These short stories are set primarily in the farmland of County Antrim in Northern Ireland during the author’s youth in the nineteen forties and fifties, though there are related stories set in the U.S. and Canada. County Antrim has strong residual connections to Scotland that are reflected in the manner of speech and in the social values that the author experienced during his youth - hard work, religious belief and valuing family connections. Long before television entered the home, family and neighborhood get-togethers were common, often around a hearth-fire, especially in winter. An exchange of comment kept everyone abreast of happenings in the area though that often tripped into friendly gossip, especially of those whose life’s escapades set them apart from the accepted norm. The very human lives of these wholesome people, their sorrow, happiness, humor and futility are picturesquely captured in the author’s sensitive, homespun stories.

Modern Irish and Scottish Literature: Connections, Contrasts, Celticisms explores the ways Irish and Scottish literatures have influenced each other from the 1760s onwards. Although an early form of Celticism disappeared with the demise of the Celtic Revivals of Ireland and Scotland, the 'Celtic world' and the 'Celtic temperament' remained key themes in central texts of Irish and Scottish literature well into the twentieth century. Richard Barlow examines the emergence, development, and transformation of Celticism within Irish and Scottish writing and identifies key connections between modern Irish and Scottish authors and texts. By reading works from figures such as James Macpherson, Walter Scott, Sydney Owenson, Augusta Gregory, W. B. Yeats, Fiona Macleod, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean, and Seamus Heaney in their political and cultural contexts, Barlow provides a new account of the characteristics and phases of literary Celticism within Romanticism, Modernism, and beyond.

The Irish novel has had a distinguished history. It spans such diverse authors as James Joyce, George Moore, Maria Edgeworth, Bram Stoker, Flann O'Brien, Samuel Beckett, Lady Morgan, John Banville, and others. Yet it has until now received less critical attention than Irish poetry and drama. This volume covers three hundred years of Irish achievement in fiction, with essays on key genres, themes, and authors. It provides critiques of individual works, accounts of important novelists, and histories of sub-genres and allied narrative forms, establishing significant social and political contexts for dozens of novels. The varied perspectives and emphases by more than a dozen critics and literary historians ensure that the Irish novel receives due tribute for its colour, variety and linguistic verve. Each chapter features recommended further reading. This is the perfect overview for students of the Irish novel from the romances of the seventeenth century to the present day.

This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Table of contents: Sherlock Holmes A Study in Scarlet The Sign of Four The Hound of the Baskervilles The Valley of Fear The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Return of Sherlock Holmes His Last Bow The Field Bazaar How Watson Learned the Trick Professor Challenger The Lost World The Poison Belt When the World Screamed Brigadier Gerard The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard The Crime of the Brigadier The Adventures of Gerard Novels Micah Clarke The White Company The Great Shadow The Refugees Rodney Stone Uncle Bernac Sir Nigel Mystery of Cloomber The Firm of Girdlestone The Doings of Raffles Haw Beyond The City The Parasite The Stark Munro Letters The Tragedy of the Korosko A Duet Short Story Collections Mysteries and Adventures The Captain of the Pole-Star, and Other Tales Round the Red Lamp Stories of War and Sport Round the Fire Stories The Last Galley: Impressions and Tales Danger and Other Stories Tales of Pirates and Blue Water Other Stories Poetry Songs of Action Songs of the Road The Guards Came Through, and Other Poems Plays Sherlock Holmes The Crown Diamond Jane Annie Waterloo A Pot of Caviare The Speckled Band The Journey Spiritualism The New Revelation The Vital Message The Wanderings of a Spiritualist The Coming of the Fairies Stranger Than Fiction Fairies Photographed The Uncharted Coast Historical Works The Great Boer War The War in South Africa The Crime of the Congo The German War A Visit to Three Fronts A History of the Great War A Glimpse of the Army The Duello in France True Crime Stories Personal Memoirs Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British writer best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.