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Where Are You Really From?: Kola Kubes and Gelignite, Secrets and Lies – The True Story of an Extraordinary Family
Reminiscent of a storyline from Call the Midwife, Peggy Brannigan – part of a devout Catholic family – was devastated when she became pregnant as a result of an extra-marital affair with a black junior doctor. Unwilling to have an abortion or to have the baby adopted, Peggy came up with an audacious plan to keep her child. When Tim was born, hospital staff smuggled him into St Joseph’s Baby Home and told the rest of the Brannigan family that the baby had been stillborn. One year later, Peggy adopted Tim and brought him to live with her family in the Falls Road area of Belfast. It was 1967.
Told here for the first time, this is Tim’s extraordinary story, describing in vivid detail what it was like growing up black in Belfast during the Troubles in the 1970s and 80s, his five-year stint in jail for hiding weapons on behalf of the IRA, his coming to terms with the true circumstances surrounding his birth, and his desperate attempts to trace the father who abandoned him. Where Are You Really From? is a fascinating and powerful memoir about one man’s struggle to establish his own identity and a moving tribute to the woman who risked everything to keep her son.
Told here for the first time, this is Tim’s extraordinary story, describing in vivid detail what it was like growing up black in Belfast during the Troubles in the 1970s and 80s, his five-year stint in jail for hiding weapons on behalf of the IRA, his coming to terms with the true circumstances surrounding his birth, and his desperate attempts to trace the father who abandoned him. Where Are You Really From? is a fascinating and powerful memoir about one man’s struggle to establish his own identity and a moving tribute to the woman who risked everything to keep her son.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2010
5 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Tim Brannigan
2 books2 followersTim Brannigan was given away at birth, then adopted by his own mother. Tim grew up as a black child in a white republican family on the Falls Road at the height of the Troubles.
Where Are You Really From? is author and journalist Tim Brannigan's extraordinary story of growing up black in Belfast and as part of a republican family living at the centre of a vicious and prolonged bloody conflict. It's a story of racial prejudice, sectarian tensions and family secrets. It describes in vivid detail Tim's childhood during the turbulent 1970s and 80s, his seven-year stint as a republican prisoner in Crumlin Road Jail and the H-blocks, his coming to terms with his mother's revelation of the true circumstances surrounding his birth, and his desperate attempts to trace the father who abandoned him. Where Are You Really From? is a fascinating and powerful memoir about one man's struggle to establish his own identity and a moving tribute to the woman who risked everything to keep her son.
Where Are You Really From? is author and journalist Tim Brannigan's extraordinary story of growing up black in Belfast and as part of a republican family living at the centre of a vicious and prolonged bloody conflict. It's a story of racial prejudice, sectarian tensions and family secrets. It describes in vivid detail Tim's childhood during the turbulent 1970s and 80s, his seven-year stint as a republican prisoner in Crumlin Road Jail and the H-blocks, his coming to terms with his mother's revelation of the true circumstances surrounding his birth, and his desperate attempts to trace the father who abandoned him. Where Are You Really From? is a fascinating and powerful memoir about one man's struggle to establish his own identity and a moving tribute to the woman who risked everything to keep her son.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 31, 2015
I vaguely remember this memoir coming out a few years ago, though for some reason I didn't pick it up at the time. I was, however, reminded of it after the author was the main news story on BBCNI, having suffered a 3 hour racist attack on his home, in Republican West Belfast, on the night of the internment bonfires in August (http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselec...).
Brannigan's story is certainly an interesting one. Born as the result of an affair between his Irish mother and a Ghanaian doctor resident in Belfast in the 1960s, from the start his story is in turn unique given his racial makeup and resulting complications in an almost exclusively white working class area, and somewhat mundane. I have to admit that I wasn't that taken with the book for the first 100 pages, finding his mother particularly disagreeable, but with his joining with the Republican movement, the memoir takes a different turn, and his experiences in prison, both in the Crumlin Road and in the H Blocks in the 1990s, proving particularly interesting, in how they compare to the experiences of earlier prisoners. His release and post prison life is well documented, and his relationship with his mother and search for his father is poignant.
All in all, an interesting read from around half way-a book that will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in NI.
Brannigan's story is certainly an interesting one. Born as the result of an affair between his Irish mother and a Ghanaian doctor resident in Belfast in the 1960s, from the start his story is in turn unique given his racial makeup and resulting complications in an almost exclusively white working class area, and somewhat mundane. I have to admit that I wasn't that taken with the book for the first 100 pages, finding his mother particularly disagreeable, but with his joining with the Republican movement, the memoir takes a different turn, and his experiences in prison, both in the Crumlin Road and in the H Blocks in the 1990s, proving particularly interesting, in how they compare to the experiences of earlier prisoners. His release and post prison life is well documented, and his relationship with his mother and search for his father is poignant.
