The Year of the Ladybird

It is the 1970s in Ballyfermot, Dublin. Lulu, a ten-year-old African-Irish girl with what she calls “fuzzy-wuzzy-do-da hair,” wants nothing more than to blend in with everybody else.

Her best friend Jackie is regularly chased with a sweeping brush for wearing her mother's enormous high heels. Together, they befriend Daniel, a handsome Jewish boy who has recently moved to Ballyfermot, and endure the taunts of two local bullies.

Their world also includes Annie, a lovable girl with Down syndrome whose mother treats her like a national treasure, and Mollie and Fats Benny, two neighbourhood gossips who spend their days watching and judging everyone around them.

Fortunately, Lulu has Jem—her “rock”: a kind and intelligent grandfather who treats her as the rare national treasure she truly is.

The children race through the blurred green bushes of Markievicz Park, escaping imaginary Daleks, dinosaurs and Nazis. They swim in the canal, catch brown trout and live from dusk until dawn like wild, feral creatures.

Told through a child's eyes, The Year of the Ladybird is a humorous yet poignant story about friendship, family, difference and belonging—and about one small black ladybird trying desperately to fit into a world filled with red ones.