Belfast Child: My true story of life and death in the Troubles

John Chambers was raised on Belfast's Loyalist Glencairn estate, witnessing violence, hatred, and horror. He was hiding a secret that his disappeared mother was a Roman Catholic, the enemy. In his memoir, he explores the dark heart of Northern Irish sectarianism in the seventies and eighties, describing his unique childhood and teenage journey through mod culture and ultra-Loyalism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 03 September 2020
Publisher: John Blake Publishing Ltd

John Chambers was raised on Belfast's notorious Loyalist Glencairn estate, during the height of the Troubles. From an early age, he witnessed violence, hatred, and horror as Northern Ireland tore itself apart in civil strife. Kneecapping, brutal murders, and even public tarring-and-feathering were simply a fact of life for the children on the estate. He thought he knew which side he was on, but although raised as a Loyalist, he was hiding a troubling secret: that his disappeared mother, whom he had always been told was dead, was a Roman Catholic, the enemy.

In a memoir of rare power, John explores the dark heart of Northern Irish sectarianism in the seventies and eighties. With searing honesty and native Belfast wit, he describes the light and darkness of his unique childhood, and his teenage journey through mod culture and ultra-Loyalism, before an escape from Belfast to London - where, still haunted by the shadow of his fractured family history, he began a turbulent and hedonistic adulthood.

A Belfast Child is a tale of divided loyalties, dark secrets, and the scars left by hatred and violence on a proud city - but also a story of hope, healing, and ultimate redemption for a family caught in the rising tide of the Troubles.

Weight: 240g
Dimension: 129 x 196 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781789462746