In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story - Softcover

O'Rawe, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178537138X ISBN 13: 9781785371387

Publisher: Merrion Press, 2017

Synopsis

This book is a tour de force ... a chronicle of the triumph of the human spirit over extreme adversity. It is a story of hope. It is the story of a man I loved and would have taken a bullet for. – Johnny Depp London, 19 October 1989. An electrified young man, with eyes wild and a clenched fist, bursts out of the Old Bailey and declares his innocence to the world. Gerry Conlon has just won his appeal for the 1974 Guildford pub bombing. After fifteen years in prison, freedom beckons. Or does it? Following his release, Conlon received close to one million pounds from government compensation, movie and book deals; he ran in the same circles as Johnny Depp, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Shane MacGowan. Conlon seemed to have it all. Yet within five years he was hooked on crack cocaine and eating out of bins in the backstreets of London. Beyond the elation of his release was the awful descent into addiction, isolation and self-loathing. But this is a book about the resilience of the human spirit. What emerges from the darkness and the addiction is Gerry Conlon the pacifist; the man who came to be recognised around the world as a campaigner against miscarriages of justice. In the Name of the Son also reveals damning new evidence of statement tampering by the authorities which would’ve cleared Conlon at the initial trial. Life-long friend, Richard O’Rawe, has written a powerful and candid story of Gerry Conlon’s extraordinary life following his years of brutal incarceration at the hands of the British justice system.

About this title

Review:

As fond as O Rawe is of Gerry Conlon, this is not a hagiography. Conlon is shown in all his imperfect splendor, his contradictions and complexities, as both a victim of the conflict in Northern Ireland and ultimately a survivor whose inherent humanity and decency rise above ancient animosities and modern human failings. Written by someone who emerged from the same cauldron that swallowed so many of their generation, O Rawe s unsparingly honest account does many things, none more so than make us fervently wish that Gerry Conlon lived much longer, because he had so much more to teach us. --Kevin Cullen, columnist and former Ireland correspondent for The Boston Globe

A vivid, bracing, often funny account of the wild and tragic but ultimately inspiring life of Gerry Conlon. With great affection and compassion for his subject, Ricky O Rawe has written a biography that captures Conlon s self-destructive demons, but also his infectious lust for life. --Patrick Keefe, The New Yorker

Rick O Rawe has written a searingly honest, deeply moving and all encompassing account of the life of Gerry Conlon. Gerry s lust for life was only matched by his unquenchable thirst for justice not just for the Guildford 4 but for all those who have fallen foul of an often corrupt and politically loaded judicial system. The author deserves praise for refusing to allow his lifelong, deep friendship with Conlon to whitewash many of Gerry s own personal failings. Yet in the end O Rawe still does justice himself to the memory of a remarkable, courageous and lovable character. --Henry McDonald, The Guardian

About the Author:

Richard O Rawe and Gerry Conlon grew up together in Belfast s Lower Falls area they were life-long best friends and confidantes. O Rawe is a former Irish republican prisoner and was a leading figure in the 1981 Hunger Strike in the H Blocks of the Maze prison. He is the author of the best-selling book Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike (2005) and Afterlives: The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer that Changed Irish History (2010).

About this edition

• Publisher: Merrion Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 178537138X
• ISBN 13: 9781785371387
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 253