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Life after life : a Guildford Four memoir / Paddy Armstrong, with Mary-Elaine Tynan.

By: Contributor(s): Publication details: Dublin : Gill Books, 2017.Description: 316 pages : 24 cmISBN:
  • 9780717172474 : (pbk)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 920 23
Summary: On the 5th of October 1975, the IRA detonated two bombs in the heart of Guildford, a garrison town just south of London. Five people lost their lives, and over sixty were injured, many seriously. With the IRA obviously to blame, and public opinion crying out for justice, suspicion fell on three Northern Irishmen, one of whom was Paddy Armstrong. Though a sensitive man with little interest in politics, he was arrested, interrogated for days under the harshest conditions and swiftly convicted for terrorist offences. He would spend the next fifteen years in prison. The legal saga to release the Guildford Four - Paddy, Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson, Paddy's girlfriend at the time of his arrest - captured front pages and dominated headlines on both sides of the English Channel for over a decade. But the voices of those at the heart of the saga remained for the most part silent. For Paddy, his story became one of resilience and pragmatism in the face of the most grave injustice. Initially bewildered by what had happened to him, he set about building a life in prison alongside those whose campaigns had created the climate of fear in which he was convicted: IRA men, PLO fighters, political prisoners. He adapted to the grinding and uncompromising nature of life on the inside, its culture of violence and retribution, all the while trying to keep dreams of freedom from impinging on his perspective. Today, Paddy Armstrong is a husband and father, and it has been over twenty-seven years since his conviction was quashed. But the memory of his experiences lives on, and it is here, for the first time and with unflinching candour, he lays bare the experiences of those years and their aftermath. Stirring and compassionate, Life After Life is a moving testament to the depths of human resilience -- Source other than Library of Congress.
List(s) this item appears in: New acquisitions 2017
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Loanable Book Library Irish Collection 920 ARM (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 000413135

On the 5th of October 1975, the IRA detonated two bombs in the heart of Guildford, a garrison town just south of London. Five people lost their lives, and over sixty were injured, many seriously. With the IRA obviously to blame, and public opinion crying out for justice, suspicion fell on three Northern Irishmen, one of whom was Paddy Armstrong. Though a sensitive man with little interest in politics, he was arrested, interrogated for days under the harshest conditions and swiftly convicted for terrorist offences. He would spend the next fifteen years in prison. The legal saga to release the Guildford Four - Paddy, Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson, Paddy's girlfriend at the time of his arrest - captured front pages and dominated headlines on both sides of the English Channel for over a decade. But the voices of those at the heart of the saga remained for the most part silent. For Paddy, his story became one of resilience and pragmatism in the face of the most grave injustice. Initially bewildered by what had happened to him, he set about building a life in prison alongside those whose campaigns had created the climate of fear in which he was convicted: IRA men, PLO fighters, political prisoners. He adapted to the grinding and uncompromising nature of life on the inside, its culture of violence and retribution, all the while trying to keep dreams of freedom from impinging on his perspective. Today, Paddy Armstrong is a husband and father, and it has been over twenty-seven years since his conviction was quashed. But the memory of his experiences lives on, and it is here, for the first time and with unflinching candour, he lays bare the experiences of those years and their aftermath. Stirring and compassionate, Life After Life is a moving testament to the depths of human resilience -- Source other than Library of Congress.

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