Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh and Her Sons by Alan Hawe - Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2025, An Post Irish Book Awards
About this ebook
'Vital' Sunday Independent
'Compelling' Irish Times
'Riveting' Irish Independent
'Chilling' Irish Mail on Sunday
'Every woman in Ireland needs to read Deadly Silence' The Sunday Times
The heart-breaking account of a search for the truth behind the brutal killings that shocked a nation.
Jacqueline Connolly's world was shattered when she learned that her sister Clodagh and three young nephews - Liam, Niall and Ryan - had been killed by Alan Hawe in August 2016. Thus began a heart-breaking journey to piece together the circumstances leading up to these tragic events.
Here she tells that story, revealing the coercive control and manipulation that shaped her sister's final years, the profound failures in the initial garda investigation, and the shocking findings from the Garda Serious Crime Review, which starkly exposed the terrible darkness of a cold-blooded murder-suicide planned for a year in advance.
Deadly Silence is a powerful account that challenges our understanding of domestic violence and family annihilators, a testament to sisterly love, and a deeply inspiring personal journey of healing from severe trauma and loss.
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About the author
Jacqueline Connolly was born in rural Ireland and raised as one of three children. She works as a Senior HR Professional. She holds a master's degree in Human Resources Management and, inspired by her own experiences, has conducted valuable research into vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and burnout for Irish healthcare workers.
She is an advocate for counselling, healing and refusing to let catastrophe and adversity define us as people. As a result of her devastating loss, she is also passionate about raising awareness of domestic violence and the insidious nature of coercive control and other forms of domestic abuse.
She lives with her son in Cavan.
