The Madman's Window

The Madman's Window & Other Tales of the Antrim Coast

The Madman's Window is a collection of folk tales that transport the reader to times past when battles, shipwrecks, wolves, ghosts, faeries, shape-shifters and oral storytelling were all part of the everyday lives of native Glens folk. The stories are a mixture of original tales grounded in local legend and of folklore, history, and traditional stories re-imagined. The wonderfully talented Katherine Soutar has created ten hauntingly beautiful black & white illustrations to enhance the magic of these Irish tales.

The Kingdom of Dal Riata (a note from the author)

Isolated from the rest of Ireland until the middle of the 19th Century, the coastline between the port town of Larne north to Rathlin Island, with its magical natural landscapes and long maritime heritage, is exceptionally rich in history and mythology. Known as the Glens of Antrim for generations, 1500 years ago this region was the southern half of the ancient Kingdom of Dal Riata, with the Sea of Moyle linking it to what is now the Inner Hebrides.

For many centuries people have moved back and fore across this narrow stretch of water to trade goods and livestock and find husbands and wives. Songs and stories made the journey across the sea too and with this in mind, I have expanded the scope of this book to include folk tales from a few Hebridean islands.

The only conditions I have set for stories to be included in The Madman's Window is that they must, to my ear at least, sound as if they have their origins on this side of the Sea of Moyle and, perhaps more importantly, that I like telling them!