Product Description
It is the spring of 1968 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and James Kirkpatrick has just lost his father under suspicious circumstances, Casey Riordan is released from prison after five years and Pamela O’Flaherty has crossed an ocean and a lifetime of memories to find the man she fell in love with as a little girl. All three lives are on a collision course with each other against the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights movement and a nation on the brink of revolution.
They come from disparate backgrounds- Jamie a wealthy industrialist whose life is like an imperfect but many faceted jewel- brilliant, flawed and with a glitter that is designed to distract the observer. Casey- a card carrying member of the Irish Republican Army, who must face the fact that five years away has left him a stranger, a misfit in his own neighbourhood where not everyone is sympathetic to a convicted rebel. Pamela- who has come to Ireland in search of a memory and a man who may not have existed in the first place.
Through it all runs the ribbon of a love story; love of country, the beginning love of two people unable to resist the pull of each another regardless of the cost to themselves and those around them and the selfless love of one man who no longer believes himself capable of such emotion.
Ultimately this is the story of Ireland herself, of how nation is bound to one’s identity, woven into the weft of all we become. And whether, finally, freedom and peace can walk down the same road, hand in hand.
About the Author
I live in the interior of British Columbia with a menagerie that includes: one husband, three children, two dogs, one cat and an assortment of impermanent lodgers otherwise known as ‘neighbourhood children.’
The two great passions of my life are writing and Irish history, in writing Exit Unicorns I have, I hope, fused these two elements together. Much of the fiction I read today has left me feeling that, while the writing was technically good, there wasn’t enough story to sink my teeth into. I believe myself to be a storyteller before all else. Thousands of years ago I’d of sat by the tribal fire and woven tales for my shaggy-haired listeners. Very simply, it’s what I was meant to do.
I’ve traveled extensively in Ireland, particularly in the North where my story takes place. I walked the streets where history was made and smelled the smoke and blood of those times. I spoke with people on both sides of the political and religious divide about their beliefs and their struggles- this included a particularly memorable evening in an IRA pub. I drew from my own family history as well, the stories told by my great-grandmother who was a native of Belfast and left the country she loved because of political upheaval.
Currently I’m hard at work on the continuing story of Jamie, Pamela and Casey that began with Exit Unicorns.
by Paullina Simons
by Diana Gabaldon
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by Diana Gabaldon
