Welcome to the Islands Book Trust Website

FUTURE EVENTS

MORE RECENT PUBLICATIONS

REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF STORNOWAY AND LEWIS

-Sandy Matheson

Retail price £6

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CROSSING THE MINCH

Exploring the Links between Skye and the Outer Hebrides

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Retail price £9.00

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THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ALEXANDER CARMICHAEL

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Retail price £15.00

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STORNOWAY IN WORLD WAR TWO

- Mike Hughes

Retail Price £6.

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EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN LEWIS – THE NESS CONNECTION

Retail Price £6

THE SPORTING ESTATES OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES - PAST AND PRESENT

by David S D

Jones

Retail Price £12.99

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LATEST PUBLICATIONS

CÒCO IS CRÙBAGAN 

Retail Price £15 (includes 2 CDs)

A Hebridean Childhood

An evocative account in Gaelic and English of Flora MacDonald’s idyllic childhood memories of growing up in a remote and long-deserted part of eastern Benbecula in the 1940s and ’50s. Includes a map, photographs and drawings, and two CDs of Flora reading her story in Gaelic. Crofting tasks are described in detail, but we also have lyrical accounts of discoveries that delight a child: “the magic of bubbles sparkled and spangled as they danced and fleeted and floated”. Gaelic speakers, learners and school pupils will find it highly enjoyable and educational. It’s a memorable account in both languages.

Flora has written several books and is a Mod prize-winner for poetry. She lives in North Uist, working with community groups which she has established, and giving talks, demonstrations and workshops on traditional textiles and creative writing in local schools.

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THE VILLAGE NAMES OF LEWIS

by Magne Oftedal

A new edition of the classic work on the island's Old Norse place-name heritage.

Retail price £6.00

It is now over 50 years since Magne Oftedal’s classic article on ‘The Village Names of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides’ was published in Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, Volume 17 (Oslo, 1954). It was an important by-product of research carried out by Oftedal into the Gaelic dialect of the Leurbost district of Lewis (published in 1956), where he lived from 1950 to 1951 This booklet consists of a facsimile copy of the original article, together with the most interesting map which accompanied it. We have added some photographs, concentrating particularly on villages whose names are of Norse origin – at least 99 of the 126 place-names described in the article, as Oftedal notes at the end of the article.

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ICELAND AND THE HEBRIDES – MY ROOTS by Sally Magnusson

Retail Price £5

In this illustrated booklet based on a talk given to the Book Trust, Sally Magnusson the well-known journalist and broadcaster reflects on her own Icelandic and Hebridean heritage and the strong if neglected historic links – in both directions - between Iceland and the Hebrides.  While it is well known that Lewis and other parts of the Hebrides have many place-names which owe their origin to Norse settlers, the possible influence of Celtic story-telling on the Icelandic sagas and new evidence from DNA analysis suggest that the Hebrides may also have had a profound impact on Icelandic culture.

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WHALING AND THE HEBRIDES

Retail Price £12

Whaling played a part in the subsistence economy of the Outer Hebrides for many centuries and has left a strong cultural legacy.  In August 2007, The Islands Book Trust held a three day conference in Tarbert, Harris, entitled ‘Whaling and the Hebrides’, with the aim of exploring both whaling in and around the Hebrides and the experiences of Hebrideans who worked in the whaling industry in the South Atlantic in the 20th century.  Like all our conferences, this event brought together people from different backgrounds – geographically (from Norway and the Faroes as well as various parts of the Hebrides and Scottish mainland), and occupationally (from academic and scientific experts to those with practical experience of whaling in the South Atlantic). The variety worked well, leading to many friendships and new insights into a shared interest.

This volume brings together the various contributions, providing stimulating reading for anyone with an interest in the history of this forgotten industry

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PADRE MAC

A new illustrated and enhanced edition (with a Foreword by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown) of the remarkable autobiography of the late Murdo Ewen MacDonald of Harris – charismatic Church of Scotland Minister in Skye, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and hero of Second World War prisoner of war camp (where he acquired his nickname and took part in the ill-fated initiative later made famous in ‘The Great Escape’ film. As the Prime Minister says, Murdo Ewen was a truly great man – principled, persuasive, humorous – the story of his life and work, from early days in Harris through the adversities of prisoner of war camp to parish ministry and the heights of academia, deserves to be remembered and celebrated.

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ISLAND NOTES
Island Notes - If you missed one of our events we have introduced a series of modestly-priced Island Notes which summarise talks given at Trust events.

You can purchase copies in the Publiations section or if you prefer to order by post a price list and order form

is available here
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