North Tipp author Brendan Lynch launches new book at historic venue

Toomevara author and former Tipp county cyclist Brendan Lynch has published a new book, Princess of the Orient. A Romantic Odyssey.

The launch took place in what was once Dublin’s most famous bookshop, Parsons on Baggot Street Bridge. Now an FBD insurance office, its customers included Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, Maeve Binchy, Flann O’Brien, Seamus Heaney and author John Ryan, son of South Tipperary senator, Seamus Ryan.

Brendan Lynch said ‘I was a regular visitor myself and I subsequently wrote a book on the shop. I am not sure, though, what proprietor May O’Flaherty would think of my new title, which is a little on the risqué side!’

Princess of the Orient tells the story of a Dublin writer whose mother has just died, whose girlfriend has left him and whose work has dried up. He flees to renew himself in the kinder climate of Thailand and Philippines, where romantic encounters and stimulating new friends restore his joie de vivre. Not only does he complete his work and start another, he also improbably meets the girl of his dreams.

James Joyce biographer Peter Costello, who launched the new book, said ‘Princess is, like all Brendan’s works, drawn from experience. But whereas his earlier books drew on the past, this one is very much of the moment. It presents cities, indeed countries, of today. It is a remarkable book which reflects the extraordinary multicultural place Ireland has become, it ought to be widely read.’

Brendan Lynch has written eight books, three of them on literary and Bohemian Dublin. He grew up in Toomevara, where his father was a Garda Sergeant. Moving to Dublin, he met many of its 1950s writers, including Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh. He lived for four years in Asia, where he met his wife, Margie. Copies of his book may be obtained from Mountjoy Publishing, 5 Mid Mountjoy St, Dublin 7.