Isles of the West describes a three-month voyage made in the summer of 1996 around the Hebrides. The author's aim was to explore the major issues peculiar to the islands as the century dawns. How does land reform, for example, look from the point of view of the islanders? Does nature conservation actually help the environment? Is the commercial promotion of 'heritage' a blessing or a curse? Interwoven with the beauty of the islands and the seductive feeling of freedom which comes from making long voyages in small boats is the nagging worry that alien forces, both Scottish and European, sentimental and mercenary, are distorting the indigenous society by imposing outside ideas on communities which are valued in part because they are so free of external pressures. Who are these bodies, both public and private, that want to save the islands from the islanders? Ian Mitchell's controversial book examines these conflicts and describes how pleasant it can be to worry about the future while lolling on the sun-drenched deck of a gently moving sailing boat.

Only daughter of Ireland's ruling queen, Isolde has always known that she will take over the rule of the sacred Island of the West when her time comes. Until then she practises her skills as a healer and struggles to hold back her mother, a passionate, headstrong woman under the sway of her champion, Sir Marhaus, who is determined to make war. Attacking Cornwall, Sir Marhaus wounds the king's nephew, Sir Tristan of Lyonesse, so badly that he can only be saved by Isolde, the most noted healer of the isles. And when the King of Cornwall decides to marry Isolde, unaware of the young couple's growing love, the stage is set for the mythic tale of star-crossed lovers that the world knows so well. Like Arthur's queen Guenevere, her friend from their girlhood days on Avalon, Isolde is fated to a lifelong struggle between duty and desire before finding peace. Tristan too relies on his dearest friend at the Round Table, Sir Lancelot of the Lake, as he strives to balance his loyalty to his king against the dictates of his heart. Set in Ireland, Cornwall and Camelot, ISOLDE offers a compelling new version of the familiar legend rich in Celtic magic and mythology, yet firmly grounded in the well-loved Arthurian world. Merlin, Arthur, Guenevere, and all their knights appear once again to delight those who enjoyed Rosalind Miles's previous forays into this enchanted terrain.

One of the greatest travellers in Scotland, Martin Martin was also a native Gaelic speaker. This text offers his narrative of his journey around the Western Isles, and a mine of information on custom, tradition and life. Martin Martin's wrote before the Jacobite rebellions changed the way of life of the Highlander irrevocably. The volume includes the earliest account of St Kilda, first published in 1697 and Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles, account written in 1549 which presents a record of a pastoral visit to islands still coping with the aftermath of the fall of the Lords of the Isles.

Fiona McConville is a child of the Western Isles, living on the Scottish mainland. City life doesn’t suit Fiona and at age ten she is sent back to her beloved isles to live with her grandparents. There she learns more about her mother’s strange ways with the seals and seabirds; hears stories of the selkies, mythological creatures that are half seal and half human; and wonders about her baby brother, Jamie, who disappeared long ago but whom fishermen claim to have seen. Fiona is determined to find Jamie and enlists her cousin Rory to help. When her grandparents are suddenly threatened with eviction, Fiona and Rory go into action. Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry is a magical story of the power of place and family history, interwoven with Scottish folklore. Rosalie K. Fry’s novel, which was the basis for John Sayles’s classic 1994 film The Secret of Roan Inish, is back in print for the first time in decades.

A journey by sea along the western coasts of Ireland and Scotland in search of islands, both real and imagined.