A Place Apart

by Dervla Murphy

At the height of The Troubles, Dervla Murphy cycled to Northern Ireland to try to understand the situation by speaking to people on either side of the divide. She also sought to interrogate her own opinions and emotions. As an Irishwoman and traveller who had only ever spent thirty-six hours of her forty-four years over the border to the north, why had she been so reluctant to engage with the issues? Despite her own family connections to the IRA, she travelled north largely unfettered by sectarian loyalties. Armed instead with an indefatigable curiosity, a fine ear for anecdote, an ability to stand her own at the bar and a penetrating intelligence, she navigated her way through horrifying situations, and sometimes found herself among people stiff with hate and grief. But equally, she discovered an unquenchable thirst for life and peace, a spirit that refused to die.

Genres: Travel, Ireland, Nonfiction, History, Irish Literature, Travelogue, British Literature

Hardcover

First published April 26, 1979

About the author

Dervla Murphy’s first book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, was published in 1965. Over twenty travel books followed including her highly acclaimed autobiography, Wheels Within Wheels.

Dervla won worldwide praise for her writing and many awards, including the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing and the Royal Geographical Award for the popularisation of geography.

Few of the epithets used to describe her – ‘travel legend’, ‘intrepid’ or ‘the first lady of Irish cycling’ – quite do justice to her extraordinary achievement.

She was born in 1931 and remained passionate about travel, writing, politics, Palestine, conservation, bicycling and beer until her death in 2022.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regrettably this review won't be of much help to anyone who hasn't read this book already (er, or to anyone who has read it...). I expected going into this that it would be complex, and not for me, and if I wasn't planning to read all of Dervla Murphy's books I wouldn't have tackled it. I knew going in that it isn't a usual Dervla Murphy travel book, it is a much different thing altogether, it is an exploration of 'hearts and minds' as quoted on the cover of my edition.

I find the whole Northern Ireland situation perplexing and confusing (much as I do with the Israel / Palestine situation) where it seems that aggression and killing achieve absolutely nothing in resolving or moving forward. I realise this is a simplistic view, but I don't enjoy reading about it, out of frustration as much as anything.

That is not to take away from the job Murphy does in embracing people from both sides and telling their stories. She is at home drinking her pints in either 'sides' pubs, listening to the opinions of any faction, then carefully recording them in this book. While riddled with acronyms and terminology that confuses me and ties my thoughts into knots, I am also exposed for my lack of effort - noting that I could refer back to the glossary, make notes or refer to the internet as I read - but I didn't (and very rarely do when I am reading).

Murphy's book was published in 1978. The travels she describes were commenced in Spring of 1976 through to July 1977. As we might expect she protects the identity of those she speaks to and quotes, as the repercussions are still serious at that time. Murphy herself must strike the Northern Irish as an unusual person - turning up on her bicycle with her southern County Waterford accent, asking questions and striking up conversations. Based on her account, she was almost universally well treated and welcomed.

For those who want to understand more about the book than my general description, I recommend Caroline's excellent review.

My rating reflects how well researched and written this book is, but if I rated it for my enjoyment it would be less - but that says more about me than the book!

4 stars

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book about Dervla Murphy’s foray into Northern Ireland in 1978, right in the middle of The Troubles, is a sobering indictment of how the injunction to ‘Love thy neighbour’ can go seriously wrong. It’s not a book that covers the history of The Troubles at depth, but I found excellent online resources from Wikipedia and the BBC that gave me the necessary overviews.

The book is a series of interviews and conversations with people on both side of the divide. These are accompanied by numerous and depressing descriptions the environment created by The Troubles - boarded up pubs, burnt out cars and vandalised or deserted houses - all positioned strictly in Catholic or Protestant ghettos, or in strips of no man’s land which acted as buffers between them.

The Catholics – a one third minority in Northern Ireland – undoubtedly had a hard time under the rule of the Protestants, with many unfair advantages accorded to the latter, but that began to change in the 1950s. The post-war British government introduced the Welfare State to Northern Ireland, and Catholic children were now able to benefit from further and higher education - and it made them question the way things were. Following political upheavals in 1963, The Troubles began, with the murder of two Catholics and a Protestant.

By the time Dervla cycled into Northern Ireland in 1978 to write this book there had been bitterness and bloodshed between the Catholics and Protestents for fifteen long years. The Protestents were basically a mix of Anglican and Presbyterian churches, with a smattering of other churches too, whilst the Catholics were all of a piece.

Whilst Dervla asserts the right of Protestants to be in Northern Ireland – they have been there longer than white American settlers have been in America – she wonders at the insularity of their position, their insecurity at being a minor community in an overwhelmingly Catholic island, the virulent bigotry of many of their traditions, and their outlook generally . Their commitment to Queen Elizabeth II and to being members of the United Kingdom is strong. She presents the Catholics on the other hand as much more anarchic in various respects. Their long-time position as underdog in Northern Ireland has given them little respect for law and authority in any shape or form. Thus the difference between the Protestants and Catholics comes across as being quite extreme. Stuck in the middle were the British Army, sent in as peace keepers when the Northern Ireland government felt it could no longer control the situation. They were particularly hated by the Catholics.

Life in Northern Ireland at this time was also largely dominated by the various paramilitary groups fighting on both sides. Not only did they run protection rackets for businesses, but also many ordinary people were expected to pay up in order to support their activities too. They operated enthusiastically as vigilante...threatening and punishing anyone they believed were undermining their aims in any way – be these people on the opposite side, or people on their own side whom they felt were not being vigorous enough in their condemnation of the enemy. In a way no-one was safe. The paramilitary groups, whether on your own side or the other side, often operated much like gangsters.

