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Freedom Found
What was it like to be married to Scotland’s most famous prisoner?
Sara Trevelyan was independent, clever, and privileged. She was a qualified doctor who campaigned for penal reform. She fell in love with and in 1980 married Jimmy Boyle, a convicted murderer who had become a famous writer and sculptor. For the first four years of their marriage he was in jail, visits were few and their life lived under the scrutiny of the media. In this intimate memoir, we learn why Jimmy admits, “If it hadn’t been for Sara’s courage, I would still be in prison.”
She is a sure-footed guide through the extraordinary life they were called to lead. Her description of their eventual divorce is without bitterness or resentment, rather a tale of forgiveness and compassion. As a doctor and therapist, a spokeswoman for prisoner rehabilitation, and a wife and mother Sara is a courageous voyager. She realised what a journey it took to understand and to live into the quotation from Blake, “We are put on earth a little space, That we might bear the beams of love.”
Sara Trevelyan was independent, clever, and privileged. She was a qualified doctor who campaigned for penal reform. She fell in love with and in 1980 married Jimmy Boyle, a convicted murderer who had become a famous writer and sculptor. For the first four years of their marriage he was in jail, visits were few and their life lived under the scrutiny of the media. In this intimate memoir, we learn why Jimmy admits, “If it hadn’t been for Sara’s courage, I would still be in prison.”
She is a sure-footed guide through the extraordinary life they were called to lead. Her description of their eventual divorce is without bitterness or resentment, rather a tale of forgiveness and compassion. As a doctor and therapist, a spokeswoman for prisoner rehabilitation, and a wife and mother Sara is a courageous voyager. She realised what a journey it took to understand and to live into the quotation from Blake, “We are put on earth a little space, That we might bear the beams of love.”
330 pages, Paperback
Published March 6, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 7, 2025
Absolutely brilliant, I couldn’t put it down. Such a moving read.
February 13, 2021
This is an important book for anyone interested in the remarkable story of Barlinne Prison's Special Unit, made famous by the bestseller 'A Sense of Freedom' by Jimmy Boyle.
The Special Unit was a therapeutic community, a remarkable experiment in dealing with prisoners that involved trusting them. It worked like a dream and some of the inmates became celebrated artists and writers, notably Jimmy Boyle. But the unit failed because the Scottish tabloids couldn't tolerate the fact that prisoners, some of whom were convicted for murder, were being treated humanely and the reactionary prisons service didn't defend it against the relentless media onslaughts. It was closed down 10 years after it was founded, in the mid eighties, thus ending the most successful experiment in prison reform in British history.
There isn't really a book about the unit, only a very good exhibition guide by Ruth Wishart, but Jimmy Boyle's book is still selling well and he wrote a second one called the Pain of Confinement.
Sara Trevelyan was a young doctor and she married Jimmy Boyle when he was still inside. The tabloids loved every minute of it and produced hundreds of lurid headlines, suggesting that it's wrong for a convicted criminal to have a relationship and that someone like Jimmy Boyle could never be anything but a killer.
'Freedom Found' complements the well-known story of Jimmy Boyle by providing his second wife's view. She writes about his time in prison, their affair and marriage, his eventual release and time together in Edinburgh.
Their marriage didn't work out and, for me, finding out why was the most interesting part. Sara's life has been all about an inner journey, towards spirituality, healing and self-discovery. She's based in Findhorn which is perhaps one of the most spiritual places in Scotland.
Jimmy meanwhile was keen to leave Scotland, not surprisingly considering the abuse he'd had from the "Gutter Press," and he moved to France and started dealing in wine. They parted ways and he's been living abroad ever since. He's not keen to go back to Scotland and I understand this as I feel the same way sometimes.
The Special Unit was a therapeutic community, a remarkable experiment in dealing with prisoners that involved trusting them. It worked like a dream and some of the inmates became celebrated artists and writers, notably Jimmy Boyle. But the unit failed because the Scottish tabloids couldn't tolerate the fact that prisoners, some of whom were convicted for murder, were being treated humanely and the reactionary prisons service didn't defend it against the relentless media onslaughts. It was closed down 10 years after it was founded, in the mid eighties, thus ending the most successful experiment in prison reform in British history.
There isn't really a book about the unit, only a very good exhibition guide by Ruth Wishart, but Jimmy Boyle's book is still selling well and he wrote a second one called the Pain of Confinement.
Sara Trevelyan was a young doctor and she married Jimmy Boyle when he was still inside. The tabloids loved every minute of it and produced hundreds of lurid headlines, suggesting that it's wrong for a convicted criminal to have a relationship and that someone like Jimmy Boyle could never be anything but a killer.
'Freedom Found' complements the well-known story of Jimmy Boyle by providing his second wife's view. She writes about his time in prison, their affair and marriage, his eventual release and time together in Edinburgh.
Their marriage didn't work out and, for me, finding out why was the most interesting part. Sara's life has been all about an inner journey, towards spirituality, healing and self-discovery. She's based in Findhorn which is perhaps one of the most spiritual places in Scotland.
Jimmy meanwhile was keen to leave Scotland, not surprisingly considering the abuse he'd had from the "Gutter Press," and he moved to France and started dealing in wine. They parted ways and he's been living abroad ever since. He's not keen to go back to Scotland and I understand this as I feel the same way sometimes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews