Walking With Ghosts

'Written by a man whose amazing story is the stuff of literature'
- Edna O'Brien

'Make no mistake about it: this is a masterpiece'
– Colum McCann

'Dreamy, lyrical and utterly unvarnished'
– Colm Tóibín

'Beautiful'
- Graham Norton

As a young boy growing up in the outskirts of Dublin, Gabriel Byrne sought refuge in a world of imagination. Born to working-class parents and the eldest of six children, he dreamed of becoming a priest. When he was eleven years old, he crossed the Irish Sea to attend a seminary in England. Four years later, he had been expelled, and quickly returned to his native city. In his visits to the local cinema Byrne found an escape and began to imagine a life beyond the grey world of 60s Ireland.

It was a friend who suggested he join an amateur drama group, a decision that would change his life forever. Here, Byrne shares with us the story of an extraordinary forty-year career in film and theatre, along with a blistering examination of a life of excess and a resulting ambivalence towards fame. An exquisite and heartbreaking portrait of an Irish childhood as well as a remarkable and often hilarious story of a journey to Hollywood and Broadway fame, Walking With Ghosts is ultimately a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that shape our destinies.

About the Author

Gabriel Byrne was born in Dublin and has starred in over eighty films for some of the cinema’s leading directors. He won a Golden Globe for his performance on HBO’s In Treatment. On Broadway he won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and has been nominated twice for the Tony Award. He lives in Manhattan and Maine. Walking With Ghosts is his memoir.