Description

This powerful family memoir transforms Belfast's turbulent 350-year history into an intimate human story through the extraordinary Twomey family saga.

From Daniel Twomey, a post-Famine farm boy from the Cork-Kerry border who became an economic conscript in the British Army stationed in Victorian Belfast, to his grandson Seamus Twomey, key founder of the Provisional IRA, to great-grandson Diarmuid's pioneering role in Belfast's Irish language revival, this book weaves personal narrative through the city's most defining moments - the plantation and clearances, sectarian riots, the 1920s pogroms, the Troubles, and today's cultural renaissance. Unlike academic histories, this ground-level perspective reveals how ordinary families experienced conquest, colonisation, discrimination, and resistance while challenging standard narratives about Belfast's past.

The book culminates with the remarkable transformation of a once-English colonial garrison into Ireland's most vibrant urban Gaeltacht, where today over 7,000 children learn through Irish - a linguistic and cultural revolution led by the same family that once defended their community with arms. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand modern Ireland's complex origins and Belfast's journey from sectarian stronghold to diverse, bilingual city, this book offers unique insights into how historical trauma becomes cultural renewal and how one family's story illuminates an entire community's struggle for dignity, equality, and identity.

Content has already drawn packed lecture audiences in Belfast and secured programming at Féile an Phobail, with guaranteed Northern Ireland media coverage through the author's journalist connections and established BBC radio profile, with strong cross-demographic appeal spanning Irish history enthusiasts, Belfast locals, republican movement followers, the Irish language community, and the broader Irish diaspora market