Seasons on Harris
A Year in Scotland's Outer Hebrides
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Publisher Description
The Outer Hebrides of Scotland epitomize the evocative beauty and remoteness of island life. The most dramatic of all the Hebrides is Harris, a tiny island formed from the oldest rocks on earth, a breathtaking landscape of soaring mountains, wild lunarlike moors, and vast Caribbean-hued beaches. This is where local crofters weave the legendary Harris Tweed—a hardy cloth reflecting the strength, durability, and integrity of the life there.
In Seasons on Harris, David Yeadon, "one of our best travel writers" (The Bloomsbury Review), captures, through elegant words and line drawings, life on Harris—the people, their folkways and humor, and their centuries-old Norse and Celtic traditions of crofting and fishing. Here Gaelic is still spoken in its purest form, music and poetry ceilidh evenings flourish in the local pubs, and Sabbath Sundays are observed with Calvinistic strictness. Yeadon's book makes us care deeply about these proud islanders, their folklore, their history, their challenges, and the imperiled future of their traditional island life and beloved tweed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Employing a similar formula to that of his last book, Seasons in Basilicata, Yeadon recounts the year 2004, arranged by season he spent with his wife, Anne, on Harris, a small island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland famous for its remote beauty and home-loomed tweed. With a weave of islanders' loquacious stories and rural gossip into an overview of Hebridean history and the couple's own adventures exploring the area, this memoir is perfect for anyone considering a trip to the Outer Hebrides or tracing their ancestors back to its craggy coasts. Fans of the famous Harris Tweed will also find lots of tidbits about the history and current state of this ancient textile and the craft that creates it, and anyone interested in age-old customs waning in the world's hinterlands will find the island's contradictions poignant. At times, the book feels like that familiar traveler's sensation of having arrived home to find that the panoramic snapshot excitedly clicked in an exuberant moment of discovery is just a bit too small or personal. Yet, Yeadon hits high notes recounting history-laden conversations with locals who all have the Gaelic gift of gab, creating an altogether enjoyable read full of unique and likable people.
