Sean, By chance, at a neighbour's house, I read the review of your book in the Irish Times on July 9th 2022. I rushed to my local bookshop in Dundalk to order a copy...only to discover that they had a copy (3 days before publication date), which they sold to me. I read it over that weekend. Although our queer experiences are very different and I am forty years older than you, a lot of your narrative resonated with me, some of it in an inverse way. Like you, I did grow up in a small town...but in a Protestant coastal community in Northern Ireland. My family were not religious and fairly liberal in attitude. Nevertheless your descriptions of how the culture and subliminal messages around me caused me to grow up with a hidden identity were spot on. This culminated in episodes of depression when I was 26/27. Nothing made sense and the mental pain became unbearable. I did not want to kill myself but I could see no other way to stop the pain. I refused to take sny medication and eventually, using meditation and walking, I managed to rescue myself. The subsequent 45 years has been a roller-coaster adventure trying to discover who I really am. My partner and I have been together for 26years. He is 25 years younger than me. Anyhow, I loved your memoirs and they have given me greater insight into my past and myself. In spite of our age difference (or perhaps because of it) I would love to meet with you sometime for a chat over coffee. You might find me boring though I hope not. If ever you are passing through or past Dundalk, try to contact. Alternatively, as I have free pensioners travel, I could meet you at a destination of your choice. My name is Neill.
Sean, By chance, at a neighbour's house, I read the review of your book in the Irish Times on July 9th 2022. I rushed to my local bookshop in Dundalk to order a copy...only to discover that they had a copy (3 days before publication date), which they sold to me. I read it over that weekend. Although our queer experiences are very different and I am forty years older than you, a lot of your narrative resonated with me, some of it in an inverse way. Like you, I did grow up in a small town...but in a Protestant coastal community in Northern Ireland. My family were not religious and fairly liberal in attitude. Nevertheless your descriptions of how the culture and subliminal messages around me caused me to grow up with a hidden identity were spot on. This culminated in episodes of depression when I was 26/27. Nothing made sense and the mental pain became unbearable. I did not want to kill myself but I could see no other way to stop the pain. I refused to take sny medication and eventually, using meditation and walking, I managed to rescue myself. The subsequent 45 years has been a roller-coaster adventure trying to discover who I really am. My partner and I have been together for 26years. He is 25 years younger than me. Anyhow, I loved your memoirs and they have given me greater insight into my past and myself. In spite of our age difference (or perhaps because of it) I would love to meet with you sometime for a chat over coffee. You might find me boring though I hope not. If ever you are passing through or past Dundalk, try to contact. Alternatively, as I have free pensioners travel, I could meet you at a destination of your choice.
My name is Neill.