A powerful and moving autobiography from a gifted writer who has been compared to Joyce and Yeats. 'A book of sheer wonder. As an author he competes as an equal with the ablest of them' DAILY EXPRESS Severely disabled by congenital cerebral palsy, Irish poet Nolan was 15 years old when he was acclaimed ""a brilliantly gifted young writer'' in the tradition of Yeats and Joyce...His physical triumphs and defeats are recorded with a striking absence of self-pity. In passages that are lyrically descriptive, there is abundant word coinage and expressive neologisms that capture Nolan's thoughts on sexuality and gratitude for the ambiance that supported him during his year at Trinity College. As Carey, his professor, states in the preface, Nolan's handicap is "a positive factor'' rather than a modifying condition in his impressive achievement.