Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121209 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Synopsis
A collection of stories from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany which show their common Celtic heritage in their love of extravagance and poetry, their quick wit and their daring sense of adventure. Here, retold much as they were around Celtic peat fires a hundred years ago, are the enthralling tales of Fair Brown and Trembling, The Brown Bear of the Glen, and The Ship that Went to America. Some of the stories give familiar tales a Celtic twist - Duffy and the Devil is a comic Cornish take on the Rumplestiltskin story; The Black Cat is a dark and mysterious Breton Cinderella...and others seem new and strange such as the doomed love of Lutey and the Mermaid or the mystic rapture of The Little Bird. Perhaps the most riveting of all is the Irish tale of The Soul Cages, in which a fisherman makes friends with one of the sea-people, Coomara, and uses their friendship to free the souls of drowned sailors, kept by Coomara in lobster pots in his house beneath the waves...

Customer Reviews

Celtic Heritage for children
I bought this for my nephew for his 1st birthday- although it was purchased to be used as a family storybook for him and his older siblings as they grow up.
His parents are very proud of their Irish and Celtic culture so it was this that attracted me to it.
It is a lovely book, well illustrated and stories are sub-divded into each Celtic area eg Ireland, Scotland, Wales etc.
Some of the stories are a different version of classic fairtytales eg Cinderella. There is an Irish version of this story with a slightly extended and different end- I don't know which is the original.
The stories are quite long, and it would take an adult to read them unless the child is upwards of 9 but it makes a lovely gift and the stories are a fantastic foundation of Celtic heritage to build a child's memories on.

Fantastic!
The book is beautiful and the stories are simply lovely. A book not only for children, but also for grown ups with young hearts.

Excellent
I sent this book Best Loved Fairy Tales by Isabelle Brent and Neil Philip. to two of my grand-daughters - one in England one in Achill Island. Ireland. They were delighted with them. One comment "very interesting and enjoyable" - the other "I read it when I am in bed". They are aged 10/12 years.