'The Years' is a 'faction' novel - some would even call it the 'non-fiction novel' (see Wikipedia). The first chapter outlines, in graphic detail, the facts of Bloody Sunday on January 30th 1972 when fourteen men - many of them teenagers - were shot dead and twenty seven injured by British paratroopers. The rest of the story is part fiction, with fictitious characters but as impeccably researched as a history book. Told in the forceful language of Derry's streets, The Years is a roller coaster ride down forty years of the town's history. Francie, released from jail after a long sentence, is trying to come to terms with the changes peace has brought, as well as dealing with what he did and didn't do on Bloody Sunday.
Meanwhile, the unnamed paratrooper who killed a man on Bloody Sunday, is having to return to the nightmare he left behind decades earlier.