“I felt it was important that somebody told our side of the story,” explains author Anthony Canavan of his new book Our Troubles: Stories of Catholic Belfast During the Troubles 1968-1998.
“The main inspiration was the various anniversaries of the Good Friday Agreement,” he says.
“People were always looking back on the Troubles, but I never saw my experience or the experience of my friends and neighbours reflected in any of the TV programmes or newspaper articles about what had happened during those years.
“And my own stories and memories from that time had been rattling around in my head for decades so when the Covid lockdown happened and I had a lot more free time on my hands I decided to finally sit down and start putting these stories onto paper - or rather - onto a screen.”
Based on Anthony’s own experiences growing up in north Belfast, Our Troubles tells the stories of ordinary Catholics living in an area where an estimated one-sixth of all Troubles-related deaths occurred.
It touches on many of the harrowing experiences people were subjected to despite having no political or paramilitary connections, including arbitrary arrest, being personally assaulted, stopped and searched, facing attacks by loyalists and suffering from the aftermath of bombings.
Anthony lost family members friends and neighbours to the violence.
- Irish author and documentary maker Tom Hurley on his new book Last Voices of the Irish RevolutionOpens in new window
- ‘It connects Northern Ireland to the Holocaust in a very sobering way’ - author Noel Russell on The Saved and the SpurnedOpens in new window
- Newry’s Marianvale mother and baby home: ‘We thought it would be OK because the Church was running it. We were very naïve...’Opens in new window
“Two of my uncles were murdered by loyalists in the 1970s. Three of my aunts and their families were forced out of their homes in Annalee Street by a loyalist mob while the British Army looked on. And two of my cousins spent time in Long Kesh for their involvement with the IRA,” he explains.
“In my wider circle, friends that I had been to school with were killed in the Troubles or spent time in prison. Some people just went away and were never heard of again.”
All this, naturally had an affect on Anthony and the wider community and still does, leaving a legacy of trauma and pain.
“I didn’t expect writing the book it to be so cathartic,” he confesses.
“Initially I had just wanted to get the stories out of my head but the more I wrote the more I felt like I had come to terms with all the events that had happened.”
Although inspired by true events Anthony decided that instead of adding to the myriad of non-fiction books written about north Belfast and the Troubles he would write a fictional account as he believes “fiction has a way of conveying truth in a way that mere facts just can’t”.
“I could have opted to write a history book or a memoir, but I wanted to get to a deeper level than what people were experiencing and highlight the fundamental truths of what was going on,” he explains.
“I was also aware that a lot of people may not feel I had a right to tell their story and I know for a lot of people the things they experienced during the Troubles are still very raw – almost like an open wound- and I didn’t want to exacerbate that.”
Most of the accounts in the novel are told through Anthony’s protagonist Finn, whom we follow from his start at St Malachy’s College through to attending Queen’s University Belfast.
“Finn is largely based on myself as well as some people I went to school with,” Anthony explains.
“There was me and three other boys, and we all started primary school at the same time and ended up going to secondary and then university together, so Finn is almost like an amalgam of all of us.”
Like Finn, Anthony attended QUB where he studied history and politics.
After graduating he began his career as the curator of Newry Museum in Co Down, where he wrote his first book Frontier Town: An Illustrated History of Newry. It was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award in 1990.
“This is my first fiction book - although my background is in history so people may claim I’ve been writing fiction this whole time,” he laughs.
“But I’d written Frontier Town and I’ve been writing articles and journals over the years and given lectures but this is the first time that I’ve been able to add in a bit more creativity so it was very much a new adventure that way.”
He also admits that he did not expect the writing process to be “so emotional.”
“I ran through the whole gamut of emotions.
“Sometimes I was almost moved to tears when I remembered things like being phoned up and told my uncle had been murdered and stuff like that.
“But other times I must say it was the other extreme where I was moved to laughter when I thought about some of the more ridiculous things that happened or people’s reaction to it.”
However, he believes the experience has helped change and in part heal his relationship with north Belfast.
“After university I never moved back to north Belfast, and I’ve lived in Dublin ever since I got married in 1996, so I have a physical distance from the place as well as an emotional one.
“But I think the passage of time has enabled me to look back on the area - particularly the street I lived on and the people I lived with in the community around me and I’ve found that I feel much more respect and affection for them.
“People managed to live day to day or week to week with dignity, self-respect and even humour when it was needed which I think when you’re in the middle of all that you don’t really appreciate.”
Anthony hopes Our Troubles will help people to become better informed about the impact the Troubles had on north Belfast.
“I want to bring it to life for people,” he says. “Fiction allows you to engage with the story and the characters on a more emotional level and you’re able to see things from their perspective and I hope that’s what people do when they read it.”
