Leaning on Gates

Author: O'Rourke, Seamus

Ireland

Published on 6 September 2024 by Gill (Gill Books) in Ireland.

Paperback / softback | 336 pages
152 x 235 x 27 | 412g

In the sequel to Seamus O’Rourke’s popular first memoir, Standing in Gaps, this innocent Leitrim lad finally flees the nest, briefly sampling life in New York, Dublin and London – before inevitably returning to his beloved, duller than dishwater existence at home – a life which now includes alcohol, Doctor Hook and some low-budget romance.

But man does not live on romance alone and Seamus needs to get to the bottom of his general uselessness, spurred on as always by his ever-the-realist father, who prophesised his mediocrity from an early age. Seamus continues to underachieve whilst struggling to interpret his auld lad’s advice and watered-down compliments – ’You weren’t as bad as I often saw ya’, ’They must be badly stuck, if they asked you’, and the classic ’What kind of an eejit are ya?’ – all while capturing the innocence and the absurdity of rural life in 1980s and 1990s Ireland.

As always, O’Rourke finds diamond-tipped-needles in bales of really bad hay, providing more laughter and stories of mayhem for fans.

‘A gifted actor, writer and storyteller produces a memoir that is simply – gifted’ Joe Duffy