Trimble Book

The problem with writing a biography of the living is that you don't know how the story is going to end. The Nobel peace prize that David Trimble shared with David Hume swiftly became a chapter in, rather than the conclusion to, the search for peace in Northern Ireland. With history still unfolding as he writes, the journalist Henry McDonald ends his excellent portrait of the politician and his country with Trimble's big gamble in persuading his Unionist colleagues to agree to the creation of devolved government in Northern Ireland before disarmament by the IRA. Even after the book published, the story moved on. Thankfully it doesn't matter. The virtue of McDonald's book is the lucid way in which he explains not only Trimble--his unexpected rise to power from lower middle class origins through academia and the deal involving Sinn Fein that would have his former supporters issuing death threats--but also the arcane nature of Unionist politics. The author's admiration for his subject does not prevent his talking to less enthusiastic observers and, though one senses that some of the more co-operative witnesses have achieved greater roles in the narrative than they perhaps deserve, you feel that this is an inside account. This could have been a hagiography or superficial or arcane exercise. Instead, McDonald has produced a fascinating and enthralling biography. History is still unfolding.--Kim FletcherRead More