Now an FBD office managed by Rathcoole’s David O’Hanlon, Parsons on Baggot Street, one of Europe’s most famous book shops became a bookshop again for one night, with the launch of Brendan Lynch’s new book, Princess of the Orient. The shop on the crest of Dublin’s Baggot Street canal bridge was once home from home for localwriters, Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh. Other notable customers included SeamusHeaney, Brendan Kennelly, Maeve Binchy, Flann O’Brien and Frank O’Connor. Princess of the Orient, a Romantic Odyssey, is about 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. After many escapades, he also,improbably, meets the girl of his dreams.
Now 81, Brendan Lynch is a former racing cyclist who list a win in Maynooth among his 1950’s successes. He has penned eight books including three on literary and Bohemian Dublin. He knew many of Dublin’s leading writers, including Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh, whose portraits now adorn David O’Hanlon’s FBD window in Baggot Street. For more information contact Margie Lynch by phone on 01 830 2511.
Photo Caption: Left to right, Peter Costello, Brendan and Margie Lynch, David O’Hanlon and Derek Ivory.
