Why a Booktrail?
1981: The Troubles are tearing apart the country.
The Hunger Within
What you need to know before your trail
Neighbour turns on neighbour as the Catholic/Protestant divide rages on.
In Maze Prison, a group of men start a hunger strike, wanting to be recognised as political prisoners. On the outside, personal lives are also caught up in the turmoil.
When Bronwyn and Danny married, she had high hopes for their future. Now, they barely speak and Danny keeps such strange hours. When she learns Danny is involved in a shooting, she calls the police and he’s sent off to the Maze, where he joins the hunger strikes.
Meanwhile Rose James is not a pretty girl, nor is she strong. But she’s risking everything to date Connor Dean, a Protestant. When Connor is shot, Rose’s world threatens to tear apart, her mother throws her out and with nowhere to go, she moves in with Connor’s mother, Mary, a formidable woman who also lost Connor’s father to The Troubles.
But it’s not long before Mary sets out to get rid of Rose, travelling to The Maze to enlist Danny’s help. He is the man who shot her son and Mary knows there’s nothing he won’t do to get a job done. He agrees to make her problem disappear, if Mary will get Bronwyn to visit him. But no one could foresee the events that the handshake deal triggers.
Travel Guide
Newry
Newry was the location of many violent incidents during the conflict known as the Troubles. In the late 1990s and later, there were bomb scares, car bombs and other incidents which took lives and maimed even more
Because it straddles two county borders, it was used as a outlook post and as recent as 2003, the hilltop watch towers were taken down. The west of the city lies in County Armagh and the other half (the east) in County Down. The Clanrye River runs through the city.
Maze Prison
To some people it’s the Maze, to others it is Long Kesh. One of the buildings most associated with the Troubles as this is where the founder of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) Billy Wright, was murdered in 1997. It started life as a RAF base (Long Kesh), was a motor cycling racing track after the war and then HMP Maze.
On a more positive note, Newry’s bridge is the one – the Egyptian Arch used on the Irish £1 coins!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Hunger Within
Author/Guide: J M Hewitt Destination: Northern Ireland, Belfast, Newry Departure Time: 1981
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