My Name Is Rebecca: Sam Burnside uses novel to give voice to those who silently endured the Troubles

The 78-year-old, who was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to the arts in Northern Ireland, said the book wasn’t based on one particular event, rather what he has absorbed from living through the conflict.

He said: “It creeps into your bones. There’s no specific event, really. All these things build up and form a porridge of experience.”

The book entitled ‘My Name Is Rebecca’ follows Rebecca Porter, who on the 25th anniversary of her sister’s murder in a bomb blast in central Belfast, is compelled to meet her killer, a man who has been freed from jail as a result of the Good Friday Agreement.

Sam said: “She’s lost her sister – there’s no sense she is looking for vengeance, but the grief and pain is with her.

Rebecca and the twins’ two boyfriends of the time – James and Robert – embark on the journey which Sam describes as “a road trip with friends through the beautiful scenery of Northern Ireland from Belfast to Fermanagh lakes to Donegal which is full of life and melody as well as grief”.

He added: “It’s also a journey of exploration through our very slowly changing society and in particular, that too often unseen, unacknowledged segment of our people who are historically seen as strangers in a strange land – they are muted, keep their heads down, get on with things.”

He added: “I’m from a Protestant culture, in that culture there’s a lot left unspoken. As the journey progresses the characters become teased out of their silence.

“There are a number of Joycean epiphanies along the way as each of them is jolted towards his or her resolution of their lives.

“It’s not a story about blame but an exploration in coping, in doing what these people do best – thole-ing (Ulster-Scots for enduring pain).”

Sam is the author of ‘The Cathedral’ a long poem that won the Sunday Tribune/Hennessy Literary Award for Poetry in 1989.

In 1992 Sam founded the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry – an educational charity established to promote literature.

He said: “This is my first novel. I write poetry, short stories, and I had a play that was on at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace.

“I hope this novel uncovers and honours the steadfast core of strength that so many people in our society have displayed, a tenacity of steadfast purpose expressed in engagement with daily life.”

• Sam’s book – My Name Is Rebecca, published by Hobart Books Ltd – is available now on Amazon and bookstores including Waterstones

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