Titanic Town: Memoirs of a Belfast Girlhood

This is an account of the life of the Catholic community of Belfast in the Sixties and Seventies, based on the author's own childhood experiences, and told from the point of view of schoolgirl Annie McPhelimy. Annie, her family and friends experience the terror, excitement and hilarity of life in a "no-go" IRA stronghold, acting as both victims and chief protagonists in the constant round of riots, house searches, demonstrations and shootings. Annie's mother, a politically naive but militant pacifist, sets up a peace movement, only to incur the active disapproval of the local community. Annie herself struggles to enjoy whatever romantic diversions present themselves, but even her love-life is subjected to restrictions and traumas, exemplified by the imprisonment of her childhood hero in Long Kesh jail, for IRA activities. Humorous and harrowing in equal measure, the book is a celebration of the indomitable spirit of a community subjected to the everday horror of violence and the prejudice and injustice of an intractable political situation.