David Thomson visited the remote sea coasts of the Scottish Isles and the West of Ireland on journeys in search of the legends of the selchies - mythological creatures who transform from seals into humans. A magical world emerged, in which men are rescued by seals in stormy seas, take seal-women for their wives and have their children suckled by seal-mothers. Mysterious and fascinating, these stories retain their spellbinding charm through Thomson's beautiful prose. The People of the Sea is a timeless and haunting book, rich in rewards and surprises.

Author Biography

David Thomson was born in India of Scottish parents in 1914. On returning to England, much of his childhood was spent in the country, in Derbyshire, and at Nairn where his grandparents lived. While still a student at Oxford he took on work as a tutor with an Anglo-Irish family in County Roscommon, where he eventually stayed for almost ten years. Later, he joined the BBC and wrote and produced many distinguished radio programmes, including The Irish Storyteller series and a number of documentaries on animal folklore. He left the BBC in 1970 in order to write full time. He died in 1988.