Glad to be Mad         

Michael Gallagher is a Sinn Fein member who is down on his luck after an admission to Gransha Psychiatric Hospital in Derry city. He is being treated for an episode of severe depression which came after a sustained period of elation, both symptomatic of his manic-depressive illness.

Paula Stewart is a very troubled woman who had a breakdown over a year before and is back in Gransha after becoming severely depressed because her husband abandoned her and won legal custody of her three children.

Caroline Daly lost her husband months previously after he committed suicide in the River Foyle and she too is severely depressed and unable to cope with daily life.

Michael, Paula and Caroline, after suddenly coming into some money, are set to challenge the IRA and Sinn Fein’s authority over their realm and in the process assert their right to live unfettered lives away from those who would exploit them.

Michael doesn’t know it but he is about to embark on a heroic journey that will result in him becoming even more unwell, a heroic journey of the mind as well as of the body that is to test his allegiance to Sinn Fein to its ultimate extent. To do so he will need to be pretty mad. But will he be sufficiently mad?  

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