Safe House (13 page)
1972: Bloody Sunday. Fourteen unarmed Catholic protestors are killed by the British army in the North of Ireland. More patriots joined the IRA to fight the British. Fighting grows worse. Many lose their lives in twenty-five years of violence.
NB. Catholics are usually identified as Nationalists, or Republicans. Protestants are often identified as Loyalists.
1997: cease fire declared.
1998: April 10 peace accord (Good Friday Agreement) is signed. Catholic rights are guaranteed by government, but violence is still not completely eradicated, e.g. four months later, on August 15, twenty-nine people (and two unborn twin girls) are killed in Omagh; many hundreds are left physically and mentally scarred. March 15, 1999, Rosemary Nelson, solicitor, is killed by a bomb in Lurgan, County Armagh.
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NB. The story is set in 1999, but the events in the Ardoyne area described in the narrative are actually more recent. Holy Cross is a girls' school.
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James Heneghan is the author of a number of award-winning books for young readers including Hit Squad, an Orca Soundings novel, and Waiting for Sarah (Orca). James was born in Ireland and now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.