FRAGMENTED
Pete McHugh's debut novel
The Hogans enjoyed an idyllic childhood, full of adventure and excitement, as their father moved between United Nations peacekeeping missions across the Middle East. Now in their thirties, and back working in the region, the brothers’ lives are falling apart.
​
After dropping out, Joey finds a new lease of life as a war correspondent in Lebanon, but tragedy is never far behind.
Sam’s now a world-famous photojournalist, but he’s giving it all up to deal with his PTSD.
Christy is happy working for UNWRA, helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza; however, his marriage is in trouble and his wife has turned to the bottle.
​
Spanning twelve tumultuous years from 1984, Fragmented is a multi-layered family saga - set against the backdrop of the Lebanese civil war and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict - that provides historical accuracy and cultural insights within a poignant human story. It portrays in searing detail the trauma of everyday life in warzones, and the collateral damage to relationships and mental health caused by the often-used escapes of drugs and alcohol.
​
The novel unveils the harsh reality of a debilitating illness like schizophrenia, and the loss of personal freedom that comes with a medicated life. ​Above all Fragmented is permeated by the quest for a purpose in life, the disappointments we encounter along the way and the struggles to retain control over our destiny.
​
​
Fragmented LANDS. Fragmented POPULATIONS.
Fragmented RELATIONSHIPS. Fragmented MINDS.
Fragmented is available on Amazon, paperback and Kindle ebook formats
Fragmented LAUNCH Press Release
"I have finished Fragmented. What an achievement Pete! It's absolutely brilliant. I couldn't put it down"
Adelaide, a UN mother of 8 children
Links to Press Coverage
Mail on Sunday
Download Sample Chapters
Click to download extracts from Fragmented to get a flavour of the writing and the story
A Daytrip to Gaza 1991
Joey visits Christy's workplace at UNWRA in Gaza, and sees first hand the reality of life for Palestinian refugees in 1991. They tour the Jabalia Camp, where the discontent with Israeli oppression is clearly apparent.
Joey arrives in Lebanon 1984
Joey starts a new job as a war correspondent in Lebanon, where his brother Sam has become a renowned photojournalist. On Joey's first day, he wanders around Beirut, a total assault on the senses, amid the constant danger from out-of-control militias.
Joey the Kibbutznik 1993
Upon release from hospital, Joey spends a year on a kibbutz in an attempt to clean up his act. Christy and their Israeli friend Moshe visit and find Joey in exuberent, if manic, form.
About Pete
I was born in Jerusalem and spent my childhood moving around the Middle East, where my father worked as a United Nations peacekeeper. On two separate occasions, we lived in Lebanon where the first part of the novel is set; my father also had numerous postings in Israel where the second part is set.
​
After all that, I went to boarding school in Dubin and graduated from UCD with a Chemical Engineering degree. I then spent over thirty years in the IT industry in a variety of roles. I published my first book, How to Make it Big in Software, in 1999 after which I founded my own business, Covalent Software, which later sold.
​
That allowed me to pursue another of my real passions – food – which culminated in opening the Rialto Bridge Café, just at the start of the pandemic. All the while, I was dabbling with writing a novel, that drew in part on my unusual backstory; they do say “write about what you know!”
Eleven years in gestation, I finished putting finger to keyboard with Fragmented, on 6th October 2023, a day before the atrocities in Gaza flared up. All the ingredients for what happened then, and since, were in evidence in the early ‘90s (when Fragmented plays out) and indeed, for many years before then.
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
​F. Scott Fitzgerald
An important theme in Fragmented is the impact of the past on our current actions, and how formative events in our childhood continue to guide our story in adulthood.
​
And Great Gatsby is my all time favourite book!
Let's Chat
Follow Fragmented ...