Beginner’s pluck: Copywriter and translator Patrick Doherty

'Pure Innocent Boy', which started as a short story, is a powerful, poignant account of deep dissociation

Longford-born Patrick Doherty now lives in Seville, Spain, with his wife and daughters.

From a farming background, Patrick adored sport.

“I was a big reader too, until I discovered music,” he says. “And from my early teens until my early 20s, I played the guitar in bands.”

Graduating from college during the recession, Patrick worked as a receptionist at a gym and in a bank.

“Then I moved to Poland and taught English for a year, and then to Seville to teach English.”

Reading again in his 20s, he discovered Kurt Vonnegut.

I was seduced by his writing, and thought, ‘Why not write?’ I started writing novels straight away.

Scrapping the first few when he realised the writing wasn’t good enough, he gained his agent, Brian Langan, with his fifth attempt.

“That was just before covid,” he says.

“I wrote my debut during lockdown.

“I’d had an identity crisis with my writing and wanted to change tack.

“I changed from madcap to simple, writing about a place I knew well.

“The novel started as a short story about this person recovering from a breakdown trying to fit in. It forms the first chapter.”

Patrick’s work has been broadcast on RTÉ Radio One. 

He was shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Awards and the PJ O’Connor Radio Drama Awards.

Who is Patrick Doherty?

Date/ place of birth: 1987/ Longford.

Education: St Mel’s College, Longford; NUI, Galway, English and History; University College Dublin, MA in American Literature.

Home: Seville.

Family: Wife Despina and daughters Lyda, six, and Elianna, three.

The day job: Copywriter and translator for a Spanish marketing company. “I can work from home, and that gives me flexibility.”

In another life: “I’d work in music or film. I’m obsessed with every form of storytelling.”

Favourite writers: Kurt Vonnegut; Jennifer Johnston; Somerset Maugham; Carson McCullough; Joan Didion; Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Second book: “I’m working on two ideas.”

Top tip: “Read as many kinds of writing as possible.”

Website: www.patrick-doherty.net

The debut

Pure Innocent Boy

Dedalus, €14.99

After a breakdown, Tadhg struggles to find acceptance in the world as he gains then loses a job. 

His dad rarely speaks to him, while his brother, with his, apparently, happy married life, gives him little time. Will Tadhg win through?

The verdict: Skilfully written. This is a powerful, poignant account of deep dissociation.