Alone in the Everglades, Lori promises her dying mother she will care for her newborn brother. Competing for her affections, Lori will have to choose between two brothers, but Michael's welfare will always remain paramount. Born into the violence of Northern Ireland, Shaun O'Brien is recruited by the IRA. Under the tutelage of Hugh Devlin, a veteran terrorist, Shaun excels in his ability to spread death and destruction. While proliferating his creed, Shaun crosses paths with both Lori and Michael. Pursued by The RUC in the form of Inspector Pete Doyle, the two men will eventually meet in a confrontation that only one can survive. After the wrongful imprisonment of Michael, and to keep faith with the promise she made to their mother, Lori solicits the help of the I.R.A. to free Michael. The one man that can help her is Shaun O'Brien, but the price of his help is to kidnap a prominent protestant church leader and hold the British Government to ransom.
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More About the Author
My name is Malcolm James Croan, but I much prefer Callum (Gaelic for Malcolm.) I was born in Edinburgh Scotland on the 1st of November 1948. I mention this because, coincidentally it happened to be 'All Saints Day,' and by a stroke of good fortune for my mother, her birthday also.
My father Robert Croan known as Bob was a managing partner in the family business known as Robert Croan and Son's. A fish and kipper curing enterprise of considerable size on a nationwide basis. Unfortunately the son's did not refer to me, but to the previous generation, the business having been started by my grandfather, and his brothers. As it would turn out I would have to make my own way in life. But it has to be said that I did have a fairly privileged upbringing, which included a public school education. In the UK, public means private education. St Josephs College Dumfries it also happened to be a boarding school. This male bastion was administered, and controlled by the Marist brothers. A religious order that in time I would come to rebel against, and eventually at the tender age of twelve, I would abscond from.
The rest of my education was somewhat patchy, but I think it is safe to say that I probably would have been voted the least likely student to ever write anything worthwhile. My spelling was abominable and my English grammar probably no better than average. But I always had a good imagination, a talent which for some inexplicable reason was completely overlooked by the educational system of the day. I also had an insatiable desire to discover for myself what lay over the horizon.
Writing did not come naturally to me. It was a means to an end: at a time in my life when I thought I could make a quick buck. That was thirty years ago. My first novel was entitled 'Retribution' The story of a young man who after his fathers death discovers that his only sister was institutionalized as the result of her kidnap and abuse some ten years earlier. Mark sets out to find the culprits and inflict his own brand of justice.
'Thicker Than Water' would be my next foray into the literary world, and would eventually be published as 'Right Hand Up To God.' The gripping story of a young girls triumph over adversity, and at the same time, and half a world away her estranged half brother Sean would fall victim to the mindless violence that was Northern Ireland. While my heroine Lori triumphs over life's hardship, her half-brother Sean by means of the I.R.A. proliferates the sectarian kayo that is Ulster. But the two siblings will be drawn together in an audacious venture to compromise the British government of Margaret Thatcher, and save the life of their younger brother Michael a roman catholic priest from a living hell; the Maze Prison Belfast.
Web contact links:
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More/dp/1449535410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259537534&sr=1-1
https://www.createspace.com/3402596
http://bit.ly/4Dc7x8
My father Robert Croan known as Bob was a managing partner in the family business known as Robert Croan and Son's. A fish and kipper curing enterprise of considerable size on a nationwide basis. Unfortunately the son's did not refer to me, but to the previous generation, the business having been started by my grandfather, and his brothers. As it would turn out I would have to make my own way in life. But it has to be said that I did have a fairly privileged upbringing, which included a public school education. In the UK, public means private education. St Josephs College Dumfries it also happened to be a boarding school. This male bastion was administered, and controlled by the Marist brothers. A religious order that in time I would come to rebel against, and eventually at the tender age of twelve, I would abscond from.
The rest of my education was somewhat patchy, but I think it is safe to say that I probably would have been voted the least likely student to ever write anything worthwhile. My spelling was abominable and my English grammar probably no better than average. But I always had a good imagination, a talent which for some inexplicable reason was completely overlooked by the educational system of the day. I also had an insatiable desire to discover for myself what lay over the horizon.
Writing did not come naturally to me. It was a means to an end: at a time in my life when I thought I could make a quick buck. That was thirty years ago. My first novel was entitled 'Retribution' The story of a young man who after his fathers death discovers that his only sister was institutionalized as the result of her kidnap and abuse some ten years earlier. Mark sets out to find the culprits and inflict his own brand of justice.
'Thicker Than Water' would be my next foray into the literary world, and would eventually be published as 'Right Hand Up To God.' The gripping story of a young girls triumph over adversity, and at the same time, and half a world away her estranged half brother Sean would fall victim to the mindless violence that was Northern Ireland. While my heroine Lori triumphs over life's hardship, her half-brother Sean by means of the I.R.A. proliferates the sectarian kayo that is Ulster. But the two siblings will be drawn together in an audacious venture to compromise the British government of Margaret Thatcher, and save the life of their younger brother Michael a roman catholic priest from a living hell; the Maze Prison Belfast.
