It includes reflections on flying boats and on the artist William Scott, an American memoir, considerations of the ‘Pound Era’ and of Cyril Connolly, thoughts about advertising and the nature of contemporary society, and praise of the ‘alternative’ character of County Cork, where the author lived.

Derek Mahon died at home in Kinsale, County Cork, on 2 October 2020.

'The poet Derek Mahon writes delightful prose, and in Red Sails he considers topics ranging from seaplanes, through Ezra Pound and Cyril Connolly, to his own days as an advertising copywriter.'  John Banville, Books of the Year