Dublin in reverse
CHRISTINE DWYER HICKEY really knows her Dublin. She knows its ways. It seems embedded in her soul. She wrote about it in her trilogy; it was the backdrop for her best-selling novel of childhood, Tatty. It featured in the larger scale Last Train from Liguria, and it plays such a vital role in her new novel that it’s almost a character in itself.
It’s January 2010. Clothed in snow, Dublin is at a standstill. Farley lies in his bathroom, drifting in and out of consciousness. He’s clearly had a stroke, and is near death. His mind wanders. He thinks of his feckless father; and remembers how his Da hated his job; hated his life except, of course, for fly-fishing. Farley begged to join him, but he’d head off alone and be gone, sometimes for the whole weekend.
