Goodbye to the Hill has been hailed as an Irish classic and Lee Dunne as one of Ireland's most successful writers. In 1978, it was made into a stage play that had a 26-week run, at a time when 4 weeks was a big deal in Dublin, says Dunne. In this new edition, Dunne adds a preface that tells the quirky story of its overwhelming success.This is a rich novel, narrated by young Paddy Maguire, of his life growing into young adulthood in a Dublin slum of the late 1930s and 40s Ireland. Consider it a Dublin version of The Catcher in the Rye with lustful, lusty, thirsty, hard-working Paddy—a character as memorable as Holden Caulfield or Studs Lonigan—drolly detailing his adventurous adolescence. Goodbye to the Hill tells the story of a young man desperate to escape the confines of poverty and stifling mores, yet is an uplifting story, peppered with picaresque incidents, colourful language, and captures the delightful humour that transcends the hard times of Dublin's inner city life.
