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Back A Family Reunion Save as PDF
Chapters (66)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART ONE
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. CHAPTER EIGHT
  14. CHAPTER NINE
  15. CHAPTER TEN
  16. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  17. CHAPTER TWELVE
  18. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  19. PART TWO
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. PART THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  56. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  64. EPILOGUE
  65. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  66. About the Author

Later the following morning, lying in a hard, narrow hospital bed after having a D&C, drowsy from the anaesthetic, Imelda thought back to the guilt she’d felt when the child in her womb had ceased to be. Yes, she’d felt guilty, she acknowledged, but mostly, right now, she felt relief. And if that made her a bad person, so be it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

May 1971

The buzz of anticipation when the train from Belfast appeared on the horizon, chugging slowly into Connolly station – where supporters of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement were waiting to greet their sisters – grew to an excited clamour as the train clickety-clacked its way to the barrier before coming to a stop. A sea of placards waved in the air and the cheers grew higher, reaching a crescendo when the women poured out of the carriages, waving their contraceptives in the air, much to the bemusement of the customs officials. The TV cameras whirred, and Imelda waved her banner while making sure to keep her face partially hidden, unwilling to be seen on the news later, and envious of the women around her who had no such qualms.

‘Let them through! Let them through!’ The chant grew louder and louder as the women surged forward to encourage the lawbreakers on the other side of the platform. Imelda swallowed hard, overcome with emotion, and felt tears slide down her cheeks. The women beside her were crying too, tears of joy and relief, knowing that they were at long last beginning the journey to reclaim control of their own sexuality and fertility from the hands of men, and the Church.

Teresa had said that at one of her Women’s Liberation meetings they’d been told that in many family units there were often as many as ten or twelve children, if not more. She’d already been pregnant five times, and she could still have fifteen years left of fertility. The sooner contraception was made legal the better, she’d decided, offering to be at the homecoming of the ‘Contraceptive Train’ to support her friend.

*

Imelda felt fiercely proud waving to Teresa, who was walking along the platform on the other side of the barrier, triumphantly holding up her haul of condoms and spermicidal jelly, and grinning from ear to ear. In one fluid movement, the crowd of women surged past the customs officials and out onto the concourse, singing ‘We Shall Overcome’, and Imelda knew she was seeing history in the making.