A little boy goes to the zoo for the very first time. He gets to see a pride of lions, a crocodile, and even a giraffe (up close and personal). As the years pass, and he grows into manhood, he begins to learn the Meaning of Life - at least as much meaning as he can glean from the experiences happening to and around him. He learns the meaning of money, and courage, and love. He also learns about integrity, and fear, and the heart-rending abyss that is betrayal. Too early, he makes the acquaintance of death - very nearly his own, if not for the grace of God.
Finally, at the age of 24, he breaks ties with all he knows and understands, and strikes out west, to finally - after a lifetime of longing - arrive on the shores of the USA.
We all - every single person and creature on the planet - have one thing in common. Where we are from. Where we were born. Where we first show up on the planet imprints deeply on us, for better or worse, whether we like it or not, and is ultimately a huge component of how we self-identify amongst the billions of other humans scrambling around the world.
I am from Ireland - born there, grew up there. While the events that imprinted on me are unique to me, and me alone, they are not in any way unusual in the limitless compendium of coming-of-age stories humankind has amassed over the eons. The action in this book takes place between the years 1970 and 1990, as I became an adult, in that culture, at that time.
A time before the hubris and avarice of the "Celtic Tiger", and the Global Financial Crisis, when times were simpler...
