The heart of bohemian Dublin

Parsons Bookshop, by Brendan Lynch, The Liffey Press, €16.95.

The year 1989 saw the end of one of the wondrous sights in the world of publishing.

I am not referring to the demise of Parsons Bookshop on Dublin’s Baggot Street Bridge itself, but to the daily ritual whereby hardened book reps for well-known publishers literally hid in their cars parked along the Grand Canal until they spied Parsons’ famous proprietor, Miss O’Flaherty, making ...