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  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780241986202
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $29.99

Here’s the Story

A Memoir




A two-term President of Ireland and feminist icon tells the remarkable stories of her life

When a young Mary McAleese told a priest that she planned to become a lawyer, the priest dismissed the idea: she knew no one in the law, and she was female. The reality of what she went on to achieve - despite those obstacles, and despite a sectarian attack that forced her family to flee their home - is even more improbable.

In this luminous memoir, Mary McAleese traces that astonishing arc: from the tight streets of north Belfast, to a professorship in Dublin while still in her twenties, behind-the-scenes work on the peace process, and two triumphant terms as President of Ireland. She writes of her encounters with prime ministers, popes and royalty with the same easy candour and intimacy with which she describes her childhood. And her account of the latest act in her remarkable career - quietly pursuing a doctorate, and loudly opposing the misogyny of the Church - is inspiring.

Here's the Story is warm, witty, often surprising and relentlessly fascinating: an extraordinarily intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable public figures of our time.

  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780241986202
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $29.99

Praise for Here’s the Story

Riveting ... A fiercely urgent reminder to the world - and the Government - that peace must never be sacrificed for politics

Telegraph

What an incredible life lived by an outstanding role model. I ate this book up

Sinéad Moriarty

A fascinating story and well worth the read

Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish Times

Full of conviction and isn't afraid of plain speaking ... Priests, popes, paramilitaries and Ian Paisley are all held to account

Herald Scotland

[A] chatty, provocative and embraceable biography

RTÉ Guide

Excellent

Matt Cooper, Irish Daily Mail

I was enthralled and absorbed by this memoir ... Riveting

Mary O'Rourke, Sunday Independent

Compelling ... Displays many of the qualities that made her such a popular president

Business Post

Artful, entertaining and often enlightening - one of the few memoirs by a senior Irish office-holder that's actually worth reading

Sunday Times

An immensely readable effort from that rarest of figures - a politician you actually like and admire

Hot Press

A warm and witty insight into an extraordinary woman

Irish Daily Mail

A meticulously researched and recorded history of the past half-century in Ireland and the story of a life passionately committed to working for peace

TLS