China Bull

'Some writers make you think; some writers make you laugh till you cry. Michelle Gallen belongs to that rare, rare group of writers who make you think even as the tears are tripping you' Glenn Patterson Winter solstice, 1983. Beautiful, all-American Kristal Bonedust arrives in rural Ireland clad in a scarlet coat and ruby slippers, changing her cousin Kat's life from black and white to multi-coloured. After the tragic deaths of her brother and mother in Brooklyn NY, Kristal and her father moveto Ireland so she can grow up among family. While her father carves meat and breaks hearts in the family butcher shop, Kristal forms an intense bond with eleven-year-old Kat. The girls couldn't be less alike but are soon swapping lessons on makeup and Barbies, religion and school, folklore and fashion. But when Kat uncovers what really happened in the USA, the cousins choose very different paths, except for one thing - they both cleave to the family's code of silence, one which will forever stain their lives. Although Kat grows up to establish a trailblazing career and family of her own, she remains privately obsessed with what happened all those years ago. Then a family death reopens old wounds. Can Kat finally face the dark truths hiding behind her rags to riches fairytale life? China Bull is a darkly funny story of secrets and truths, family honour and misguided loyalty. It is a blistering expose of the hidden costs of surviving against the odds, tracking how an innocent child's choice can reverberate for years to come.