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Nell
Journalist Nell McCafferty has been an iconic figure in Ireland for over thirty years. Nell is the revealing story of the woman behind the image. Whether describing her challenging and tender relationship with her mother, Lily; her fears about being gay; war on the streets of her native Derry; the blossoming of feminism in Ireland; or the joy of finding a domestic haven with the love of her life, Nuala O'Faolain and the pain of losing it, McCafferty doesn't spare anyone, least of all herself, in telling the truth of her life. The result is a journey that is moving, funny, inspiring and often jaw-droppingly frank.
Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 2, 2025
Contemporary Irish women are indebted to Nell and her resolve to change women's rights across both borders. Up the contraceptive train!
(Bonus points of interest were Nell's account of Bloody Sunday and the Troubles, including her relationships with Bernadette Devlin and Eamonn McCann)
(Bonus points of interest were Nell's account of Bloody Sunday and the Troubles, including her relationships with Bernadette Devlin and Eamonn McCann)
February 22, 2021
If you can tastefully have a favourite book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland this is mine. Nell is Irish and Catholic and was raised in Derry's Bogside during the Troubles. She is a journalist and author, now living in Dublin and 'Nell' is her autobiography.
I think why it is my favourite book about the Troubles is because it is so well written. She loves to tell a good story about her family and neighbours in the Bogside. It reminded me very much of my own Irish grandfather from the north, who as soon as he drew a deep breath, you knew a story was coming. But it is also my favourite because it was the first book I read about the Troubles and the fact that it was a first hand account impacted me deeply. Her description of running from the bullets on Bloody Sunday and begging to be given sanctuary in someone's house, who was scared to open the door because of the shooting, made my heart race. Trying to cheat death on your own streets and the aggressor being the British Army was a lot for me to emotionally process. No wonder so many remain traumatised by their experiences and the anger still runs deep.
Nell knew Bernadette Devlin, Eamon McCann and Martin McGuinness personally and was involved in the civil rights marches. She went on to be involved in the women's rights movement. All of which she writes about in the book.
A running theme in the book is that Nell is a lesbian. It was something she wanted to talk about openly in her Catholic neighbourhood but her mother didn't want any public declarations to their neighbours. It appears however that it was probably an open secret. So, Nell remained half in and half out in her private and professional life. This book is her coming out but it seems she waited for her mother to pass to do so. Perhaps sparing her blushes in front of the neighbours.
This is one of the few books that I have read cover to cover twice and I still feel it would bear reading again at some stage. It's that rare book that takes a can opener to events in history because the events were lived by the author not through second hand accounts. Nell is the Bogside and the Bogside is Nell.
I think why it is my favourite book about the Troubles is because it is so well written. She loves to tell a good story about her family and neighbours in the Bogside. It reminded me very much of my own Irish grandfather from the north, who as soon as he drew a deep breath, you knew a story was coming. But it is also my favourite because it was the first book I read about the Troubles and the fact that it was a first hand account impacted me deeply. Her description of running from the bullets on Bloody Sunday and begging to be given sanctuary in someone's house, who was scared to open the door because of the shooting, made my heart race. Trying to cheat death on your own streets and the aggressor being the British Army was a lot for me to emotionally process. No wonder so many remain traumatised by their experiences and the anger still runs deep.
Nell knew Bernadette Devlin, Eamon McCann and Martin McGuinness personally and was involved in the civil rights marches. She went on to be involved in the women's rights movement. All of which she writes about in the book.
A running theme in the book is that Nell is a lesbian. It was something she wanted to talk about openly in her Catholic neighbourhood but her mother didn't want any public declarations to their neighbours. It appears however that it was probably an open secret. So, Nell remained half in and half out in her private and professional life. This book is her coming out but it seems she waited for her mother to pass to do so. Perhaps sparing her blushes in front of the neighbours.
This is one of the few books that I have read cover to cover twice and I still feel it would bear reading again at some stage. It's that rare book that takes a can opener to events in history because the events were lived by the author not through second hand accounts. Nell is the Bogside and the Bogside is Nell.
January 13, 2016
Nell's voice is strong and clear and she is always a from-the-heart, straight-as-an-arrow witness. She stands up for the little guy or gal and is always on the side of the weak and wronged. Social historians will come back to this book in the future as it is a document of Ireland from the sixties onwards. A very satisfying read.
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July 8, 2008..that it's out of print and i need to buy whatever copies i can get.
November 12, 2022
Fabulous. I learnt so much about my own country from this.
October 9, 2024
Growing up in Derry before the troubles, up to 2004
July 9, 2008
blindingly honest, not always agreeable. enoying this
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews