Quondam

de John Devoy

Quondam: Travels in a Once World is high octane pure adventure, the likes of which, as Dervla Murphy agrees, would be very hard to replicate in today's technological travel-world and yet it, indirectly and in a subtle way it makes the case that it is still possible to go out with a fresh mindset, ready to be as vulnerable and open as we can be to the vagaries and vicissitudes of a journey. Ted Simon said how, on a long journey, we reach a rarefied place within; an experience that opens new doors and closes-off many old ones. It all too often makes it impossible to return to the 'old life'. The end of it is only the beginning. In a sense, Quondam is just that, a love story to the open road, with its raw adventure, its intimacy and renewal, its landscapes and imagination. It is an invitation to those who can, to go with a new understanding, to those who have long ago been there, to remember fondly and to those who will never, to sit comfortably and enjoy every page.