Gone But Never Forgotten
Journalist Susan McKay's new book, Bear In Mind These Dead, revisits the families of victims, for many of whom the emotional scars have been slow to heal.
Jason O'Toole, 28 Aug 2008
A self-confessed ‘Troubles journalist’, Susan McKay spent most of the last decade reporting from the front lines of the conflict in the North. In the immediate aftermath of a sectarian murder, McKay would often make that “awful journey up the front path” to a deceased’s home to interview close family members for the following day’s paper. Sometimes, her editor would send her back to these families’ homes on the victims’ first or tenth anniversary to do follow-up features. “I began to have a strong sense that whenever the journalist goes away that’s only when the story is really beginning for that family or that person,” she states.
Curious about how people managed to cope with losing a loved one in such appalling circumstances, McKay decided she wanted to explore in-depth the issue of bereavement in Northern Ireland. She got back in touch with some of these families from her reporting days to revisit their stories and document “their voices” in book format. Written from the standpoint of the victims, McKay has produced an alternative history of the bitter sectarian war and its aftermath in her book, Bear In Mind These Dead.
“One of the reasons why I thought it was important to do the book was to capture those voices – before they’re gone. There is sort of a trend at the moment – very much being led from Stormont – of, ‘Let’s leave the past behind and let’s move on’. It’s very important that we don’t get too blasé about that. It’s not an option for many people who are bereaved,” explains the Derry-born writer, who is a former Northern Ireland editor with the Sunday Tribune.
“The book is as much about the people who have survived – the people who lost people – as it is about the people who are killed. There was one man whose brother was killed and he said to me, ‘Our family has never been able to agree on how to commemorate our brother but we feel that maybe this book will be a sort of a memorial to him’. I felt really honoured by that – the idea that someone would approach a book in that way; that they would see the book as being a fitting memorial.”
Page 1/3 <Previous 1 2 3 Next>
©Hot Press 2011. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy