Say Nothing

When I was nine years old my parents separated and my mum, my two sisters and I moved in with my grandmother and three of my mother's younger siblings who had not yet married and left home. It was a rollicking household with strong Irish roots. Irish expats were always welcome and Irish sailors who were docked in Montreal inevitably arrived on my grandmother's doorstep in Ville St. Pierre via the Catholic Sailor's Club. There was Irish music being sung or played on the gramophone and plenty of tea and cake.The Irish tricolour always flew proudly on St. Patrick's Day. One of my memories is of my nana shaking her tiny fist and shouting "Up the IRA". So I know a bit about Irish history.
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is a non-fiction book about The Troubles in Northern Ireland that appeared on many "Best Of The Year" lists for 2019. Between the late 1960s and 1998 nearly four thousand people were killed during a period of profound political unrest. The book begins in 1972 with the abduction of Jean McConville, a 38 year old widow and mother of ten children. She was dragged from the family home in Belfast by a group who looked familiar to the children and was never seen again. She was one of a small group of people in those days who simply disappeared.
The story alternates between the McConville family and various Provisional Irish Republican Army members whose names are familiar to anyone who followed international news back then: Bobby Sands, Gerry Adams, Dolours Price and more. The McConville children were separated and most were taken into care where they were abused. They grew up damaged and yearning to know what happened  to their mother. Many of the IRA volunteers ended up with PTSD and substance abuse issues; some died violently. It is not about good guys vs bad guys. There is plenty of blame on both sides and Keefe maintains an unbiased view.
The book reads more like fiction than history and is totally gripping. It's thoroughly researched, well-structured and heartbreaking. I felt emotionally wrung out when I reached the end but glad to have read it.

**The Royal Court Theatre is offering a free showing of Cypress Avenue online this month. The play is about a Belfast loyalist struggling with the past and terrified of the future. It stars Stephen Rea who was, in real life, married to Dolours Price who is one of the key figures in Say Nothing. I look forward to watching it.