Leighlin Road: A Memoir

This memoir recounts the author's childhood and early adulthood in the Crumlin housing estate in Dublin, including stories of abuse, death, and loss. It also reflects the author's experience of emigration to England.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 28 July 2022
Publisher: Troubador Publishing

This memoir chronicles the first twenty-one years of my life, growing up and coming of age in the working-class Dublin Corporation housing estate of Crumlin. While the book is filled with humorous anecdotes, it also explores darker themes such as abuse, death, and loss. The chapters unfold from my unlikely birth, as the youngest of fifteen children, to my experiences in Crumlin, the tragic death of my brother Paddy in a London road accident, and the abuse I endured at the hands of a Christian Brother at school.

From my early days as a young boy priest in Blackrock College to my apprenticeship as a projectionist in the Kenilworth Cinema and my brief stint as a clapper/loader in Ardmore Studios, the story continues to unfold. It encompasses my difficult teenage years, marked by alienation from my father, who passed away at the age of seventy, just a month before my 21st birthday and a few months before I married my pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend. This pivotal moment marked the end of my life in 147, Leighlin Road and the beginning of a new chapter as a married man and father-to-be.

This book holds particular appeal to anyone with a Dublin/Irish heritage who will resonate with my journey. It reflects the realities of emigration, particularly to England, which was a common aspect of Irish life during my time. I am an experienced storyteller, and now, with this memoir, I am finally sharing the story of the years that shaped the man I am today.

Weight: 354g
Dimension: 155 x 235 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781803132815