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The Fantastical Feats of Finn McCoul

by Norah Montgomerie and Julian Brooks

ISBN: 9781841588179
Imprint: Birlinn
Publication Date: Apr 2009
Format: Hardback
Price: £12.99
Stock Status: in stock

This collection of mystical folk tales about the Celtic hero Finn MacCoul is a magical and bloodthirsty compendium full of humour, love and heroism. The legend of Finn exists in several cultures, but most notably in Scotland and Ireland, where he and the Fian, his band of loyal followers, are still important cultural figures. Many place names that grace the Celtic lands have their basis in these tales.  Kyle Rhea, for example, between the Isle of Skye and the mainland is so called because of the terrible fate that befell one of the Fian while trying to save his wife…

These warriors valued honour above all else.  Justice was dispensed decisively to evil-doers and members of the Fian alike.  Finn’s was a life of constant risk combined with a simple belief in the power of good over evil.

This fabulous and evoking collection of heroic tales conjures a time and place where giants and magic were commonplace and danger was everywhere, giving us a stirring insight into a time where men risked their lives in pursuit of something more than mere wealth.

Norah Montgomerie was born in London but spent most of her life in Scotland with her husband William Montgomerie, the Scottish poet. Together they collected and published many collections of nursery rhymes and Scottish folk tales and independently she was well known for her compilations of children’s stories (To Read and to Tell, More Stories to Read and to Tell).  Her interest in Finn MacCoul spanned many years and she was disappointed that it never found a wider audience in her lifetime.  She died in 1998.

Julian Brooks is Norah’s grandson.  He is a film-maker and photographer from Tackley in Oxfordshire.  Trained as a wildlife cameraman he now works mainly in the field of arts and commercial video as well as high-speed photography. He and his wife Ingunn Haugen from Hornindal in Norway have reassembled this collection of tales from a box of Norah’s original manuscripts.

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