Another issue in the book that touched me is the effect The Troubles had on the children – the ever present sense of danger, the enticement to vandalism, the lawlessness in the ‘no-go ‘ areas, where even the soldiers were frightened to patrol. It did not make for a pretty picture, not an environment where most people would want to bring up their kids.

In the book nearly all of this is conveyed through conversations that Dervla has with various people. As always this is her hallmark. Talking to the ordinary person in the street about what they feel about the situation.

For me this book was particularly disturbing because The Troubles happened just over the Irish Sea, right in my back yard. It also left me with a huge sense of respect for all those involved with restoring peace to Northern Ireland. Given the levels of animosity, violence and bad-will that had gone on for decades – described here so painfully well by Dervla - it must have been a massive challenge for all parties.

I thought this was an excellent read, it gives you a real flavour of what life must have been like in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

[David Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10. An invaluable read on Northern Ireland. Cuts through lazy media portraits and popular misconceptions to give all sides a fair hearing. Murphy succeeds in this without becoming bogged down in the enormity of the subject, and the book is written with plenty of character.

[Sally Mason-seyffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

On picking up this book randomly during my weekly bookshop wandering. I started to read it and couldn’t put it down, a cyclist and writer who during the height of “The Troubles” rode her bike over the border. It is one of the most meaningful accounts of the troubles from an outsider I have ever read, and if you really want to get a feel for what the Troubles were like for all walks of life read this.

[Sairam Krishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read about a third of it, and enjoyed it very much. The great writer is in her backyard, investigating her own history, and it's fascinating, except the depth and detail is probably a bit too much for the lay reader.

[Fiona Hurley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1978, at the height of the "Troubles", Dervla Murphy cycled to Northern Ireland. She'd already been to Afghanistan and Ethiopia, but this would be her first time in NI. It seems like a historical account now; hard to believe it happened within my lifetime. Her sympathies are more obviously with the "green" (Catholic/Republican) part of the population, but her curiosity and goodwill helped her to make friends among the "orange" (Protestant/Unionist) part as well. She comes away with a feeling of hope that would have been uncommon in that dark time. I wonder if she's been to NI recently to see how much it's changed. I certainly hope so.

[Kay]

I need to know more history before I read this book.

[laurel sheard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I was picking up a travel narrative. Accidentally read a drawn out projection riddled political ramble.

[John Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dervla Murphy has always been one of my favorite travel writers as she takes trips to places where others fear to go alone on a bicycle. She has strong opinions but is also very non-judgmental. However, as an Irishwoman she had never been to Northern Ireland. In the mid-1970s, at the height of The Troubles she took a number of trips up from her home in far southern Ireland and interviewed Catholics and Protestants about what life was like there and the roots of the hatred between the two communities. Most of her discussions took places in pubs. This book is an excellent study of conflict at a very local level, or within the different communities of Northern Ireland. It reminded me of Jean Hatzfeld's study of how communities learned to live together in Rwanda after the Genocide. While many things have changed in Northern Ireland since that time, in a visit to Northern Ireland this past summer, my wife and I sensed this tension everywhere we went in this Place Apart. She captured the attitudes of the different communities well. This ended up being much more of a political book than a travel book, but one that helps us to understand communities that live among each other but still remain so separate.

[Joe Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read to fully understand Northern Ireland. I just finished reading "A Place Apart" by Dervla Murphy. Wow what a read. I have read several books on the Troubles of Northern Ireland from '69 through "99 and none have given me the understanding of how the various participants and their communities thought. What a gutsy woman, to ride around the north in those times.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew very little about The Troubles except from what was briefly talked about in school and what I read in the media at the time. I was shocked over what I read in "A Place Apart". I had no idea just how tragic those times were until reading Murphy's account of what was happening in Northern Ireland. The personal stories she collected were very interesting, yet so sad. I just finished reading "A Place Apart" and I'm still thinking about what I read. Highly recommend for those wanting an understanding of what was happening during The Troubles based on personal accounts and how deep of an impact it had on those who lived through it.

[Klahteine]

This is a wonderful, truthful expose of the reality of a specific period and perspective of life in Northern Ireland. No one can escape the trappings of the term N.I. yet, Murphy does her best to dissect and reassemble the reality of women in such a judgemental realm. Her observations, as recorded, illustrate a truer portrait of humanness in a contested area of Great Britain. No other assessment or summary could be more descriptive.
In the efforts to seek a balanced and unscathed experience of Ireland, Murphy offers her best effort. It is poignant and worth the time to read.

[Loukas Moutsianas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this prompted by a review here on Goodreads for Colm Toibin's bad blood. Very different in style but on the same theme and in a way related. The Toibin hook was saying more between the lines and was conveying the atmosphere ,and I found it more engaging in a literary sense. This one is more directly discussing the political issues and the background that led to the Troubles. I enjoyed both

[Jade Haydock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am happy I persisted! I wanted to read something by DM as she is the namesake of my niece, and this was a lucky choice. I know disgracefully little of Ireland’s history given my citizenship, and although this is quite dated in substance and form and sometimes reads a little naive, it is informative and insightful, and resonates soberingly with many polarized challenges faced by society today.

[Justine Delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking back to the dark days of the conflict … this book picks up on the humanity & turmoil of those living in the 6 countries & those forced to leave. Dervla’s fantastic ability to engage and recount conversations on all sides makes for worth while reflection.

[Mairead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chaotic place,brilliant

[Sara]

“read this” is a loose statement

[Killian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting account of the north of Ireland in the 1970s, nothing is sugar coated. Fascinating to read after so much political change

[John Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, perhaps more so as now 50 years ago. But I do think it's over long and perhaps repetitive. You'd have to admire her bravery, doing what she did.