After decades of violence, hostility and silence, the IRA and the British and Irish governments have met and negotiated, and there is a chance of peace in Northern Ireland. But very little is known about the background to the ceasefire, or of the roles and personalities of the individuals who made it possible. In this work, Eamonn Mallie considers the birth of peace in Northern Ireland, a story which involves Presidents, Prime Ministers, secret services and terrorists, and which may - at last - end in permanent peace.