Unbroken: Secrets, Lies and Enduring Love

18.99

Mary Attenborough & Michael Gallagher

In 1994, Mary Attenborough’s life is upended when her partner Michael Gallagher is arrested, accused of playing a role in the IRA mortar attack on Heathrow Airport. Unbroken is the gripping true story of a couple whose love endured under the most unthinkable circumstances.

Paperback

June 2025

ISBN: 9781785375606 Categories: , ,

Description

‘Our outside door came crashing in. Deafening thumps, steel banging on steel and shrill, piercing whistles filled the hallway. Faraway voices called out in the dark: “Armed police.” Others, coming nearer, shouted orders: “Get down on the floor.”’

On 28 October 1996 Glaswegian Michael Gallagher is arrested in an armed dawn raid on the London flat he shares with long-time partner, Mary Attenborough. Accused of playing a role in the IRA mortar attack on Heathrow Airport in March 1994, Michael proclaims his innocence. Mary meanwhile throws herself into the battle to free him and highlight what she sees as just another example of British ‘justice’ getting it wrong.

Told in the alternating voices of the two authors, the dramatic story unfolds with Michael struggling against the harsh conditions of incarceration, while Mary focuses on organising his legal defence, battling to stay positive in the face of soul-destroying setbacks and emotional hardships.

Yet behind it all lies a secret that could tear the couple apart. How can their love survive?

 

About the Authors
Mary Attenborough is a mathematician, software engineer, former lecturer and author of two third-level engineering mathematics textbooks.

Michael Gallagher, a Glasgow-born former civil servant and day-at-a-time recovering alcoholic, enjoys walking, singing and playing freestyle football. The couple now live in north-west Donegal and, since 2000, have jointly run a web development business.