This image is the cover for the book People of the Sea, Canons

People of the Sea, Canons

“Readers will be carried away on successive waves of pleasure [and] irresistible holistic beauty” in this journey to uncover myths of Selchies (Seamus Heaney, from the introduction).

When author David Thomson travelled across the coasts of Scotland and Ireland to seek out the legend of the selchies—mythological creatures who transform from seals into humans—a magical world emerged before him. Thomson was enchanted by tales of men rescued by seals in stormy seas, and others who took seal-women for their wives and had their children suckled by seal-mothers. The People of the Sea is Thomson’s poetic record of his journey into this world, and his encounters with people whose connection to the sea and its fertile lore runs deep.

Winner of the McVitie Prize for his memoir Nairn in Darkness and Light, David Thomson offers “a splendid resurrection of a life that has almost vanished.” Timeless and haunting, The People of the Sea retains its spellbinding charm and brings to life the enchanting stories of these mysterious creatures of Celtic folklore (Daily Telegraph, UK).

“I know of few books which so ably open a window on the Gaelic scene today or which so faithfully reflect the mind, vigour and courtesy of its people…Pounds on the imagination like surf on a reef”—Observer, UK

David Thomson, Seamus Heaney

David Thomson was born in India of Scottish parents in 1914. On returning to England, much of his childhood was spent in the country, in Derbyshire, and at Nairn where his grandparents lived. While still a student at Oxford he took on work as a tutor with an Anglo-Irish family in County Roscommon, where he eventually stayed for almost ten years. Later, he joined the BBC and wrote and produced many distinguished radio programmes, including The Irish Storyteller series and a number of documentaries on animal folklore. He left the BBC in 1970 in order to write full time. He died in 1988.

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