Rathlin Island As I Knew It

Rathlin Island is situated off the northern coast of County Antrim. It is a civil parish. The author's husband, Robert Gage was the landlord and Church of Ireland rector of the island. The book was written in 1851; four copies were illustrated, handwritten and leatherbound by Mrs. Gage.

“The Stranded Tribe” is the neglected story of the Ulster Unionists who were compelled to become part of the new Catholic and Gaelic Irish Free State in 1922. It follows the lives of the Presbyterian working-class Vance family, especially the two sons, William and Jamie, in the turbulent period of Irish history between 1895 and 1923. They live and work in East Donegal where one becomes involved with a local Ulster Volunteer unit and the other becomes a local railway official. In 1914 William Vance responds to the Empire’s call to fight Germany and joins the Ulster Division. As a member of the 11th Inniskilling Fusiliers, he takes part in the unbelievable slaughter of the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Later, his brother joins the same regiment and is badly wounded during the Battle of Messines. Following a long recovery he takes on security work on the Donegal Railways and plays a significant part in trying to forestall guerrilla attacks by the IRA on its services. The brother of Jamie’s Catholic girlfriend is an IRA leader in Donegal. In the Civil War he is on the Anti-Treaty side and both he and Jamie are drawn into the conflict in West Fermanagh where the IRA invades Northern Ireland’s territory in an attempt to destabilise the six-county statelet. The Loyalists in the three mainly Nationalist and Catholic Ulster counties not included in the new Northern Ireland have most of their links with the UK broken and some of them suffer persecution. Death threats against Jamie Vance and his family force him to take a temporary job in Scotland. Here, he finds himself struggling against a desperate, high-level assassination plot which threatens to destroy the shaky relationship between Britain and the new Irish Free State which is struggling to rout the Irregular forces in Ireland. The book outlines the brutal struggle between the two conceptions of Ireland – the nationalist Catholic and Gaelic one and the unionist pro-British and monarchical one. But it also takes some of the simplicity out of this division by showing the many variations on both sides. The great majority of the incidents in the book are based upon real events gleaned from books and newspapers of the period. Research for the book took five years as well as significant time in the area itself. “The Stranded Tribe” is not only about the drawing of a new boundary in Ireland between mainly Protestant and Catholic states. It is also about political, religious and community responses to a world facing unprecedented social and technological change.

Islands represent adventure, mystery, wilderness and escapism. Surrounded by water, they're somewhere to run away to, to be marooned on, to find a paradise... The British Isles includes some 194 inhabited islands (out of a total of over 6,000), ranging from remote lost worlds to famous and popular holiday spots. And Treasured Islands includes them all, in one enticing package. This wonderfully comprehensive and inspiring guide starts off with a Best of... section, highlighting the ten best islands for foodies, wildlife, adrenaline-junkies and pure escapism. Then, region by region, the author explores the UK's most wonderful islands, including: Shetlands, Fair Isle, Orkneys, Outer Hebrides, Inner Hebrides, Isle of Arran Lindisfarne, Isle of Man, Walney Island Anglesey, Pembrokeshire Island Foulness and Canvey Islands Isle of Sheppey, Lundy Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands, Islands of Ireland Tidal Islands (to include Burgh Island, Holy Island and St Michael's Mount) Inland Islands (to include Eel Pie, Derwent Isle and Peel Island in the Lake District) Remote Islands Illustrated with beautiful colour photography, the text ensures you won't miss out on must-see attractions, wildlife and natural features, local food specialties, sporting activities, best places to stay and eat, and all-important transport links to and from the mainland, and other nearby islands. For some light relief, there are interesting historical and cultural anecdotes woven through, giving a fascinating insight into the way of life on these sometimes remote settlements.

In Repeat This and You’re Dead, celebrated dramatist Lawrence Russell ventures for the first time into fiction. With gritty and unforgiving realism, these "short short stories" cast a harsh eye on the Ireland of the last half of this century, a country brutally divided while fiercely loyal to an ambiguous past and an even more turbulent future. With Russell’s characteristic black humour and gleeful sarcasm, the characters act out their fated lives on the public stage, stories narrated as repeated gossip, told with the casual nonchalance of a wanderer passing from room to room at a party to which he has not been invited. Russell’s unflinching mastery of irony refuses to allow his voice to slip into sentimentality or charitable fondness. These are the stories of untamed bullies, hapless farmers, unsteady veterans, greedy nephews, stuffy uncles, grubby urchins, haunted scavengers, ruthless money grubbers, clumsy terrorists, disenchanted lovers, desperate mothers, estranged sons and exiled eccentrics of every stripe–tales of the outcast and outraged. Russell’s style recalls the influences of Irish forefathers–the precision of Joyce, the absurdity of Beckett, and the mysticism of Yeats. Russell’s Ireland is not only fist fights and fanaticism, it is also the unimagined peace which occasionally resides in the hearts of the hopeful.

" Whether called "the good people," "the little people," or simply "them," fairies are familiar from their appearances in Shakespeare's plays, Disney's films, and points in between. In many cultures, however, fairies are not just the stuff of distant legend or literature: they are real creatures with supernatural powers. The Good People presents nineteen essays that focus on the actual fairies of folklore -- fairies of past and living traditions who affected, and still affect, people's lives in myriad ways.