Ian McGuire

Thanks for inviting me, Kate.

Very happy to be here.

Yes, well, it begins with a triple hanging, which is an actual historical event.

This was the event which really sparked the whole idea for the novel.

So what happened in November of 1867, or September of 1867, is a prison van travelling from the centre of Manchester from the court to the jail was ambushed by about 25 men.

And a policeman, a police sergeant who was guarding the van, was killed during that attack.

And the men who ambushed the van were Fenians, so members of a secret society dedicated to the kind of violent overthrow of British rule in Ireland.

And they were trying to free one of their comrades who was inside the van.

And as a result of that incident, three of them were convicted and publicly hanged outside the jail in Manchester.

And when I read about that, I was amazed, firstly, that I hadn't heard about it before.

At the time, it was a very important event.

but it's kind of been forgotten about.

So one of the inspirations for the novel was just to bring that event back to life and to explore what was around it, which was this revolutionary group which was active in England in the late 19th century.

It is, yes.

I mean, I've lived in Manchester for about 25 years and I'm very kind of closely attached to it in some ways.

In some sense, that was...

That was what surprised me that I hadn't been aware of this incident before, even though I've lived here for so long.

I think it's fallen out of the collective memory in the UK or in England anyway.

I think it's known about in Ireland, but it's been forgotten about.

And so it's interesting to just to sort of revive it and to sort of explore its implications.