Jennifer Barclay Books
(and more)
Michael Pugh
Michael Pugh is a lawyer, academic and founder of the Llangwm Literary Festival. He was a keen observer of life in the former Soviet Union since his first visit to Moscow as a student in 1992 and has written about Ukraine for the Sunday Times and the Royal Geographical Society. He spent six years at a partner for Hogan Lovells in Moscow before leaving in 2014 by horse.
He rode west through wildflower meadows to monasteries and historic battle sites. Joined by Dog Friday, he rode into wilderness dotted with forgotten aristocratic estates. In Belarus he experienced fire and song at the midsummer festival of Kupala, and explored the vanished lives of Poles and Jews. In Ukraine, he found a welcoming people, fiercely proud to defend their beautiful country. Throughout, his journey was lifted by the antics of horses and stable girls, the kindness of the strangers and friends and by the great quantities of delicious food and fiery moonshine.
RIDING THROUGH WAR AND PEACE – to be published by Quiller in summer 2026.