Patrick is born in 1958, in Tyreelin, close to the border with Northern Ireland. He is a foundling —the result of a ‘slip-up’ on the part of the village priest. His mother, who was working for Father Bernard as a housekeeper before she was raped by him, disappears soon after his birth. Patrick grows up with his foster mother, and at the early age of ten he develops a preference for his step-sister’s dresses and underwear—as well as her lipsticks. Later he joins a group of boys who re-enact IRA battles, using a child suffering from Down’s syndrome as a ‘killer robot’. In his teenage years Patrick takes to glam rock and lashings of mascara. Constantly at loggerheads with the village authorities, he finally decides to leave bigoted Ireland and throw himself headlong into London’s nightlife, where he ends up walking the streets as a male transvestite prostitute...