Watch My Lips, I'm Speaking

by Baroness May Blood (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $16.40

  The advent of the Troubles was a deeply traumatic experience for her. Brought up in a `mixed' community she watched in disbelief and horror as that community disintegrated under the impact of inter-communal violence. She became increasingly involved in grassroots community work and an active participant in the developing `peace process'.

  In 1999, in recognition of her years of trade union and community endeavours, May Blood was offered a life peerage and a seat in the House of Lords, the first working-class person from Northern Ireland to be so honoured. Her initial response was to decline the offer, for to her the House of Lords was a place where rich old men sat around and slept all day, a place far removed from the everyday realities of working-class Belfast. Nevertheless, she took her seat, hoping that, as `Baroness May Blood', she could advance the causes she holds so dear.

  She has lived to see the end of the Troubles, but a society still deeply divided and one still needing people with her undiminished energy and commitment. Watch My Lips, I'm Speaking is not only May's own story, but a unique insight into how ordinary people strove to rise above the appalling experience which had engulfed them.