title: People of the Sea: Celtic Tales of the Sea-Folk (Canons)
author: David Thomson
description: Readers will be carried away on successive waves of pleasure . . . these stories have an irresistible holistic beauty (Seamus Heaney)<br /><br />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 (<i>The Observer</i>)<br /><br />A splendid resurrection of a life that has almost vanished (<i>Daily Telegraph</i>)
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **_The
  
  
  Drowning Sea_**
  
  
  
  
  
  **_Veronica
  
  
  Wolff_**
  
  
  
  
  
  With
  
  
  thanks to my dad
  
  
  
  
  
  and to
  
  
  Patrick, my first mate and big brother,
  
  
  
  
  
  for
  
  
  explaining how to sail a ship,
  
  
  
  
  
  and
  
  
  then sink it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Bheir
  
  
  an cuan a chuid fliein a-mach._
  
  
  
  
  
  The
  
  
  sea will claim its own.
  
  
  
  
  
  **_One_**
  
  
  
  
  
  **_Isle of
  
  
  Lewis, 1662_**
  
  
  
  
  
  **Iain** leaned down and swung his blade. It landed in the
  
  
  thick slab and a familiar jolt shot up his arm. He twisted the handle, pulling
  
  
  the iron through and out. The peat answered with a dull suck.
  
  
  
  
  
  He stood. Studied
  
  
  his work. **He'd** been stacking the bricks in low piles. He wiped his hands
  
  
  down the front of his plaid. The muscles in his shoulders and arms hummed.
  
  
  Using his sleeve, he mopped the sweat from his brow and knew a moment of raw
  
  
  pleasure at the kiss of chill air on hot skin rubbed dry. He pulled a deep
  
  
  breath in and savored the scent of diit and island air in the back of his
  
  
  throat.
  
  
  
  
  
  There was a 