Stolen Faith

Belfast, 1944: American soldier James McCann meets the beautiful and impetuous Rose Rafferty. They fall in love, but their romance is forbidden - and war separates them. Boston, present day: James's children are celebrating his life when they find a wartime letter that changes everything. They have a half-sister, born in an Irish mother and baby home, stolen by the nuns and exported to the US. Their search for justice will cross oceans and generations. It will uncover secrets and lies, revealing the abuse of the most innocent in society by the most powerful. It will pit them against Church and State and shine a light into the darkest corners of Irish history.

James McVeigh is a trade union activist from Belfast. He was born just off the Falls Road, where the story of Stolen Faith begins. Upon leaving school, he started studying to be an engineer, but after the hunger strikes and the death of Bobby Sands, he became involved in the conflict. He served sixteen years in prison before being released as part of the Good Friday Agreement. While in prison, James studied for a history degree, and when released, he went to Queens University and achieved a Masters in Human Rights. He has written two history books, Executed and Goodbye Dearest Heart, and this is his first novel. As a young child, James stayed in Tuam as part of a church-organised break from the civil conflict in Belfast. When he returned decades later, he stumbled across the Tuam shrine and began to learn the tragic story of the mother and baby home and its secret burial chamber, a septic tank. This book is a tribute to all the women and children who died in or survived these terrible institutions.