ISLANDS OF THE EVENING (PB)

Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints brought the Word of God to Scotland’s Hebrides and Atlantic shore. From the barren Garvellachs and the ‘great garden’ of Lismore to the haunting calm of Iona and the grandeur of Applecross, Alistair Moffat travels by foot, boat and ferry in search of these elusive men. Columba was the most famous of these pioneers who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten. Reflecting on their lives and the world they inhabited, he finds their traces not so much in tangible remains as in the spirit and memory of places.