Not to be outdone by Doug Beattie and Peter Robinson, Jim Allister MP becomes the latest Unionist leader to put pen to paper. Whereas Doug Beattie regaled us with his war exploits and Peter Robinson went for ‘Witty Putdowns and Clever Insults‘, Jim Allister has embraced a very different subject matter – a historical romance novel.
The MP for North Antrim’s new book is ‘Beneath an Antrim Sky’, according to the blurb on the back:
In the rolling green hills of Cullybackey, under skies that seem to stretch into eternity, young sheep farmer Ewan McAuley dreams of more than just tending flocks. When he crosses paths with Clara Henderson, the spirited and intelligent daughter of the local reverend, their worlds collide in a romance as tender as it is forbidden.
As war drums echo across Europe, duty calls Ewan to the battlefields of the First World War, tearing him away from the only woman who has ever truly seen him. Letters become their lifeline, love their anchor—until the silence between them begins to grow.
Will their love survive the ravages of war, or will the fields of Flanders claim not only Ewan’s future, but the promise they made beneath the Antrim sky?
A sweeping historical romance rich with longing, heartache, and the unbreakable bonds of love, Beneath an Antrim Sky is a poignant tale of hope in the darkest of times.
Sounds quite the tale.
Jim Allister is better known for uncompromising politics and his one-man opposition at Stormont, but it seems there is a softer side to Jim, as he explained in an interview with the Newsletter:
There is a lot of waiting around in courts, so early on in my career, I developed a habit of always carrying a book with me for those downtimes. When dealing with serious court cases, the last thing I would want to read is anything too heavy, so I embraced fiction, particularly detective stories. I was a huge fan of Agatha Christie, also the Dorothy L Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey series. Since getting elected as an MP, I have spent a lot of time hanging around airports and sitting on planes. One particularly miserable night when my flight home was cancelled at Heathrow, I decided to use the time to type up a story that was rolling around in my head for years.
The story is actually based on a relative of mine who fought in the Great War. You will have to buy the book to find out if he makes it home safe!
Although only his first book it was enough to impress Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, the team behind the successful Blue Lights TV Show. They have secured the rights to the book and are currently pitching it to a will known streaming platform.
Could Jim soon be swapping the Glens of Antrim for the Hollywood Hills? We will wait and see.
The book will be published on April 10th, it will be available on Amazon and locally from No Alibis. Starting this weekend, extracts will be serialised in the Saturday edition of the Newsletter.
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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