Where Are You Really From?: Kola Kubes and Gelignite, Secrets and Lies – The True Story of an Extraordinary Family - Softcover

Brannigan, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0856408530 ISBN 13: 9780856408533

Publisher: Blackstaff Press, 2010

Synopsis

Reminiscent of a storyline from Call the Midwife, Peggy Brannigan – part of a devout Catholic family – was devastated when she became pregnant as a result of an extra-marital affair with a black junior doctor. Unwilling to have an abortion or to have the baby adopted, Peggy came up with an audacious plan to keep her child. When Tim was born, hospital staff smuggled him into St Joseph’s Baby Home and told the rest of the Brannigan family that the baby had been stillborn. One year later, Peggy adopted Tim and brought him to live with her family in the Falls Road area of Belfast. It was 1967.

Told here for the first time, this is Tim’s extraordinary story, describing in vivid detail what it was like growing up black in Belfast during the Troubles in the 1970s and 80s, his five-year stint in jail for hiding weapons on behalf of the IRA, his coming to terms with the true circumstances surrounding his birth, and his desperate attempts to trace the father who abandoned him. Where Are You Really From? is a fascinating and powerful memoir about one man’s struggle to establish his own identity and a moving tribute to the woman who risked everything to keep her son.

About this title

About the Author:

Tim Brannigan was born in Belfast in 1966. He spent the first year of his life in St Joseph’s Baby Home, before being adopted by his birth mother. He studied politics at Liverpool Polytechnic and returned to Belfast in 1990 where he began training for a career in the media. He went on to become an award-winning journalist, working as a reporter for GMTV’s Northern Ireland bureau and then as features writer for the Irish News until 2003. He lives in Belfast and works as a freelance journalist and commentator, and speaks to schools, colleges and organisations about race, diversity and his life experiences. He is the author of the powerful and acclaimed memoir, Where Are You Really From? www.twitter.com/tim_brannigan

Review:

one of the defining memoirs of the late Troubles * Sunday Times * an amazing story of secrets and sacrifice * Sunday Mirror * an enthralling read * The Times * The remarkable story of a life founded on lies but saved by a mother's love * Daily Mirror *

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstaff Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0856408530
• ISBN 13: 9780856408533
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208