Derek: Dublin’s Gentle Giant

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‘I am sending this card early in case of a postal strike’

For more than sixty years, Helen and the rest of her family receive their birthday cards from Derek exactly two weeks early without fail. This is just one of Derek’s many quirks which make him the unique, loveable and lively character known to people throughout Dublin. Yet life is not always easy for Derek. His sister, Helen, recounts the challenges he faces while growing up in the post-war 1950s and 1960s, when Asperger’s Syndrome went entirely undiagnosed. While Derek always maintains that he is ‘grand’ and is eager to live independently in the big city, Helen is constantly aware of the realities of life and forms a close bond of support and friendship with her brother.

This frank and honest memoir of a rather different life is filled with detail that is both touching and humorous and entirely compelling. Find out why every meal with Derek is punctuated by at least one alarm clock; learn about the secret password to get past a goose without getting your heels pecked; and read about what happens when one year Derek’s birthday card to Helen is ‘late’.