An Acceptable Level of Violence

Book Reviews. Belfast Telegraph, Saturday 9 Jan 99. PALL OF SMOKE HANGS OVER THE MEMORY. By Grainia McFadden. No one in Northern Ireland needs reminding of many of the events in the province during the bloodiest years of the troubles. In 1971, the then Home Secretary for Northern Ireland, Reginald Maudling said he could foresee a time when IRA violence could be reduced to an "acceptable level." People weren't quite sure what he meant. We know now of course and have lived with an acceptable level of violence for more than twenty years. Alex Ashe has chosen to tell the story of this "acceptable level of violence" through the events of that fateful afternoon when a bomb ripped apart the Abercorn Inn in March 1972. Ashe has created a series of well rounded characters, who inhabit the distinctive world of the 70s, with it's new-fangled decimalisation, chic suede fringed waistcoats, bus tokens, platformed heels and blue eyeshadow. Other hallmarks of that era -tarring and feathering, for example, crop up again and again, bringing a first hand feel to this compelling novel. It is these small details which help make the larger events ring true -and Ashe trawls right through the horror of the 70s, sparing us nothing; a thumbnail description of a night out at the La Mon hotel; Lennie Murphy's psychopathic leasure pursuits; the Loyalist strike that closed down the Province entirely. Ashe's debut novel hangs over the memory like a pall of smoke. It's no surprise to learn that the author is writing under a pen name and wants to keep her real identity hidden.