Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds Book

Delightful. I highly recommend this audiobook narrated by Donal Donnelly if you want immersion into the most Irish of Ireland, the Aran Islands. The three islands (Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Óirr) are located in Galway Bay. This is a book relating the author's experiences, a famed playwright, who visited the island several times 1898-1901 on the suggestion of Yeats. These visits are the bedrock for his plays. The narrator's brogue is fantastic and further enhances ones experience. Listen to it, don't read it.

You get fables, depiction of the food, clothing, occupations and the islanders' simple "manner of being". You learn about kelp burning, thatching, rope making, farming, fishing, the festivals and the fairies.

What makes this book is HOW it is written - the language used, the brogue, and the simple, straight-forward speech of the islanders. The stories are simple and many you will recognize (Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Goose that Lays Golden Eggs and more), although clothed in the islands' mantle. There is subtle humor. You will feel as though you are yourself sitting in front of a hearth hearing the stories, engulfed by fog and tangy salt smells. A delightful reading experience.

I never felt the author looked down on these islanders, as some other readers have noted.