The Story of the Book
The book was begun in St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park in Dublin, within ten days of Michael’s traumatic prostatectomy operation in January, 2007. Writing the book, over the course of his recuperation, helped Michael in his difficult recovery.
Every day, over a six-month period of healing, the work of writing this memoir absorbed him fully. But when it was completed, finding a publisher to take on this project proved more difficult. Throughout the next year, Michael¹s book was rejected by various publishers, but he persisted in sending out the manuscript for consideration because he believed in the quality of what he had written. In November 2008, Steve MacDonogh of Brandon Books sent him an email "I would be very interested in publishing your book" Michael signed the contract for At Five in the Afternoon on Saturday 10 January 2009, exactly two years after his operation for cancer, over a working breakfast with his Literary Agent in Malahide, looking out over a sunny Dublin Bay