West Belfast begins quietly in a city in the 1960s much like any other European city with
children playing in the streets and young people such as John O Neill and Angela McCann
exploring life and love. But it is a city which is just about to explode into violence when the
Civil Rights Movement demanding equality for Catholics is suppressed by the government. In
response the IRA (Irish Republican Army) begins an armed struggle against the British Army and
the Northern Ireland state and we see the tragedy of people at war the devastating effect it
has on families and the lives of their children. Unlike any other modern novel about the Irish
Troubles West Belfast offers a unique perspective. The author Danny Morrison is a former
IRA prisoner who was also Director of Publicity for Sinn Féin for eleven years and is
intimately indeed emotionally familiar with his material and characters. Morrison is the
author of seven books including four novels and numerous short stories. First written 25 years
ago Morrison has re-worked and shortened his original novel for this Elsinor publication.
