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Her latest novel in Irish, Hurlamaboc, is for young adult readers and will add further to her reputation among those who prefer the first official language as their literary medium. The title can be translated as "commotion, uproar; noise of chase" and deals with three Dublin teenagers as they sit their Leaving Cert and prepare to face adulthood and all its responsibilities. The voices of the three teenagers - Ruán, Emma and Colm - all sound true to this reader's ear. That is no mean achievement given that youth culture can be shallow and the danger for an adult writer lies in injuring themselves when diving in. Yet, while the culture in which these teenagers move may be shallow, they themselves are not. They are reflective beings. They appreciate that they will soon have choices to make and that those choices will affect them in the years to come. The bitchiness, petty-mindedness and class distinctions of teenage life are there, but then these young adults are often simply aping the behaviour of their parents. They did not lick it off the stones, as the saying has it.
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