Northern Ireland

On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. The brutal killing of Frank Hegarty began a decades-long search for justice. In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both.

Ties That Bind? is an engrossing and timely study of the historical, cultural and political relationship between Scotland and Northern Ireland at a seminal moment in the constitutional history of both places. It has seldom been acknowledged, and rarely explored in any real depth, but this important book conclusively demonstrates just how deeply entwined the two countries are. The book explores how Scottish–Ulster ties historically acted as a bridge between Britain and Ireland and should be central to contemporary debates regarding Britishness, sectarianism and devolution. It reveals the ...

Ireland is inarguably a beautiful, enchanted place. But its history is more turbulent, fascinating, and terrible than any other. From the first English presence in Ireland in the 12th century, through siege, rebellion, and civil war, to Irish ascendancy, home rule, and the present-day troubles, best-selling author Paul Johnson tells, with remarkable clarity and concision, the compelling story of this most remarkable island.

When the Irish Invaded Canada is the untold tale of a band of fiercely patriotic Irish Americans and their chapter in Ireland's centuries-long fight for independence. Inspiring, lively, and often undeniably comic, this is a story of fighting for what's right in the face of impossible odds.

A page-turning tale that combines the action of an Andy McNab novel with the twisted plot of a Gerald Seymour yarn! ‘The Troubles’ are back, the North again becoming a horribly violent place, a dark return to the bad old days. The island of Ireland is once again torn in two, a hard border established between North and South following Britain’s parting from the rest of Europe. Politicians are being targeted by a new terror group, a small and careful band of killers whose wish is to re-unite Ireland. Alex Green is a sergeant in the Special Air Service, part of Britain’s military elite...

My name is Nora Logue. You’ve probably heard of me – most people have. I am the mother of Daisy Logue. Seven years ago, I took her for a walk in the woods. Only I came out. I have no memory of what happened that day. I have tried to rebuild my life. Met a man, had another child – Luca. But I can’t let go of Daisy, or give up hope of seeing her again. And now, I have the chance to find out what happened to her. But what if pursuing the truth about my daughter risks my son’s life?

It’s the final years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and Bríd and her sister, Ina, try to maintain a stable life in a divided country. Pushed by her mother’s fanaticism and a family tragedy, Bríd joins the IRA and makes a devastating choice. Frightened and guilt ridden, she flees, leaving behind Ireland and her family for America. Years later, her guilt and tragic history still buried, Bríd is an overprotective mother raising her sensitive daughter, Bernie, in Southern California.

A gruesome murder with a strange twist. Supermarket shelf stacker Regina Steps has been strangled, stripped to her underwear, her body found straddling one of the cannons of Derry’s city walls. And why has the killer done that with her thumb? For seasoned DI Liam McLaughlin and the ragtag officers of the Major Investigation Team, it’s a homicide they’ve never seen the likes of before. Middle-aged Regina might have kept herself to herself, but she always had a smile for everyone she came across. Who could have wanted to do her harm? Was she just unlucky? But delving deeper into her ...

Ray Spalding's had enough of his wife, Paula. He's left his home in Edinburgh's Southside and headed for Belfast. It's safer there. Unknown to Ray, Paula's also had enough of him. She's not going back home. Not now, not ever. Jesse Spalding wakes up one morning to find both his parents gone. And he can't tell anyone or he'll be taken into care. As time passes and bills need paying, all Jesse can rely on are his wits, his friend Archie and his dad's 1950s record collection. Southsiders is a powerful short novel that follows the spiralling fortunes of Ray and Jesse, pushing father and son to ...

The novel is set in the late 1970s, during the TROUBLES in Northern Ireland, and the story was told to the author by the only surviving member of the SAS team involved. The names and places have been changed, and the entire operation has always been denied by the British Government. O'Malley is a Special Forces trained Commando with a growing mental health problem, who is pushed over the edge by the death of his son at the hands of the British army. He turns rogue and begins shooting British soldiers. A specialist SAS assassination squad are assigned to eliminate him but begin to take ...

A riveting political thriller from the journalist who covered the controversy for more than two years, Burned is the inside story of the shocking scandal that brought down a government. One of the most shocking scandals in Northern Irish political history: originally a green-energy initiative, the Renewal Heat Incentive (RHI) or 'cash-for-ash' scheme saw Northern Ireland's government pay £1.60 for every £1 of fuel the public burned in their wood-pellet boilers, leading to widespread abuse and ultimately the collapse of the power-sharing administration at Stormont.

