and really wanted to write a full length novel based on the changes I have seen over recent years in my home city of Belfast.

Comment from Sam Millar, bestselling author of ‘On the Brinks’ and ‘The Dark Place’: Gerry McCullough’s story-telling ability to keep all the plates spinning is impressive. Effortlessly, she takes your conscious mind out of your own world …smoothly and expertly, with page-turning ease.

Comment from Charles Bane Jr., Poet, USA: This is a brilliant story, and could only be written by someone of Joyce's blood … The description…is stunning. Brilliant, Gerry. Utterly brilliant.

Comment from author T. MacKenzie: This is truly a book about Ireland itself, not just friendship, love and suspense … it is true literary fiction, not just fiction. It has a VERY wide range of appeal.
Seamless intro of major characters, the fleshing out/explanation/background just the right balance, touch. You cover so much ground in that first chapter, effortlessly. The swift, brutal injection of action so soon into the story works so well. HAD to turn the page . . . no going back. Your writing, your pace, just about flawless.

Comment from Mark R. Trost, author of ‘Post Marked’: You have a manner with words that moves the eye around each description. I can feel your characters. I can hear them speak. Your atmosphere is tangible. I think that is so difficult. I congratulate you on it…when a writer takes the care to add the emotional, societal, and physical atmosphere the reader can engage on an emotional, physical, and spiritual level. And then you have art.
You provide that atmosphere. It’s difficult. It’s an achievement.

Comment from Amelia O., author of ‘A Certain Date in the Diary’: If you only have time to read one book properly it’s this one. An award winning read.


Comment from author John Burns: You have an (seemingly) effortless pace which carries the reader onwards at a right rate of knots. You are also good at distinguishing between your several characters, making the storytelling clearer. And you are never at a loss for a sudden plot switch. I like the way you let Belfast emerge as a character in its own right, never making a big deal about it.

Comment from author S.C. Thompson: A great opening set piece, aglitter with high fashion . . . and intrigue most foul! "Belfast Girls" reveals insight nuanced characters struggling with contemporary challenges as the gritty plot unfolds.

Comment from author C.J. Cronin: I think this book is a great one. The story is moved along a nice clip: depictions of the characters set against an Irish cultural background, blend well with the tone of the narrations. Quiet on the surface, something uneasy is lurking underneath and compelling readers to move on.

Comment from author James MacPherson: Belfast Girls was all glamour and beauty at the start - mixed suddenly with Ulster Fry and Soda Bread, and the bhoys with the guns - a great story, with everything that’s beautiful and ugly about the Province, running through it. The opening was not quite what I was expecting, but tense and then explosive at the end.
Then back in time to pre Good Friday, and the innocence of youth, against the backdrop of sectarian hatred, showed the reader expertly, the transition

Comment from author Graham Barrow: There is always something instantly appealing about a story that promises several strands of story lines that weave together into a complete and compelling narrative cord.

What immediately strikes me about your writing, Gerry, is the love of words and the understanding that good writing must have a rhythm to it in order to maintain interest - which yours does abundantly well.
These chapters read with the effortlessness that suggests that a great deal of effort has gone into writing them.

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