Customer Reviews

An Eye on the Hebrides: An Illustrated Journey

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After having a wonderful visit to the Shetland Islands, a friend sent us this book so that we could start preparing for our next journey to that area -- the Outer Hebrides. Now, after reading this book and looking at the wonderful sketches, we want to visit all of the islands. It is so well presented that I seem to hear the people speaking as I read the words. The sketches make one feel all cozy and close to nature.

It must be a rugged area of the world but we know that we want to be part of what ever these people have to offer and what ever the land wishes to show us.

It's a great book to read even if you don't plan a trip -- watch out for you may eventually find yourself on an interesting journey.

In this book, the author sketches her 200 days of traveling all of the Hebrides. Her extensive vocabulary enhances the tales of her journey, but the focus of the book is on the sketches rather than the actual travel adventures. For example, only one page of text describes her ten stormy days on Harris. The reader is traveling with an artist, so we read less about tourist destinations and more about the weather, the scenery, and the treck to get to the next hilltop - in order to sketch, of course. Whatever detail the descriptions of the journey are lacking are more than recovered in the sketches. Most are in black and white, with the occasional breathtaking color scene. This is a beautiful book, but it shouldn't be mistaken for a planning guide, or even a travel log. Instead it is a restful read, a pleasant escape into island scenery.