In Glenn Patterson’s novel, Number 5 is a three-bedroom terrace house in suburban Belfast. From the 1950s to the present day, successive occupants fill the house with their troubles and joys. As fashions and tastes change according to each of Number 5’s owners, so the social fault lines of the city shift. Yet the presence of those who have gone before lingers on.
It’s now 43 years since Ivy, then 17, moved into the house opposite Number 5. She has known all Number 5’s occupants intimately; some of them more intimately than she might have wished.

Author: Glenn Patterson
Áine McCartney reads Part 5 – IVY
Produced and abridged by Eoin O’Callaghan
Executive Editor: Andy Martin Show less