Lost Lives: Narrative, Commemoration, and the Northern Ireland Troubles

Lost Lives (1999) contains the stories of the men, women and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Comprising almost a million words, it is an encyclopedic account of the 3,636 deaths that occurred between 1966 and 1999.¹ At the time of publication, critics were quick to celebrate the scale and significance of the book's achievement. Fintan O'Toole called it "one of the most remarkable books to have emerged from any conflict."² Nell McCafferty described it as "the print equivalent of Picasso's Guernica."³ For Kevin Myers, it was the "greatest single piece of scholarship . . . ever conducted in Ireland."⁴ Public reactions to Lost Lives were equally enthusiastic. In bookshops across Northern Ireland, groups of people huddled round displays, poring over the text. One storeowner discovered a copy stained with mascara where a woman had wept onto its pages (LL 22). In 2000, when Seamus Heaney was asked to open an extension to Belfast's Linen Hall library, he chose Lost Lives as the first volume to be placed on the shelves. At Clonard Monastery, priests placed a copy on a lectern in front of the altar for all to read. The Belfast Telegraph called it "a labour of Hercules," the Sunday Tribune spoke of "a magnificent achievement," while Hot Press magazine insisted, "No other book will have its enduring power."⁵ At a public lecture in Australia in 2015, Professor Gillian Russell confirmed this view when she argued that Lost Lives remained "the most significant work of Irish writing in the last twenty years."⁶

The opening pages of the book explain this remarkable response while, at the same time, offering a synecdoche for the ways in which Lost Lives, as whole, seeks to represent the Troubles. The book begins in 1966, when the fuse was lit and Northern Ireland began its descent into thirty years of sectarian bloodshed. What follows is a chronological account that systematically details every Troubles-related death. This highly structured approach is significant, as it suggests a desire to impose some form of order upon the chaos and turbulence of recent Northern Irish history. At first glance, Lost Lives resembles a reference book, with the first three entries—for John Patrick Scullion, Peter Ward and Matilda Gould—establishing a formula that remains consistent throughout. Nine key facts introduce each victim. They include: a number; the date they died; their full name; where they came from; any political, paramilitary or security force affiliation; their religion, age, family circumstance and occupation. Here, for example, is the book's first entry:

1. June 11, 1966

John Patrick Scullion, West Belfast

Civilian, Catholic, 28, single, storeman

Lost Lives fosters an aura of objectivity, a reverence for historical fact, and a commitment to treating every victim in the same uniform and impartial manner. The critical distance that is thus established is enhanced by the twenty-two pages of graphs and statistics, the alphabetical index, and the bibliography of further reading that concludes the volume. The book's systematic approach affords readers a bird's-eye view, encouraging them to recognize the underlying patterns that characterized the conflict. Of the 3,636 people killed, for instance, we learn that the largest single category was "civilian" (56 percent). In contrast, the security forces and the army make up 28 percent, with the paramilitaries constituting a mere 15 percent.⁷ The book provides a snapshot of which groups were responsible for various deaths. The largest is the Provisional IRA at 58 percent, followed by Loyalist paramilitaries at 29 percent, with security forces and army making up 10 percent. From the outset, Lost Lives appears concerned with establishing the truth about the Troubles, while seeking to outline an inclusive and apolitical approach to memorializing the dead. For many critics, these aspects make the book a unique and exemplary text. Writing in 2000, Karen Birchard argued in the medical journal The Lancet that Lost Lives "should sit on the negotiating table in full sight, to remind those at the table of the high price people pay for...