Say Nothing
A True Story Of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland
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4.5 • 105 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING
ONE OF DUA LIPA'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
‘The best book I’ve read for a while, it’s fantastic’ John Oliver
‘A must read’ Gillian Flynn
One night in December 1972, Jean McConville, a mother of ten, was abducted from her home in Belfast and never seen alive again. Her disappearance would haunt her orphaned children, the perpetrators of this terrible crime and a whole society in Northern Ireland for decades.
In this powerful, scrupulously reported book, Patrick Radden Keefe offers not just a forensic account of a brutal crime but a vivid portrait of the world in which it happened. The tragedy of an entire country is captured in the spellbinding narrative of a handful of characters, presented in lyrical and unforgettable detail.
A poem by Seamus Heaney inspires the title: ‘Whatever You Say, Say Nothing’. By defying the culture of silence, Keefe illuminates how a close-knit society fractured; how people chose sides in a conflict and turned to violence; and how, when the shooting stopped, some ex-combatants came to look back in horror at the atrocities they had committed, while others continue to advocate violence even today.
Say Nothing deftly weaves the stories of Jean McConville and her family with those of Dolours Price, the first woman to join the IRA as a front-line soldier, who bombed the Old Bailey when barely out of her teens; Gerry Adams, who helped bring an end to the fighting, but denied his own IRA past; Brendan Hughes, a fearsome IRA commander who turned on Adams after the peace process and broke the IRA’s code of silence; and other indelible figures. By capturing the intrigue, the drama and the profound human cost of the Troubles, the book presents a searing chronicle of the lengths that people are willing to go to in pursuit of a political ideal, and the ways in which societies mend – or don’t – in the aftermath of a long and bloody conflict.
About the author
Patrick Radden Keefe is a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine and the author of two critically acclaimed books, The Snakehead and Chatter. He received the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing in 2014, was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2015 and 2016, and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellowship at the New America Foundation. A former Marshall scholar, he holds Master’s degrees from Cambridge University and the London School of Economics, and a law degree from Yale. He lives in New York
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
New Yorker staff writer Keefe (Snakehead) incorporates a real-life whodunit into a moving, accessible account of the violence that has afflicted Northern Ireland. The mystery concerns Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, who was snatched from her Belfast home by an IRA gang in 1972. While Keefe touches on historical antecedents, his real starting point is the 1960s, when advocates of a unified Ireland attempted to emulate the nonviolent methods of the American civil rights movement. The path from peaceful protests to terrorist bombings is framed by the story of Dolours Price, who became involved as a teenager and went on to become a central figure in the IRA. While formal charges were never brought against republican leader Gerry Adams in McConville's murder, Keefe makes a persuasive case that McConville was killed at his order for being an informer to the British and the author's dogged detective work enables him to plausibly name those who literally pulled the trigger. Tinged with immense sadness, this work never loses sight of the humanity of even those who committed horrible acts in support of what they believed in.
Customer Reviews
Say Nothing
An amazingly readable book of the Troubles. As a now retired TV professional who worked on a British Thames TV series “The Troubles”. The quality of debate, historical research and writing style was especially enjoyable. It not only took me personally back to a troubled time I had first hand knowledge of but filled in the gaps. Great book will be reading more by this author.
Gripping and insightful
As dark as much of the events were, this book does a brilliant job at putting the jigsaw together. Superbly written. I’ve not finished a book this quick in many a year. This review is dedicated to the memory of Mrs Jean McConville. May God grant her family guidance and ease, and have mercy upon this victim of a callous murder.
Excellent insight to the Troubles
Having grown up in London in the 70’s this book gives an excellent perspective to the conflict in Northern Ireland that I never had living in a city targeted by the IRA. Patrick handles a very divisive subject whilst remaining objective and unearthing some truth through comprehensive research.