NI author explores grief, trauma and healing in memoir

Co Down writer Peggy Bell has published her memoir entitled Head Letter, a poignant and emotive story of a child born into a family traumatised by grief, sparking a lifelong preoccupation with spiritual questions about life and death.

The 44-year-old, who lives in Bangor with her husband Philip and children Sia and Ben, said the book had been “spoiling to be written for years” and it was simply a matter of when to start it.

“When Ben was a few months old, the pull to write it became overwhelming, and so I started off writing for an hour a day, until he was older. Six years later it is finally finished.”

The book is the story of Peggy’s life written from a spiritual perspective.

“From the outset, I pose the scenario that we choose to come to earth to learn, overcome and grow. My story begins with being born into a family traumatised by grief, sparking my lifelong preoccupation with spiritual questions about life and death.

“My brother’s death - unexpected yet somehow foreshadowed - left my parents bereaved and broken, in the poverty stricken Protestant enclave of Sandy Row in 70s Belfast, as the Troubles raged on.

“My story illustrates that all of us are born without blank slates into situations that inevitably influence who we are and set the themes for our lives.

“Ultimately, this is a story of generational trauma – how pain trickles down through a family until someone acquires the tools needed to break the cycle.”

The former teacher described writing the book as “enormously cathartic”.

“I confronted numerous issues - bereavement, dysfunction, trauma and abuse - while endeavouring to extrapolate narrative and meaning. My examination of generational trauma was difficult but vital.

“It was incredibly illuminating to lay bare how the experiences and perspectives that shaped my parents affected me, and in turn how my experiences and perspectives affect my children.”