Whispering Oats: Island Voices of Colonsay and Oransay

This richly illustrated study of two of Argyllshire’s smallest inhabited islands charts the changing life and fortunes of these remote communities through oral sources recorded over a period of nearly sixty years. In tandem with earlier sources, published and unpublished, the oral histories, in both English and Gaelic, reveal the dramatic social, economic and cultural changes that have shaped these islands since the 19th century. The recollections of islanders and the detailed accounts of visitors unfold with filmic vividness to present the parallel lives and contrasting experiences of life in the ‘big house’, work on the home farm, the crofting townships and tenanted farms, the fishing community and the homes of landless cottars; from times of plenty to times of emigration and depopulation; when Gaelic was the native tongue of the majority and entertainment was derived from song-making, music, story-telling and practical jokes; when second sight and premonitions were an accepted part of life and death, and neighbours never knocked on doors. This book will appeal to anyone interested in island life and in the history of Scotland’s western seaboard.The spoken word, supported by a variety of written evidence and the author’s own commentary, is accompanied by stunning visual material gathered from private and public collections, much of which is published here for the first time. In Whispering Oats, voices, long silent, now share their unique personal and collective histories of these fascinating islands on Scotland’s Atlantic edge.