The First Images From 'Trespasses' Depict Forbidden Love During the Troubles

Forbidden Love is a tale as old as time, as anyone who had to read William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in high school can tell you. The question of whether love can truly conquer all — be it warring families, competing religions, or societal restrictions — is at the heart of many of our favorite stories. But, as far as settings go, the Bard's tale of warring families in 14th century Verona's got nothing on Louise Kennedy's Trespasses, a story of 1970s Northern Ireland and a relationship set in the shadow of the period of sectarian violence known as the Troubles.

Kennedy's novel follows the story of Cushla, a Catholic primary school teacher who lives just outside of Belfast in a small town that British soldiers heavily occupy. Ground down by the necessities of daily living, she's lonely, still grieving her father's death two years prior, and trying to hold her crumbling family together. So when she meets a controversial (and very married) Protestant barrister named Michael, it's a chance encounter that changes both of their lives. Caught between allegiance to her community and dangerous passion, Cushla must keep their affair secret, on literal pain of death.

Fresh off her turn in the Troubles-set drama Say Nothing, Lola Petticrew plays Cushla, with Tom Cullen (The Gold) as Michael. Gillian Anderson (Scoop) also stars as Cushla's mother, described as a "glorious wreck" constantly sparring and at odds with her daughter.