National Network for Equitable Library Service

Climbing Patrick’s Mountain is bestselling author Des Kennedy’s haunting and elegant tale about coming to terms with one’s past. Expatriate Irishman Patrick Gallagher, an accomplished but eccentric breeder of prized roses, returns to Ireland as a celebrity host to lead a tour of Irish gardens, and hopes to attract the eye of a wealthy patron to donate funds to his garden back home. What is planned to be a pleasant and lucrative trip soon becomes a voyage of overcoming a painful history as the protagonist encounters the very reasons he left Ireland in the first place. Just as Patrick begins to reconcile with his demons, time runs out in a poignant conclusion. A vivid coming-of-middle-age story set in today’s Ireland, Climbing Patrick’s Mountain embraces the contradiction of the Irish sensibility: grand humour in the face of ultimate tragedy.