More Irishry

DESTINY BAY--Donn Byrne--Little Brown ($2.50).

With true Irish love for the brave gesture, Donn Byrne rode debonairly to his death (TIME, July 2). Half the world still mourns the creator of magical prose (Messer Marco Polo, Blind Raftery) and the other half, the conjuror of sentimental melodrama (Hangman's House, Crusade).

A little legacy to each he leaves in this last volume. Destiny Bay is the bonniest corner of Ireland, where the purplest heather grows, the gamest trout swim, the swiftest horses race, the most picturesque of gypsies roam, and the finest gentlefolk rule. Head of the ruling family is Sir Valentine, red-bearded from eye to waist, soft of heart, sharp of eye, with a ready curse for any emergency. For the sake of a dying gypsy-queen he defied a time-honored rule of the Derby. He also bullied a Catholic priest into burying a Chinese--his brother's--woman. He also adopted a Spanish lady and married his exquisite sister to a gypsyman--and all to the pleasant rhythm of horse-racing, yarn-spinning, and the distant crash of waves.