“My Monthly Read for June is Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. Say Nothing is a masterclass in the art of the ‘non-fiction novel’. It has all the elements of great fiction – mesmerising characters, intrigue and plot twists. And it also happens to be true.
“Author Patrick Radden Keefe uses the abduction of young widow Jean McConville as the starting point to tell a much bigger story about what became known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This is a story I thought I knew but Keefe uses the interwoven stories of McConville and Dolours Price – the first female frontline fighter in the IRA – to get under the skin of both victims and perpetrators in the conflict. How did a community stand by and watch as a young mother was abducted in front of her kids? What led a bright and glamorous young woman to believe that violence was the only way to achieve political aims?
“Nearly 4,000 people were killed in the Troubles, between the late 1960s and the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Keefe exposes the deep tensions between Catholics and Protestants, paramilitaries and the British armed forces that led to the conflict. This is a big book in every sense of the word, about a terrible and tragic war in the United Kingdom that many people today are too young to even remember. I guarantee you will be hooked from beginning to end” – Dua Lipa
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