Bog child by Siobhan Dowd

I don't always read books shortlisted for awards but I made an exception for "Bog child" and I'm glad I did. It was a great interlinking story about 1980s Northern Ireland and stone age times and very well written. My only problem is who to target with this book. As a story it could be read by S1/2 but there is so much background knowledge needed about 'the troubles' that I am not sure the average S1/2 will understand why people wanted to starve themselves to death . I think the more dedicated types would do the research to understand the setting, but many would just abandon it, which would be a great shame . It's a fine and challenging read and well deserves its Carnegie award !