Noel Doherty returned to Fort Macleod on Thursday to launch his third book in a trilogy on the ongoing conflict in Ireland.
The former school principal, who retired in 1998, completed A Fragile Peace three years ago but the COVID-19 pandemic and health problems delayed the launch.
Doherty was at Fort Macleod Library to read from all three books and answer questions from the 12 people who turned out.
Doherty was born and educated in Derry, Ireland and taught there for several years before immigrating to Canada in 1967.
Upon retiring from 30 years as an educator in Fort Macleod, Doherty moved to Beijing, China for a year.
“I wrote most of Bloody Sunday while I was there,” Doherty said.
Doherty’s first book, Bloody Sunday, released in 2014, was written about the time in Ireland known as “the troubles.”
Although based on the history, Bloody Sunday is told through fictional characters whose lives were impacted by the violence.
Doherty released the second book in the trilogy, Decade of Conflict: The Men of Derry, in 2016.
Decade of Conflict is filled with stories on events in Northern Ireland from 1972-’82, about the time the hunger strikes ended after the deaths of 10 Republican volunteers in prison.
“I told the story through people that I knew, or characters that I conglomerated through people that I knew,” Doherty said. “That made the story more personal for me, and I hope for the reader.”
Doherty said British Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher underestimated the significance of the hunger strikes and simply allowed the men to die.
Catholics believed the 10 men were heroes who died for their beliefs and for Ireland.
Over the next 17 years violence raged between Catholics and Protestants until the conflict played out and a peace accord was struck.
Many of the stories in Decade of Conflict are Doherty’s personal stories, while others are based on fact.
A Fragile Peace picks up after the hunger strikes to the peace accord that was finally reached.
“It is a fragile peace even though it has lasted for 30 years,” Doherty said.
The cover of A Fragile Peace, which is a mural by Karl Porter, depicts the Dali Lama head-to-head with Derry resident Richard Moore.
Moore has been a peace activist since he lost his vision to a rubber bullet in 1972 when he was 10 years old.
Rather than seeking revenge, Moore founded a charity called Children in Crossfire and has continually activated for peace.
Doherty noted the Dali Lama often refers to Moore as “the Derry Lama.”
Thirty years on, the Loyalists and Nationalists continue to live apart and prefer it that way, Doherty said.
The general population, Doherty said, is content to live in peace and get on with their lives, although violence initiated by both sides flares every now and then.
