Peace Comes Dropping Slow

Born in suburban Boston, where being Irish is perceived as a badge of social status, Edith Shillue travelled to Ireland's north-east corner in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement - the historic 1998 peace treaty that promised to end war as a way of life in Northern Ireland. Spending time in both the middle-class environs of South Belfast and the rougher areas of Derry's housing estates, she recorded the prevailing moods of this long-troubled land as she lived and worked with its citizens. The result reveals a people and a place caught between past and future during a time of profound change. The author examines the function and protection of coded language, the burdens of tradition, and the comic yet painful testing of allegiance to ethnic identities. By observing the daily conversation, the physical landscape, and the small, persistent gestures that help people survive difficult circumstances she reveals the separate identities of Ireland and describes their collision in both personal and political arenas. In doing so, the author reveals her own Irish and American identities.