My first book (and venture into fiction writing) has been published and is now available in hardback, paperback, and Kindle formats here.
If you have Kindle Unlimited (and maybe Amazon Prime?) you can even read it for free.
The book is a future history written from the perspective of 2040, 15 years after Irish reunification. It is written as a memoir by a young English journalist who falls in love with an Irishwoman, Ireland, its people, and its politics. It gives a personal account of how a Border Poll was called, why it was carried, and what happened afterwards. It traces the development of a unified Irish state over a 15-year transition period and looks at how it all turned out, from a variety of points of view in Ireland and Britain.
The Good Friday Agreement is silent on what happens if a Border Poll is carried. My book is an attempt to flesh out, in a hopefully informative, entertaining, and amusing way, what could and should happen!
Early drafts of the first five chapters were published on Slugger O’Toole and set the macro-political context for what became, increasingly, a more personal tale. It even includes a reference to Slugger O’Toole in the acknowledgements, text, and on the back cover! Many thanks to all here who helped inform, guide, and critique my attempts to understand Northern Ireland and its politics!
As a first time author my main problem is getting the book out there and grabbing the attention of people who might be interested in reading it. Anything you can do by way of word of mouth, comments, blog post recommendations, and customer reviews on Amazon would be much appreciated!
I append the table of contents to give an overview of how the storyline developed. The first five chapters headings are linked to the early Slugger O’Toole published drafts.
Table of Contents
1. My private meeting with Rishi Sunak 4
5. A Draft New British Irish Treaty 49
6. A tale of two General Elections 64
7. My renewed rugby career! 76
8. The Border Poll Campaign 83
9. The people decide. 95
10. Kidnapped 109
11. The Irish Referendum Campaign 120
12. The First All-Ireland Elections 129
13. Disappointment 139
14. My political career move 147
15. A brave new world 156
16. Our Wedding 163
18. Ambassador Filatov 180
19. Economic and social transformation 189
20. The normalisation of politics 202
21. Scandal 211
22. Transforming the Environment 225
23. Back to the EU 236
24. And so, to conclude… 246
Frank Schnittger is the author of Sovereignty 2040, a future history of how Irish re-unification might work out. He has worked in business in Dublin and London and, on a voluntary basis, for charities in community development, education, restorative justice and addiction services.
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