Horseman, Pass By! by Michael Deon

These reflective essays about the life and experiences of Michael Deon in the west of Ireland describe the colourful and varied personalities that the French novelist has come across since he and his family moved there in the mid 1970s.

From his friendship with John McGahern and Ulick O’Connor to Tim, the sturdy old postman who prefers his wind-blown country round to retirement in sunny California, Horseman, Pass By! is peopled with fascinating characters and encounters.

Taking its title from Yeats, this work is an affectionate portrait of the Irish and a lament for a fading country that has been changed by new wealth and altered values. Déon’s Horseman, Pass By! is an elegant memoir about a beautiful landscape and its inhabitants and forms a touching and amusing tribute to his adopted country.

‘Horseman, Pass By! is filled with nostalgia, with humour, with colour, with ghosts. It is a declaration of love for Ireland.’ —Le Magazine Litteraire

‘The late Michel Déon’s insights into his adopted country show a great joie de vivre.’ – Eamon Maher, The Irish Times

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michel Deon is a distinguished academician and novelist who lived in Galway from 1976 until his death in 2016. He is best known as author of The Purple Taxi, which became a film in 1977 starring Fred Astaire, Charlotte Rampling and Peter Ustinof, introducing the French public to the glories of Connemara. His memoir, Horseman Pass By!, was originally published by Gallimard in 2005 and is now available for the first time in English. Read more.