Web contact links:
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Hand-Up-God-
More/dp/1449535410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259537534&sr=1-1
https://www.createspace.com/3402596
http://bit.ly/4Dc7x8
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Novel that is so hard to put aside once you start to read it.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Right Hand Up To God: No More Will Die (Paperback)
I promise that if you purchase this novel" Right Hand Up to God" you won't be disappointed. Malcolm is an excellent storyteller and you will never be bored with this novel. I found it to be so interesting that it was hard for me to put the book aside once I started to read it. The main character Lori is confronted with one challenge after another through this book. All the characters are interesting and all play an important role in the story. I bought a couple of copies for gifts. Books make wonderful gifts for that person that has everything. I will be watching and waiting for his next novel as soon as it is on the market for sale. Sara Brannon
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Suspense with Twist and Turns.,
By
This review is from: Right Hand Up To God: No More Will Die (Paperback)
Right Hand Up To God, No More Will Die is a fascinating account of a young girl, Lori, living in the squalor of life in the Everglades, raising her newborn brother, to clear across the world to Shaun O'Brien, born into the bloodshed and bedlam of Northern Ireland. If you like to travel from country to continent, with plots that twist and turn and characters that you grow to love and fight for, then this is the book for you.
The book grabs you from the beginning and won't let you rest. Lori has to raise a newborn, at the age of ten and fight off the drunken bouts and the unfortunate attack on her young body. What happens next is... well; you'll have to buy the book. I don't want to give away the secrets of this suspenseful story. It will hold your attention until the very end. Your heart beats with the explosions of bullets and the chaos of war, when Shaun O'Brien risks his young life as he constantly faces The Royal Ulster Constabulary of Inspector Pete Doyle. Lori grows up fast in a world of high society, drugs and death. When she asks for the help of Shaun to save her brother, the climax grows to an explosion of love and loss. I really enjoyed reading this, and hope you like it too.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Sweeping Family Saga of Betrayal and Redemption,
By Bonnie Toews "Heart Tugs ... at the crossroad... (Newcastle, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Right Hand Up To God: No More Will Die (Paperback)
Far-reaching settings around the world are the backdrop for this dramatic story of an Irish family split by tragedy and history. Though "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough and "Cane and Abel" by Jeffery Archer were the author's inspiration for writing this epic tale, M.J. Croan has found his own strong voice and pace.
The opening scenes in the Florida Everglades are chilling, frightening, desperate and heroic as our imaginations follow like a camera a young girl and her pregnant mother -- both are fleeing to the mother's sister after the mother has killed an abusive husband/father in an act of survival. The author does not explore this but I have experienced this in Irish women -- an infinity for binding themselves to abusive men, no matter how smart and heroic they themselves are. It's as if their souls are chained to the self-flagellation of their deprived self-esteem, so Croan's women characters have the built-in contradictions that create unforgettable heroines drowning in tragic choices. Enroute to rescue, the mother gives birth to her baby and dies, leaving her young 11-year-old daughter, Lori, to become the mother to her son, Michael. Lori discovers her mother's sister has not faired any better with her choice of husband -- a drunk and abuser who cannot support them let alone the addition of two children. Yet, the aunt and child persevere in poverty until the aunt also dies, a victim of cancer. Through her aunt's sickness, Lori is her only caregiver, along with a Catholic priest who takes an interest in the family's survival. To thrive and protect her brother, Lori grows into a cunning realist who melts into the wild life of the everglades. It comforts her, and with the life's skills it teaches her, she keeps her promise to look after her baby brother until authorities separate them and place him with a good Catholic family selected by the priest. On her own, Lori's sole goal is to do whatever she has to do to get her brother back. It gives her a purpose that supercedes her lack of self-esteem because of her degrading upbringing. She makes choices that continually improve her circumstances, until she falls in love with two Australian brothers. She marries the rich one and can once again seek to have her brother with her. Across the ocean, Lori's mother had another sister who died, and her children were adopted -- the older sister looking after a young brother -- parallels here -- but the sister is killed trying to rescue her brother, Sean, in the IRA rebellion of Belfast. Sean is only 14, but the IRA leader sees his potential and grooms him for leadership and notoriety as a terrorist to further the IRA's aims. The fate of the male cousins, Sean and Michael, reaches across two occeans and eventually intertwines, and Lori uses one to secure the release of the other. Thus the theme of betrayal and redemption reaches its fulfillment. A truly dramatic and gripping read that catapults MJ Croan into the ranks of classic authors. It's a Christmas gift that readers will treasure.
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