IAN WILSON IS BACK Ian Wilson believed he had left the PSNI behind, but destiny had different plans for him. Persuaded to return, he finds himself at the helm of a murder squad burdened with added responsibilities. The enigmatic disappearance of gang boss Sammy Rice still haunts the city, and the integration of new team members adds an extra layer of complexity to his already challenging role. Then, a revelation emerges regarding the hidden burial site of one of the tragic 'disappeared.' The exhumation of the body and the ensuing investigation threaten to unveil one of Ulster's most ...

In this fascinating sequel to the ground-breaking publication of Broad Church in 2019, A Broad Church: Volume 2 reveals the true history of the Provisional Republican movement in the south of Ireland in the cataclysmic decade of the 1980s. This period saw a sea-change in the movement, with the political wing increasingly coming to fore of the republican struggle. This led to a rethink on the movement’s policy of abstentionism both within the military and political movements, culminating in the historic overturning of the policy in the Republic. This growing politicisation supplemented the...

Northern Ireland is one hundred years old. Northern Ireland does not exist. Both of these statements are true. It just depends on who you ask. How do you write about a place like this? THE STRANGERS' HOUSE asks this question of the region’s greatest writers, living and dead. What have they made of Northern Ireland–and what has Northern Ireland made of them?

Fear is the new style in Derry. The city’s hairstylists are running scared as the second in their circle, poor Gloria Baggot, is found brutally slain in a shower stall. She lathered her own death into her hair. As DI McLaughlin and team struggle to find a connection between the two victims, they are pulled from the salons into a world of secret conspiracies, unearthing mysteries rooted in Ireland's ancient past. Is a deranged killer seeking revenge for a bad perm, or was Gloria’s murder a chilling rite millennia in the making? The intrepid Major Investigation Team race to untangle fact ...

Dylan is 12 years old and embarking on his first ocean kayaking trip with his parents. He has spent the last year convincing them that he is ready for the challenging - and very dangerous - adventure. In fact, he has been determined to go ever since he heard about the destination: Ireland’s Eye. The small island off the coast of Newfoundland is the easternmost settlement in Canada. Or it was. It is now hauntingly empty, a ghost town clinging to the edge of the unforgiving Atlantic.

Charles Haughey maintained one of the most controversial and brilliant careers in the history of Irish politics, but for every stage in his mounting success there was one issue that complicated, and almost devastated, his ambitions to lead Irish politics: Northern Ireland. In ‘A Failed Political Entity’ Stephen Kelly uncovers the complex motives that underlie Haughey’s fervent attitude towards the political and sectarian violence that was raging across the border. Early in Haughey’s governmental career he took a hard line against the IRA, leading many to think he was antipathetic ...

Staying on in Northern Ireland as a civilian after years of working on undercover missions against terrorists, Rob eventually gains employment in Bristol, undertaking security work, but things don’t work out and Rob ends up living in a squat. After a job offer from an old colleague, Rob heads to London to work in close-protection security for some of Hollywood’s royalty and later becomes involved in the rescue of some very well-connected people from a dangerous religious cult. Rob’s life seems to be getting back on track. But Rob’s work soon becomes more covert.

Despite outliving him by 68 years, Mary Ann McCracken’s legacy is overshadowed by that of her more famous brother, executed United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken. She was, however, an abolitionist, a social reformer and an activist who fought for the rights of women and Belfast’s poor throughout a long life that encompassed the most turbulent years of Irish history. As treasurer, secretary and chair of the Ladies Committee, she helped girls from the Poor House learn crafts that would provide them with livelihoods. Dedicated to championing Belfast’s poor, she was President of the Ladies ...

In UDR: Declassified, Micheál Smith reveals what the British establishment, the British government and its armed forces knew and had to say about the controversial regiment in recently declassified files. From its formation in 1970 as a locally raised militia, the Ulster Defence Regiment developed into the largest regiment in the British army. For unionists, service in the UDR was a noble act and often a family tradition; for nationalists, an encounter with the UDR was frequently hostile, often brutal, and sometimes fatal. To the British army, they were ‘a dangerous species of ally’, a...