Portobello Notebook - Softcover

"Very evocative of place. . . They read, unsurprisingly given the book's title, like sketches or portraits, the line between fiction and nonfiction further blurred by the frequent use of unnamed narrators and scratchboard illustrations." -- Publishers Weekly "Publishers Weekly"

This collection of stories is set in Portobello, on the edge of Dublin city centre, just inside the canal. The stories reflect on characters on the edge of life, personalities that do not quite fit in: Michael, the country boy who drowns himself; Harry, the old Jewish dealer living alone; Liam, the crude but jovial emigrant returning to Ireland for a visit. Through the author's eyes, and through the eyes of his other characters, we follow his progress from the first story, 'Settling In', to the final one, 'Mr Pock'. Old friends are met, in loss or renewal, making or trying to make fresh starts, or looking back though the glass of time. Disappointment, happiness, uncertainty lead to the realization that this place has become - what the author had always thought was elsewhere - his home. Written over the past thirty years, these earnest and deeply human anecdotes form a greater story - of one man's life in one place.