All in all, an interesting read from around half way-a book that will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in NI.
April 16, 2013
I was very impressed with Tim Brannigan's autobiography. He was born of an adulterous affair between an idealistic Catholic, Republican mother and a very selfish doctor from West Africa. His married mother pretended that her pregnancy ended in a stillbirth (with the assistance of hospital staff) and arranged for Tim to be kept in an orphanage until she could arrange to "adopt" him. Tim did not learn the truth until he was 19.
It was a pleasure to read an autobiography by a biracial man who has a strong Irish identification, despite his UK use of the word "black" to describe anyone who doesn't look totally "white." Despite the color difference between Tim and his mother and half-brothers, he lived like any other working-class kid in a Catholic, Republican family during the "Troubles."
Too many "mulatto" autobiographies claim that the "white" ethnicity is too good for the protagonist and that he/she is morally bound to identify with the ancestry group that is nonwhite or the most socially inferior. Don't you hate that? Tim escaped that trap, I believe, because his "white" or Catholic Northern Irish ethnicity had an "oppressed minority" identity that everyone in his family and neighborhood lived with all the time. Tim's Irish identity was also cemented by his involvement in Republican (Sinn Fein) politics and his time as a political prisoner in the infamous "H-Blocks." Tim's identification with the other Republican prisoners (subject to an impressive IRA discipline)made him feel even more Irish and nationalist. He still has problems with his Irish identity being questioned by strangers because of his color, hence the title, "Where Are You Really From?" When he finally gets out of prison, his main worry is not "racial" discrimination but fear of his employers finding out that he was in the H-Blocks. Nevertheless, Tim achieves some success as a journalist. When he finally find his biological father, the Ghanian doctor is callous, arrogant and totally obsessed with his class status.
This book is really a mother-son love story. Tim's most important relationship is with his mother, Peggy Brannigan. Peggy was an amazing woman, and her strong, loving personality permeates nearly every page of her son's autobiography.
It was a pleasure to read an autobiography by a biracial man who has a strong Irish identification, despite his UK use of the word "black" to describe anyone who doesn't look totally "white." Despite the color difference between Tim and his mother and half-brothers, he lived like any other working-class kid in a Catholic, Republican family during the "Troubles."
Too many "mulatto" autobiographies claim that the "white" ethnicity is too good for the protagonist and that he/she is morally bound to identify with the ancestry group that is nonwhite or the most socially inferior. Don't you hate that? Tim escaped that trap, I believe, because his "white" or Catholic Northern Irish ethnicity had an "oppressed minority" identity that everyone in his family and neighborhood lived with all the time. Tim's Irish identity was also cemented by his involvement in Republican (Sinn Fein) politics and his time as a political prisoner in the infamous "H-Blocks." Tim's identification with the other Republican prisoners (subject to an impressive IRA discipline)made him feel even more Irish and nationalist. He still has problems with his Irish identity being questioned by strangers because of his color, hence the title, "Where Are You Really From?" When he finally gets out of prison, his main worry is not "racial" discrimination but fear of his employers finding out that he was in the H-Blocks. Nevertheless, Tim achieves some success as a journalist. When he finally find his biological father, the Ghanian doctor is callous, arrogant and totally obsessed with his class status.
This book is really a mother-son love story. Tim's most important relationship is with his mother, Peggy Brannigan. Peggy was an amazing woman, and her strong, loving personality permeates nearly every page of her son's autobiography.
June 11, 2010
What a weird and wonderful tale! Born as a result of an affair between a white republican Belfast woman and a black doctor from Ghana, Tim Brannigan is initially reared in a baby home as the scandal for his mother and her existing family would have been insurmountable. This entire memoir is told in a very matter fact way which perhaps reveals Tim's present day talents as a journalist.
"I was born on Tuesday 10 May 1966. I died the same day...My mother had managed to create not so much a phantom pregnancy but rather a phantom death".
Such lack of mawkishness sets the tone for the reader as we witness a series of almost soaplike moments which permeate Brannigan's life. Incredibly, when he turns one year old, his mother Peggy decides to adopt him but keeps the secret of his parentage to herself, for now... Brought up in a close knit Nationalist family in West Belfast, he is in limbo - suffering racial abuse from both republicans and the British Army. Such confusion of identity is exacerbated by the unpredictability of his relationship with his mother and her decision not to tell him the truth about his parentage until he is 20 years old.
