The folklore of the North East provides a rich tapestry for the tales within; from Celtic and Pictish origins meet witches, selkies, smugglers, fairies, monsters, despicable rogues, riddles and heroes. Tragic events, spellbinding characters, humour, romance and clever minds are bound together by two well-established storytellers living and working in the city and shire of Aberdeen. Some of the tales in this collection are based on historical fact while others are embedded in myth and legend. All the stories are set against the backdrop of this lovely and varied landscape. Sheena and Grace have both been inspired in their storytelling and singing by the traveller, raconteur and balladeer, Stanley Robertson.

Paul Hopkins, an authority on early Jacobitism, sets the Massacre of Glencoe in its true context. The book describes the tensions in the Highlands between the Restoration and the End of the Revolution and the influence on the Highlands of national politics. Besides filling a blank in our knowledge of the Highlands in the decade following the Massacre, the book transforms our perspective on lowlands politics by showing that the Inquiry was part of a secret patriotic campaign to break the aristocracy's political stranglehold and increase the Scottish parliament's powers.

In this book the authors present many unpublished place names from Upper Deeside and from counties in the Highlands beyond. These were heard from indigenous folk back to 1941. Names are given with phonetic spellings, so that readers can pronounce them accurately, and in most cases with translations from Gaelic, Norse, Scots or Pictish into English. The book is richly illustrated with photographs of places and informants. Of interest to residents and visitors, it should help preserve for the future an important aspect of local identity and language.