Review
Kennedy’s memoir brings the time ‘sparklingly alive’, says Sean McMahon
- Square Peg: The Life and Times of a NORTHERN NEWSPAPERMAN South of the Border
- Nonsuch
The 44B
The subtitle of Dennis Kennedy’s second volume of reminiscences is as printed on the cover of his new book, upper case and all
He is so good a writer that anything he cares to describe becomes sparklingly alive, particularly the details of the route of the 44B bus that used carry him from Poolbeg Street near his work in Dublin 2 to the peace and tranquillity of the family home in Glencullen, just short of being a Wicklow valley.
For those who read his pieces, mainly about the North during our recent Troubles, most interest will centre on the ‘Times’ rather than the ‘life’ for he was one of the stars of Westmoreland Street during those same upsets. His pictures of the ‘Major’, Gagesby and Fergus Pyle at plus Lynch, Haughey, ‘Garret the Good’, the ‘Cruiser’ in the wider field makes it clear what made those years so fascinating in spite of their being full of deaths and destruction.
His own struggles with nationhood add to the fascination of this book which should be sent to every MLA who can read.
