Woman in the Making - A Memoir

Hachette Books, Ireland, 2014. Good secondhand condition.

1968. In a small town in the west of Ireland, a beautiful baby boy is born. He enjoys an idyllic country childhood: privileged, carefree, surrounded by love - and pet sheep. Eleven years later, the Pope visits Ireland, and things will never be the same again. At the Pontiff's mass in Knock, the little boy has an epiphany that will set him on the road to become the biggest, boldest, and most opinionated drag queen Ireland has ever known. This is the story of Rory O'Neill's journey from the fields of a once homophobic, homogeneous Ireland, through Tokyo's chaotic underbelly and Dublin's burgeoning drag world, to becoming Panti Bliss, the voice of a brave new post-Catholic nation embracing diversity, all the colours of the rainbow and, most of all, a glamorous attitude. It's also the story of a misfit who turned his difference into a triumphant art form; of personal struggle and coming to terms with HIV; of political passion and activism; of 'Pantigate' and the Abbey speech that touched a million lives; and, importantly, of how to flawlessly apply copious amounts of make up. Welcome to the absolutely fabulous, hilariously funny and ultimately life-affirming world of Panti - adored, fun drunk aunt to the world - and her creator Rory, in their own inimitable words (with a little help from Dolly Parton along the way).