Afterlives: The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer That Changed Irish History

By July 1981, four republican hunger strikers had died in Long Kesh Prison, with a fifth, Joe McDonnell, critically ill. While Margaret Thatcher's government appeared inflexible publicly, it was privately offering substantial concessions to the prisoners. On 5 July, this offer was delivered to Gerry Adams in Belfast and relayed to the prison leadership. O'Rawe documents the four-year conflict that followed, interviewing former IRA Army Council members who claim a five-person committee led by Adams controlled the hunger strike while keeping the broader Army Council uninformed about the British offer. Using contemporary records, O'Rawe shows that Thatcher approved the offer, but Adams and his committee rejected it as insufficient, telling hunger strikers nothing was on the table. The prison leadership accepted the British offer, yet six hunger strikers died. The book identifies key figures including Mountain Climber, a Derry businessman who brokered the deal, and examines crucial hunger strike conferences from 2008-09. O'Rawe combines personal testimony with firsthand documentation and contemporary photographs, offering commentary on the political dynamics of the peace process and republicanism in Northern Ireland. The book includes a foreword by Ed Moloney, author of The Official History of the IRA.