Award-winning journalist Martina Purdy, political correspondent for BBC Northern Ireland, has just published her first book, entitled Room 21, Stormont Behind Closed Doors.

Martina, who was born in Belfast but raised in Toronto Canada after her family moved there due to the escalating conflict in Northern Ireland in 1971, traces the rise and fall of the Stormont power-sharing Executive, and the personalities (and personality clashes) behind the ill-fated coalition.

Room 21 (where the Executive met) charts the journey of those who went to the chamber ? and exposes the human story behind the peace process. She reveals how the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was united in his constituency with a Stormont minister who had served as a member of the security forces and survived the IRA?s Poppy Day bombing in 1987. The book charts the journey of alleged IRA commander Martin McGuinness and how he performed as the state?s Minister of Education. Room 21 reveals how Nobel Laureate and First Minister David Trimble struggled to survive against the odds ? and ultimately failed to sustain power-sharing after losing the support of the unionist people.

The book not only explores the personalities (and personality clashes) involved in the ill-fated administration, it also examines the forces that crushed it. The book includes the role played by Canadian General John de Chastelain and why three acts of decommissioning was not enough to sustain the first power-sharing Executive in a generation.

Martina gained unparalleled access to the politicians and her book is receiving excellent reviews here in Northern Ireland. It is endorsed on the cover by David McKittrick, Ireland correspondent for the London Independent and author of several acclaimed books on the peace process, including Endgame and The Fight for Peace.

Martina was raised in North York, after coming to Canada, aged 5. Her immediate family still lives in Toronto and she travels back and forth regularly. Martina is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Ryerson School of Journalism and was a Toronto Star and Globe and Mail intern. Her work has also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor and the LA Times.