'˜A magnificent meditation on the Troubles': Anthony Quinn's latest crime novel Silence out today

The novel, which is set along the shores of Lough Neagh and explores the corrosive legacy of the infamous murder triangle of Tyrone and Armagh, has already garnered rave reviews from UK and US newspapers.

The Sunday Times described it as ‘a magnificent meditation on the corrosive legacy of the past’, the Sunday Express ‘superbly original...one of the best crime novels of the seasaon’ while the Independent said it was a ‘beautifully written’ and ‘an irresistible crime drama’.

In the US, Publishers Weekly has given it a starred review, which it awards novels it deems to be of exceptional merit.

The novel, which Quinn describes as his darkest to date, is dedicated to Monsignor Denis Faul, former teacher and headmaster of Quinn, whose dogged search for the truth helped inspire the book.

“Although Silence excavates the murky details of those very troubled times, it also functions as an entertaining detective thriller”, said Anthony, whose debut novel Disappeared was selected by the Times and the Daily Mail as one of the best books of the year.

“In a way that is the most generous thing you can do as a writer, to entertain your readers, and somehow encourage them to examine the sort of thing they would normally turn away from in their normal lives.

“The subject matter of Silence is so compelling, yet also so disturbing that I wanted to run away from it many times. However, I’m glad I stuck with it.”

Quinn, who has been picked as Libraries NI Writer-in-Residence 2016, said he dedicated the book to Monsignor Faul in order to pay tribute to ‘his courage in facing up what was before him’.

“I remember acutely Father Faul’s soft but scolding voice lecturing us every morning in the assembly hall without ever seeming to speak to us personally.

“Looking back, I don’t think he was that interested in any of us as individuals. Instead, he spoke to us as though he were speaking to something he could see inside us—the future of Northern Ireland.

“He spoke to us in the hope that we might shed the fear and loathing we had grown up with, like an old skin, that we might leave behind the bitterness and prejudices we had picked up along the way.”

“The history of the Troubles is a long one, full of suspended secrets and lies, and many of its stories have yet to be told or have been lost along the way.

“Sometimes the most powerful stories are those that are hidden for years, and only re-discovered when society has moved on and is better equipped to deal with the painful truth. Monsignor Faul sadly passed away ten years ago this June, but the truth behind many of the issues that he first raised such as that of the 12 Hooded Men, and the Murder Triangle of Armagh and Tyrone, is only emerging now.”

Silence can be bought in all good bookstores and online at Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silence-Inspector-Celcius-Anthony-Quinn/dp/1784971251/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=