Portobello Notebook

This collection of stories by Adrian Kenny is set in Portobello, on the edge of Dublin city centre, just inside the canal. The stories reflect on characters on the edge of life, personalities that do not quite fit in: Michael, the country boy who drowns himself; Harry, the old Jewish dealer living alone; Liam, the crude but jovial emigrant returning to Ireland for a visit.

Through the author’s eyes, and through the eyes of his other characters, we follow his progress from the first story, ‘Settling In’, to the final one, ‘Mr Pock’. Old friends are met, either in loss or renewal, making or at least trying to make fresh starts, or looking back though the glass of time. Disappointment, happiness, uncertainty lead to the realization that this place has become – what the author had always thought was elsewhere – his home. Written over the past thirty years, these earnest and deeply human anecdotes form a greater story – of one man’s life in one place.