Climbing Patrick's Mountain

Climbing Patrick's Mountain is a tale about coming to terms with one's past. Expatriate Irishman Patrick Gallagher, an accomplished but eccentric breeder of prized roses, returns to Ireland as a celebrity host to lead a tour of Irish gardens, and hopes to attract the eye of a wealthy patron to donate funds to his garden back home. What is planned to be a pleasant and lucrative trip soon becomes a voyage of overcoming a painful history as the protagonist encounters the very reasons he left Ireland in the first place. Just as Patrick begins to reconcile with his demons, time runs out in a poignant conclusion. A vivid coming-of-middle-age story set in today's Ireland, Climbing Patrick's Mountain embraces the contradictory but inseparable twins of the Irish sensibility: grand humour in the face of ultimate tragedy.