I found this memoir fascinating for many reasons, firstly it has no sense of misery or angst - Tim tells it as it is, without resorting to typical misery-memoir schmaltz. Also, it opens a window on events during the height of the Troubles when I, myself was a similar age to the author - the difference being that I was sequestered in a tiny village, far removed from the reality of daily violence. It certainly gives greater insight into what it must have been like to live at the "frontline".
Brannigan ends up serving a 5 year prison sentence in H Block as a Republican prisoner even though he wasn't actually a member of the IRA and was a victim of circumstances. Again he doesn't indulge in self pity when he relates events during his time in prison and his portrayal of the tightly organised structure and routine imposed by IRA Commanding Officers on each wing is frankly fascinating. Of course, one cannot expect complete objectivity - hence the ever so slightly patronising attitude towards the Loyalist prisoners with emphasis on their lack of organisation and lack of academic prowess when compared with the Nationalist inmates - one almost hears the author tittering in the background - however such tongue in cheek moments are relatively rare and it's soon back to the business in hand and the quest for self awareness.
This is a book primarily about Tim and his search for his roots, his father being the missing link. Their "reunion", like other landmark events in this memoir, is starkly presented. Where are you Really From? was a pleasant surprise for me as I usually shy away from "local" books and anything referring to the Troubles but his story transcends the parochial limits of Northern Ireland and is a testament to Tim's stoicism and the strength of his bond with his Mum. Don't shy away from it, categorising it as political diatribe when it has more in common with human endurance
"I was born on Tuesday 10 May 1966. I died the same day...My mother had managed to create not so much a phantom pregnancy but rather a phantom death".
Such lack of mawkishness sets the tone for the reader as we witness a series of almost soaplike moments which permeate Brannigan's life. Incredibly, when he turns one year old, his mother Peggy decides to adopt him but keeps the secret of his parentage to herself, for now... Brought up in a close knit Nationalist family in West Belfast, he is in limbo - suffering racial abuse from both republicans and the British Army. Such confusion of identity is exacerbated by the unpredictability of his relationship with his mother and her decision not to tell him the truth about his parentage until he is 20 years old.
I found this memoir fascinating for many reasons, firstly it has no sense of misery or angst - Tim tells it as it is, without resorting to typical misery-memoir schmaltz. Also, it opens a window on events during the height of the Troubles when I, myself was a similar age to the author - the difference being that I was sequestered in a tiny village, far removed from the reality of daily violence. It certainly gives greater insight into what it must have been like to live at the "frontline".
Brannigan ends up serving a 5 year prison sentence in H Block as a Republican prisoner even though he wasn't actually a member of the IRA and was a victim of circumstances. Again he doesn't indulge in self pity when he relates events during his time in prison and his portrayal of the tightly organised structure and routine imposed by IRA Commanding Officers on each wing is frankly fascinating. Of course, one cannot expect complete objectivity - hence the ever so slightly patronising attitude towards the Loyalist prisoners with emphasis on their lack of organisation and lack of academic prowess when compared with the Nationalist inmates - one almost hears the author tittering in the background - however such tongue in cheek moments are relatively rare and it's soon back to the business in hand and the quest for self awareness.
This is a book primarily about Tim and his search for his roots, his father being the missing link. Their "reunion", like other landmark events in this memoir, is starkly presented. Where are you Really From? was a pleasant surprise for me as I usually shy away from "local" books and anything referring to the Troubles but his story transcends the parochial limits of Northern Ireland and is a testament to Tim's stoicism and the strength of his bond with his Mum. Don't shy away from it, categorising it as political diatribe when it has more in common with human endurance
January 14, 2015
Even though we are in the 21st century and there are now more immigrants here than ever before, Northern Ireland still is not very ethnically diverse. We continue to have strong religious communities which influence ethics and our law makers too. Abortion is still illegal and the right for homosexual couples to marry is also a hot potato. Add into that mix hundreds of years of political unrest and politico-religious divisions and you will begin to get a flavour for what Northern Ireland is like. So imagine what it must have been like to be a mixed race kid growing up in the late 60s and 70s at the height of the political violence surrounded by Irish Republican Army paramilitaries and the British Army.
Tim Brannigan has worked for BBC Radio 4, GMTV and the Irish News and it shows. He knows how to be to the point while drawing the reader in, so much so that you just can't put this book down.
It's a prison memoir, a tribute to a mother, a tale of fighting racial prejudice and the story of the search for a long lost father all wrapped up in just over 200 pages. Even if you read it and disagree with his take on Northern Ireland politics if you have half a brain you will recognise it is a superb read and you can see why many working class Catholics got caught up in the Republican movement, especially a disenfranchised young man of mixed race.
