Unbroken: A gripping true story of faithfulness and deception, and a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human heart
Michael Gallagher and Mary Attenborough on holiday in the English Lake District about 1989Back in Ireland, Mary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher supporting Donegal in the All Ireland Final August 2019Mary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher overlooking the sea at Machaire Rabhartaigh, Gort a' Choirce, County Donegal, Ireland, July 2025 - photo Alan LavenderMary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher on the side of Croagh Patrick, July 2024Mary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher on holiday in Donegal, Ireland in 1990Mary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher at Fáilte Abhaile party in Gort a' Choirce,  Donegal, Ireland in July 2000
Buy Unbroken Love Story from the publishers, Merrion Press

Unbroken: Secrets, Lies and Enduring Love Memoir

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.
Buy Unbroken Love Story

‘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 his 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? A gripping true story of love, faithfulness and deception, Unbroken is a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human heart.

Unbroken - published in Ireland by Merrion Press

Or do a Google search: Unbroken by Mary Attenborough and Michael Gallagher to find a bookseller in your country.

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