Shadow Dancer [Paperback]

'Quite exceptional…a taut, compelling story of love and torn loyalties'

'A remarkable first novel…Bradby handles the tension with skill to produce a gripping tale'

'The best book on the northern conflict since Harry's Game…An excellent read on any level'

Colette McVeigh: widow...mother...terrorist. A woman who has lived the Republican cause for all of her thirty-three years. A woman whose brothers are both heavily involved at a senior level in the IRA, whose husband was killed by the British security forces. A woman who is now an informer for MI5. Apprehended by the police in an aborted bombing raid in London, Colette is given a simple choice: talk and see her children again, or stay silent and spend the rest of her life watching them grow up from behind the bars of a prison cell. Gradually and unwillingly she is led to betray her past by her young MI5 handler, David Ryan, who has never doubted where his loyalties lie. But when he follows Colette across the Irish Sea to Belfast, the very tenets of his existence - trust, loyalty and honesty - are quickly sacrificed on the pyre of the province’s history. And, as he watches Colette put herself in increasing danger to fulfil her side of the bargain, he realizes that his professional integrity is irrevocably and fatally compromised... Shadow Dancer is a chilling, complex and utterly compelling thriller about the choices we make and why we make them. It is a riveting portrait of a group of ten people torn apart by the strife of civil war and the overwhelming pull of family attachments.

Colette McVeigh: mother...widow...terrorist. A woman who has lived the Republican cause for all of her 29 years. A woman whose brothers are both heavily involved at senior levels in the IRA, whose husband was killed by the British security forces. A woman who is now an informer for MI5.

Arrested in an aborted bombing attempt in London, Colette is given two choices: talk and see her children again, or stay silent and spend the rest of her life watching them grow up from behind the bars of a prison cell.

Unwillingly she is led to betray her past by her young MI5 handler, David Ryan, who always knew where his loyalties lay. But when he follows Colette to Belfast, those values are quickly sacrificed on the pyre of the province's history. As the peace process gathers pace and Ryan watches Colette put herself in increasing danger to keep her side of the bargain, he realises that his professional integrity is irrevocably and fatally compromised...

Tom Bradby has for the last eight years been a political and foreign reporter for ITN, covering Ireland and South East Asia, and is now their royal correspondent. He is the author of three acclaimed novels, Shadow Dancer, The Sleep of the Dead and The Master of Rain and The White Russian. He lives in England with his wife and three children.