The only intriguing omissions in the book were his views and experiences of the Catholic church and only fleeting references to his love life. I suppose that having worked as a showbiz columnist may have made him want to protect his private life and he may want to protect his family from any of the few remaining psycopathic Loyalist nutjobs who might consider him or his family a target because of his past as an Irish Republican prisoner.
A wonderful page-turner with the potential to appeal to a very diverse audience. Well done Tim! As far as I am concerned you're as much from Northern Ireland as Geordie Best and Liam Neeson.
Tim Brannigan has worked for BBC Radio 4, GMTV and the Irish News and it shows. He knows how to be to the point while drawing the reader in, so much so that you just can't put this book down.
It's a prison memoir, a tribute to a mother, a tale of fighting racial prejudice and the story of the search for a long lost father all wrapped up in just over 200 pages. Even if you read it and disagree with his take on Northern Ireland politics if you have half a brain you will recognise it is a superb read and you can see why many working class Catholics got caught up in the Republican movement, especially a disenfranchised young man of mixed race.
The only intriguing omissions in the book were his views and experiences of the Catholic church and only fleeting references to his love life. I suppose that having worked as a showbiz columnist may have made him want to protect his private life and he may want to protect his family from any of the few remaining psycopathic Loyalist nutjobs who might consider him or his family a target because of his past as an Irish Republican prisoner.
A wonderful page-turner with the potential to appeal to a very diverse audience. Well done Tim! As far as I am concerned you're as much from Northern Ireland as Geordie Best and Liam Neeson.
June 20, 2020
A compelling story set in recent history, but from a very different perspective.
January 28, 2021
Great start, loved the growing up on the streets of Belfast and his family / mother relationships, I thought it very observant and poignant. However the adult man, shaped by his years in prison as a 'Republican' ( albeit an enabler rather than an activist), came across as a more unpleasant individual, and his final meetings with his birth family were decidedly unsatisfactory and badly expressed, I felt some truth was missing even though I feel a lot of sympathy for his side of the story.
April 21, 2020
Heartbreaking and Hearty laughs
What can you say, Irish boy does bad and it all turns out not too bad. Tim seems a great guy and would be a great laugh to sink a few beers with. Nice one . His old man is a Kent I think.
What can you say, Irish boy does bad and it all turns out not too bad. Tim seems a great guy and would be a great laugh to sink a few beers with. Nice one . His old man is a Kent I think.
November 18, 2017
This book has a good story. Slow at times, slower at others. But interesting nonetheless. Who is this good for? A person with an interest in modern Irish history.
February 13, 2018
Interesting story of a strange time in Belfast. Writer is honest, engaging and passionate about his life and experiences.
January 8, 2020
Intriguing story from an author born where I grew up. Based around the troubles in belfast tied with family secrets. Heart breaking and heart warming at the same time.
March 12, 2022
The book was not good written. The author didn’t develop the two subjects of this book that were his personal history and also the trouble period in Northern Ireland.
May 11, 2022
Good read
What a good book ,Tims Mum was really all he needed in his life not the selfish guy who was his Father .
What a good book ,Tims Mum was really all he needed in his life not the selfish guy who was his Father .
July 29, 2016
There's a lot that could be said about this book - and it addresses a number of themes not least how a disaffected young man from the Falls area of Belfast found himself serving five years in prison on arms charges.
But the central theme of this book - an autobiography of Belfast journalist Tim Brannigan - the relationship between mother and son which, as the blurb itself says, could have come straight from an episode of Call The Midwife.
In 1966 Peggy Brannigan, a married mother of two, had a short lived affair with a Ghana born doctor - the result of which was Tim. Knowing that her marriage, her family's standing in their community and her own relationship with her parents would not withstand the scandal of her giving birth to a black baby, Peggy - with the help of health professionals - constructed a plot to cover up her secret but also to ensure that it would be she that raised her son.
On the day Tim Brannigan was born he was secreted away in a side room of the hospital in which Peggy was staying and her family were told the baby she had been carrying was still born.
Peggy spent the following year visiting Tim at the baby home he was staying at before "adopting" him. (The details are all in the book).
The pair had a strong, sometimes volatile, relationship. It is clear Peggy struggled with the legacy of her secret and she expected a lot of Tim - perhaps more than she did of her other sons.
But what jumps from each page of this book is the love and respect with which the pair held each other - and of a son who gave his all for his mother.
There are other themes, of course, racism in Belfast in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The armed struggle, a wry - sometimes humorous, often devastating look at life in prison where Tim would spend a good portion of his twenties and how he overcame all life threw at him to become a successful journalist.
The issue of his relationship with his birth father also looms large and the pain of this is raw on many of the pages.
