One Belfast Boy

Eleven-year-old Liam Leathem lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He happens to be Catholic, but his story might be the same no matter what his religion. He has never known a Protestant person in all his life. In Northern Ireland the Protestant and Catholic children live on separate sides of the "peace walls" - high walls dividing neighborhoods, built to help keep the peace. Liam's greatest joy in life is boxing. He spends nearly all his free time at the Holy Trinity Boxing Club, where he trains with his coaches and other young boxers. Despite the presence of tension and conflict around him, the sound of military helicopters whirring overhead, and the sight of soldiers in the street, Liam tries to live his life without being drawn into the conflict. In both pictures and words, McMahon and O'Connor have captured the innocence of a childhood lived in the shadow of a violence handed down for generations.

Describes the life of Liam Leatham, a young Catholic boy, and his family as he prepares for a boxing match that he sees as the first step out of violence-plagued Belfast.

Eleven-year-old Liam Leathem lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He happens to be Catholic, but his story might be the same no matter what his religion. He has never known a Protestant person in all his life. In Northern Ireland the Protestant and Catholic children live on separate sides of the "peace walls" - high walls dividing neighborhoods, built to help keep the peace. Liam's greatest joy in life is boxing. He spends nearly all his free time at the Holy Trinity Boxing Club, where he trains with his coaches and other young boxers. Despite the presence of tension and conflict around him, the sound of military helicopters whirring overhead, and the sight of soldiers in the street, Liam tries to live his life without being drawn into the conflict. In both pictures and words, McMahon and O'Connor have captured the innocence of a childhood lived in the shadow of a violence handed down for generations.

Publishers Weekly

A fine balance of hard-hitting facts and lyrical passages, McMahon's (Summer Tunes) searching portrait of one Belfast boy is also a haunting look at a ravaged city. At 11, Liam aspires to be a great boxer, and his training and hopes for a boxing match four days away frame the story. He is accustomed to bomb threats and rock throwing, to hearing even six-year-olds observe that "Cease-fires are made to be broken." Convincing snatches of conversation augment McMahon's skillful narrative, and together with O'Connor's candid photos they reveal the sad dichotomy between an innocent child's world and the angry larger society: noisy military helicopters fly over a pickup soccer game outside Liam's Catholic school, passing soldiers "eye him down the barrels of their guns" as the boy kicks a ball on his street and an ominous-looking army observation tower casts its shadow on his jogging route. A preface cogently sorts out Ireland's complex, strife-torn history and describes the devastating effects of "the Troubles." These become clear in the story of Liam himself, who has never met anyone from the Protestant neighborhoods, separated from the Catholic sections by "peace walls." The irony will not be lost on young readers. Ages 7-12. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Alan O'Connor lives in Dublin, Ireland. As a photographer he has covered stories in Lebanon, Bosnia, and Eastern Europe, and he has worked extensively in Northern Ireland. He is a graduate of University College, Dublin.