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The writing in this excellent novel is so good that it wasn't until I was well into it that I stopped to find out if its central premise -- an IRA attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher with a bomb -- was a real event. Despite having a more than passing interest (for an American) in 1980s Britain, I'd never heard of this attack. As a work of "near" historical fiction, I'm not sure those who can recall the bombing will read it differently, but as someone who came to it fresh, I found the entire book riveting.
The story switches back and forth between the life of the IRA bomber and that of the manager of the Grand Hotel, where the bombing occurred, and the manager's teenage daughter. We meet the Belfast-bred bomber six years earlier, as he is recruited as an eager youth and trained in his craft. He's an idealist, who thinks that if the mission is successful, the Troubles will be over. Meanwhile, in the weeks leading up to the attack, the hotel manager is bustling around to tend to every detail of the upcoming Conservative Party conference, on the belief that if everything goes well, he'll get the promotion that will pay for his daughter to go to college. And the daughter serves as the jaded eye of youth on it all.
Not a whole lot else to say other than the story is gripping, the characters are compelling, and the writing is great.
The story switches back and forth between the life of the IRA bomber and that of the manager of the Grand Hotel, where the bombing occurred, and the manager's teenage daughter. We meet the Belfast-bred bomber six years earlier, as he is recruited as an eager youth and trained in his craft. He's an idealist, who thinks that if the mission is successful, the Troubles will be over. Meanwhile, in the weeks leading up to the attack, the hotel manager is bustling around to tend to every detail of the upcoming Conservative Party conference, on the belief that if everything goes well, he'll get the promotion that will pay for his daughter to go to college. And the daughter serves as the jaded eye of youth on it all.
Not a whole lot else to say other than the story is gripping, the characters are compelling, and the writing is great.