Martin Doyle: UK Book Launch “Dirty Linen – The Troubles in My Home Place”

About The Book

“Dirty Linen – The Troubles in My Home Place” is a personal and profound exploration of the impact of the Troubles seen through the microcosm of a single rural parish in County Down, Tullylish – part of both the Linen Triangle, heartland of the North’s defining industry, and the Murder Triangle, an area devastated by paramilitary violence. Martin Doyle, who grew up there, lifts the veil of silence drawn over the horrors of the past, recording in heartrending detail the toll the conflict took and the long tail of trauma it has left behind.

Doyle skilfully weaves together the two strands of history, with the decline of the local linen industry serving as a metaphor for the descent into communal violence, but also for the solidarity that transcended the sectarian divide. Neighbours and classmates who lost loved ones in the conflict, survivors maimed in bomb attacks and victims of sectarianism, both Catholic and Protestant, entrust him with their poignant stories. This unforgettable chorus of victims’ voices tells a terrible truth, but the survivors’ stories of endurance and love will also inspire and restore one’s faith in humanity.

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Praise for Dirty Linen:

‘Dirty Linen is nothing short of superb. How hard it must have been at times to write, but how important a book. – Wendy Erskine

‘Dirty Linen is an impeccably researched and incredibly moving hybrid memoir/social history of The Troubles in his home parish of Tullylish, Co. Down. Laden with devastating personal testimonies from neighbours who lost loved ones, this is an important book that commemorates the all too often anonymised victims of The Troubles.’ – Edel Coffey

‘…an extraordinary, beautifully written and vitally necessary intimate history of all the murders in a parish in Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’. Lost Lives for Tullylish, Co. Down.’ – Catriona Crowe

‘Martin Doyle’s moving conflict memoir, Dirty Linen, resonated powerfully with me’ – Conor O’Clery

‘Harrowing.’ – Roy Foster

‘This is an important, humane book, stunning in its sweep and power. It will prove to be a classic.’ – The Irish Times

‘Among the most moving works on the conflict.’ – Ian Cobain, The Observer

‘A powerful elegy, suffused with pity, humanity and authenticity, and a deep sense of place and time.’ – Eilis O’Hanlon, Sunday Independent

‘Compassionate … remarkable.’ – The Sunday Times

‘Doyle offers us a personal history of the Troubles that is as exacting as it is humane. An elegant, haunting book.’ – Patrick Radden Keefe