Where the strengths of this book lie are in the honest, real and passionate way in which Brannigan writes. There is a truth to his words - the pain, the pride, the fear and the triumph are laid bare. Brannigan has bared his soul for the reader.
This book comes highly recommended - not just for the writing but for the strength and honesty of the story. I laughed and I cried and I felt like I was on his journey with him.
A simply remarkable read which will no doubt stay with me for a long time.
But the central theme of this book - an autobiography of Belfast journalist Tim Brannigan - the relationship between mother and son which, as the blurb itself says, could have come straight from an episode of Call The Midwife.
In 1966 Peggy Brannigan, a married mother of two, had a short lived affair with a Ghana born doctor - the result of which was Tim. Knowing that her marriage, her family's standing in their community and her own relationship with her parents would not withstand the scandal of her giving birth to a black baby, Peggy - with the help of health professionals - constructed a plot to cover up her secret but also to ensure that it would be she that raised her son.
On the day Tim Brannigan was born he was secreted away in a side room of the hospital in which Peggy was staying and her family were told the baby she had been carrying was still born.
Peggy spent the following year visiting Tim at the baby home he was staying at before "adopting" him. (The details are all in the book).
The pair had a strong, sometimes volatile, relationship. It is clear Peggy struggled with the legacy of her secret and she expected a lot of Tim - perhaps more than she did of her other sons.
But what jumps from each page of this book is the love and respect with which the pair held each other - and of a son who gave his all for his mother.
There are other themes, of course, racism in Belfast in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The armed struggle, a wry - sometimes humorous, often devastating look at life in prison where Tim would spend a good portion of his twenties and how he overcame all life threw at him to become a successful journalist.
The issue of his relationship with his birth father also looms large and the pain of this is raw on many of the pages.
Where the strengths of this book lie are in the honest, real and passionate way in which Brannigan writes. There is a truth to his words - the pain, the pride, the fear and the triumph are laid bare. Brannigan has bared his soul for the reader.
This book comes highly recommended - not just for the writing but for the strength and honesty of the story. I laughed and I cried and I felt like I was on his journey with him.
A simply remarkable read which will no doubt stay with me for a long time.
February 10, 2015
Tim Brannigan offers up his memories of what it is to grow up black and Irish in Ireland in the latter half of the 20th century. Racism, family secrets, and run ins with the IRA that lead to a stint in prison dominate Tim's life. Born of a short, adulterous affair, his mother, Peggy, planned an elaborate ruse that faked Tim's death and landed him in a children's home. Later, she "adopted" him, and raised him along with his brothers. His family was staunchly republican; members of the IRA would store weapons in their home and use their bedrooms for private meetings. One such weapons dump, however, landed Tim in jail with a 7 year sentence. Only after his mother's death does Tim, with the urging of his station fellows, look for his father. "Where Are You Really From?" explores race, nationality, and family ties in a time of upheaval. Short read, recommended for people interested in the IRA, Sinn Fein, or what it means to be black and Irish.
January 4, 2013
As a Northern Ireland reader, I thought I was bored of reading about The Troubles, but I loved this book. I read it in one sitting. I was moved by Brannigan's relationship with his mother, Peggy. What will remain with me, however, is the insight into a catholic community and the republican movement. He tells NI experiences that are so far from mine own, it is often uncomfortable and challenging. When he tells of his arrest for IRA arms possession, it is testament to the power of his story, that I could only gasp in horror. This is a great read, many people in NI would benefit from reading this man's story.
June 18, 2014
One of the best memoirs I have read!! Tim Brannigan tells it like it really was for himself growing up in Northern Ireland during the worst of the Troubles, and there is an evolution about himself as a child and himself as a republican and himself as a man, who is learned beyond his years. One of the few books that I did not want to put down at all!!
December 18, 2010
A really interesting memoir, well written and rather emotional especially towards the end. Certainly Tim Brannigan has had an eventful life, whether or not you agree with his politics, and it was interesting to hear about his role with the IRA during the Troubles and what he managed to do with himself once he left prison.
July 17, 2010
Read this because I heard the author being interviewed on radio and he sounded fascinating however I was disappointed in the book. It was not very well written and left me with many unanswered questions about Northern Ireland.
October 17, 2011
Read my review here: http://jazzuloo.blogspot.com/2011/09/...
July 19, 2014
Interesting. Well written.
January 8, 2016
Excellent read
A thoughtful and honest account from a man with a difficult start in life which didn't seem to hamper him in any way. Well worth a look.
A thoughtful and honest account from a man with a difficult start in life which didn't seem to hamper him in any way. Well worth a look.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews