Kenneth’s universe is that of respectable Protestant Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the 1990s filled with the deadly boredom of his ordered life, the smugness of feeling superior to his Catholic neighbors, and the barely concealed bigotry towards the “jiggery-Popery” of the Catholic Irish. Enter football, and the November 1993 World Cup qualifying match between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and Kenneth’s universe cracks open. How could someone born and raised on the island of Ireland identify as being British? This question, and its implications of loyalty, integrity, and self-identification, is at the heart of Kenneth’s journey in A Night in November.