Bookshelf
By author
 A look
inside the Lodge
A controversial, important and timely insider account of Northern Ireland’s
secretive Protestant society
As Orangemen marched in September of 2005, Protestant paramilitaries
fired on army and police in the worst riots seen in Belfast for 10 years
and Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable squarely blamed the Orange
Order.
Now, with publication timed to coincide with the start of the 2006 marching
season, an extraordinary book opens the lid on this secretive, powerful
and beleaguered organisation whose future is inextricably tied to that
of the North of Ireland.
Established in Ireland in 1795, the Orange Order aimed to promote Protestantism
and celebrate the memory of William of Orange. But religious and political
allegiances became inseparable.
Today the Order has around 30,000 active members, increasingly identified
with an unyielding, bigoted Unionism expressed in the thousands of marches
it stages each year, all too often the flashpoint for violence. For Orangeism,
like Unionism, is at a crossroads and a long way from the peaceful tolerance
it preaches.
The Rev. Brian Kennaway has been for years one of Orangeism’s
most senior and outspoken members, only leaving the Order’s Education
Committee when he felt that internal loyalty and short-term political
gain had become more important to its leadership than anything else.
Written more in sorrow than in anger but with absolute authority, this
revelatory book will be essential reading for everyone wishing to better
understand Northern Ireland today.
The Rev Brian Kennaway has been a senior member of the Orange Order
for over 40 years. For 25 years he was a member of the grand Orange Lodge
of Ireland and was convenor of its Education Committee from 1992 until
2000 when he felt finally forced to leave.
The Orange Order — A Tradition Betrayed by Brian Kennaway
is published by Methuen, £15.99.
Patrick Pearse — The Triumph Of Failure
There has always been argument about whether Patrick Pearse’s leadership
of the Easter Rising in 1916 represented a failure or a triumph. Pearse
— who on Easter Monday was proclaimed President of the Provisional
Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Irish Republic —
took on himself the most bitter of roles at the finish: He was the first
to make the move to surrender — and he was the first to be executed.
In this re-issued sympathetic, balanced, meticulously-researched and
highly-readable biography to which she has written a new preface Ruth
Dudley Edwards places this remarkable man in his historical, political
and cultural context.
She tells the story of his glorious but never quite successful ventures,
including his struggles to save the Irish language and inspire a new epoch
in Irish literature, and the foundation of his remarkable, radical school.
She examines his role as an educational, political and social thinker
as well as propagandist and military leader, and in her account of his
extraordinary life, does full justice to all its intrinsic irony, absurdity,
idealism and courage.
Rhode Montijo
Cloud Boy
Cloud Boy is an adorable book about a lonely cloud who discovers the
joy of making friends.
It can be a lonely world up there among the clouds. But when Cloud Boy
spots a stray butterfly passing by he is inspired to recreate its beautiful
share in the clouds around him. Soon he has created a whole skyful of
new friends.
A warm story about the pleasure of creativity for budding artists with
a sweet, gentle text that is ideal for bedtime reading. The small-format
hardback edition with its special pearlised finish makes Cloud Boy an
ideal gift book.
Rhode Montijo received his BFA in illustration from the California College
of Arts and Crafts in 1996. Recently, he collaborated with an independent
animation studio in producing an animated trailer for his comic Pablo’s
Inferno. In his rare spare time he enjoys painting.
Martin Moran
The Tricky Part — One Boy’s Fall From Trespass Into
Grace
At the age of 12 when Martin Moran began a three-year sexual relationship
with a Catholic boy’s club counsellor. little did he know that it
would signal the end of his childhood and the start of a lifelong journey
towards forgiveness.
The Tricky Part is Martin Moran’s courageous personal account of
triumph over adversity. Touching on complex issues such as sexuality,
spirituality and the loss of innocence, it examines Martin’s ambiguous
relationship with his abuser; a relationship that damaged yet also inspired
the transformation of his life. A moving literary debut full of courage
and generosity.
Moran — who received two Drama Desk Award nominations and an Obie
Award for his one-man play about the experience — delivers a memoir
that’s part confessional, part forgiveness and part love story.
Told with startling honesty, humour and understanding, it examines how
a naive altar boy steeped in the rituals and mysticism of the Roman Catholic
Church was seduced on an overnight trip by a man over twice his age. Moran
charts the confusing mixture of guilt and desire and the festering consequences
of his childhood abuse whilst enmeshed in his secret relationship. Although
Moran wrestles with despair, twice attempts suicide and battles a sex
addiction that he attributes to the adolescent trauma he manages to find
salvation through a career in the theatre and a healthy, loving 20-year
relationship with another man. A story of hope rather than blame, Moran
decribes his journey of recovery and reconciliation and eventually faces
his demons — including his molester, in a confrontation 30 years
later.
Alan Durant and Katharine McEwen
I Love You, Little Monkey
Little Monkey is misbehaving so big Monkey gets cross and little monkey
ends up in tears.
What do you get when a little monkey grows bored? A giant mess of squashed
figs, a bounced-on bed and a very cross Big Monkey. But although Big Monkey
doesn’t always like Little Monkey’s behaviour one thing is
clear: Big Monkey never stops loving Little Monkey.
Katharine McEwen’s exuberant illustrations bring this delightful
story to life creating a perfect book for parents to share with their
own naughty little monkeys.
There is a reassuring message in this book.
Alan Durant has written over 50 books for children of all ages, including
Always And Forever, which was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal.
Katharine McEwen has illustrated over 30 picture books including The Man
Who Wore All His Clothes — winner of the Children’s Book Award
in 2002. |
