Right Hand Up To God

Lori is only ten years old when she and her heavily pregnant mother flee an abusive husband and father.
Alone in the Everglades, Lori promises her dying mother she will care for her newborn brother, Michael. Over the months and years that follow she will strive to keep her promise. Not even being unwittingly caught up in a drug smuggling ring between Cuba and London, or the love of two men at the same time, will distract her from the promise she gave to her mother alongside a steaming Fakahatchee swamp.

Born into the violence and chaos of Northern Ireland, and after the fatal shooting of his sister Kelly by a British paratrooper, a teenaged Shaun O’Brien is recruited by the Irish Republican Army. Under the expert tutelage of Hugh Devlin, a veteran terrorist, Shaun will excel in his ability to spread death and destruction. Returning from intense insurgency training in the middle east, his talent for organization will bring together rogue governments and terrorist groups from all over the northern hemisphere. While proliferating his destructive creed, Shaun will cross paths with both Lori and Michael, but neither will be aware of their true kinship. Pursued by The Royal Ulster Constabulary in the form of Inspector Pete Doyle, the two men will eventually come face to face in a confrontation that only one can survive.

After leaving Lori in Queensland, Australia, Michael, searching for a cause to champion, travels to Santiago, Chile, where he meets, and falls deeply in love with, Rosa, a fourteen-year-old shanty dweller. The two teenagers, after pledging themselves to each other before the Madonna on San Cristobal Hill, are caught up in an anti government rally. Unable to save Rosa’s life, Michael returns to Florida, grief stricken and consumed by guilt. He takes solace in his faith, and after ordination as a Roman Catholic priest, his first posting is to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Charged with membership of the I.R.A., Michael is incarcerated in the notorious Maze prison alongside Ireland’s most desperate terrorists. After the widely publicized, martyred death of Bobby Sands, Michael becomes a willing participant in the hunger strikes.

For the love of her brother, and to keep faith with the promise she made to their mother, Lori solicits the help of the I.R.A. to free Michael. The one man that can help her is Shaun O’Brien, but the price of his help is to kidnap a prominent Protestant church leader and hold the British Government to ransom. Michael is dying! Will the plan work, and will it work in time to save Michaels life?
The story culminates in Geneva Switzerland, but will Lori, Michael, and Shaun ever find out that they are, in fact, siblings?

The Story Behind This Book

Some years ago I picked up a novel by Colleen McCullock entitled ‘The Thorn Birds.’ Shortly after I read ‘Kane and Able,’ by Jeffery Archer. Although many years later it was these two novels that inspired me to write ‘Right Hand Up To God.’ In the ‘Thorn Birds’ it was the domination by the Roman Catholic Church over the lives of its characters, and in ‘Kane and Able’ it was the way in which two complete strangers can influence the destiny of each other without ever meeting face to face. Now all I needed was a theme. I had grown up with nightly reports from Northern Ireland of the futility of the I.R.A. and its struggle against the British government and its population. In ‘Right Hand Up To God.’ I have brought these three not insignificant themes together in this epic tale of abuse, religious bigotry, compassion, romance, and love.

Praise and Reviews

Related Links

• Callum's blog
• Callum's Facebook
• MJC Website