Father Allan's Island

Father Allan's Island, by Amy Murray, with a foreword by Padraic Colum is the story of her visit to the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, where she went to collect folk melodies and stayed "from a Lady Day to a St. Michael's." In some ways the volume is reminiscent of The Aran Islands of J. M. Synge, but Miss Murray's journey was more of an adventure and less of an introspection. Her style is a mixture of Elizabethan and Hebridean colloquialisms which at first seems mannered and almost unintelligible, but which grows in vigour and effectiveness as the volume progresses. - The Dial, Volume 71 [1921]


In Father Allan's Island Miss Amy Murray presents with charm and insight the wonder tales, the simple faith, the folk music, and the color of the daily lives of the inhabitants of the tiny isle of Eriskay. The book incorporates some thirty representative folk-songs with music. Padraic Colum, in a foreword, praises especially the author's dramatic style. - Fortnightly Review." Volume 28, Issue 4 [1921]