Love and laughter amid the bombs and bullets of the Bogside
These days Harry Toye lives happily in Laytown with his wife Maureen, a retired midwife of Our Lady of Lourdes hospital, but his life has not always been so tranquil.
Born in the Bogside in Derry, Harry lived through the worst of ‘the troubles’ and witnessed much of the murder and mayhem of those terrible times.
His father ran a grocers shop in the Bogside and Harry has many stories of those days when he drove the delivery van through the Creggan Estate – being searched by British soldiers suspecting that he was delivering more than fruit and veg and having to change his name at some houses to disguise the fact that he was a Catholic.
He was shot at twice, hijacked at gunpoint, kidnapped, and caught up in one of the near-daily bomb explosions.
Harry left Northern Ireland over 30 years ago and has worked at various jobs including marketing and is still working now in his seventies.
In recent years Harry became interested in writing fiction and poetry but it wasn’t until the Covid pandemic that he had the time to put pen to paper.
His life-threatening experiences in the North combined with a vivid and creative imagination, equipped him with the perfect inspiration and perspective to write his debut novel, ‘Veil of Deception’.
This poignant story begins in the Bogside in Free Derry, where amidst the shooting and rioting, Cormac, a young Catholic entrepreneur is torn between two lovers from opposite sides of the religious divide – Elizabeth, the genteel Protestant English lady and Siobhan, a passionate Catholic IRA activist.
Elizabeth knows that, in the Protestant community, her forbidden love is an audacious taboo. Her parents want her to return to peaceful England. Yet a scandalous romance is blossoming amid the bombs and bullets.
Sensational deception is exposed behind-the-scenes and at the highest levels in the British Government, while shameless deceit is uncovered in the Church, the business sector and in relationships.
Tragic events unfold in a flurry of fast-paced action in this adult thriller which features recognisable real-life figures of the time but with fictional names that depicts everyday life in a nationalist ghetto during the IRA armed struggle… and the covert British retaliation.
Flowing through the narrative is the famous Derry sense of humour that helped to carry its citizens through thirty years of guerrilla warfare.
Paperback and e book copies of ‘Veil of Deception’ are available via Amazon at getbook.at/VOD It is hoped to have the book available in bookshops in the near future.
For more information see Harry Toye’s Facebook page.
