Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is a powerhouse of a tale: a true crime exposé, a piece of narrative nonfiction, a murder mystery, a human interest story, a history of an oppressed people’s struggle for freedom, independence, and justice. The tale is an intensely personal narrative of the Troubles that offers a multi-faceted portrayal of some of the main figures of the IRA, including their evolution from idealistic youth to radicalized resistance leader as the north of Ireland becomes a wasteland of barbed wire, concrete housing blocks, silence, and betrayal. Radden Keefe’s retelling of the Troubles focuses on Belfast, particularly the tumultuous era between 1969 and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. 

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“And whatever you say, you say nothing.” Taken from a Seamus Heaney poem, the title of the book highlights the culture of silence that pervaded the north of Ireland during the Troubles. Radden Keefe does a stellar job of peeling back the layers of silence to offer an unbiased, humane treatment of the victims of both sides of the bitter, harrowing conflict. There are no villains here. Instead, the author offers a balanced portrayal from both sides of the horrors, never straying into moralization, never interjecting a lecture or judgment. 

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The tome is peppered with photographs, and there are extensive endnotes detailing Radden Keefe’s four years of research and hundreds of interviews. That pervasive culture of silence, distrust, and fear remains to this day, but the author’s adroit treatment of history unravels a tale of collective memory and oppression, of idealism and brutality, of betrayal and tragedy, of family and nationalism. The prose is eloquent, poetic, and insightful, and the pace rivals that of a thriller. 

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The gut-wrenching details of the car bombs, the hunger strikes, and the murders are not shied away from, but they are never gratuitous. The Boston College Tapes—the Irish History department’s attempt to curate an oral history of the Troubles—became criminal evidence and a political weapon after a legal battle between the college and the British government when they were meant to remain a cultural heritage resource for future scholars. Jean McConville’s disappearance provides a touchstone for the story. As the author follows the tangled web of violence, the disappearance of the mother of ten is a thread that is plucked to reverberate to the heart of the tale:  uncovering the truth of the bitter era is a monumental task hampered at every turn by memory. 

 

Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing is an enthralling, moving recounting of resistance, determination, and sacrifice. The author lends the Troubles a human face, skillfully and sensitively rendered. This is a noteworthy tale, one made all the more so by the region’s persistent compulsion to say nothing.

 

Highly recommended for fans of narrative nonfiction, of history revolving around conflict, and of work that explores the horror of the Troubles and the fraught tension that persists in the north of Ireland, a land still struggling for independence