Tales of the Glens

"Tales of the Glens" is a collection of stories, songs and ballads, written by Scottish poet Joseph Grant, and published after his untimely death in 1835, aged just 30. The author originally intended it to be a collection of prose tales, but it was later decided to lengthen the volume to include a broader range of his works, as he had failed to complete the final stages of the book before his death. Drawing upon traditional Scottish legends, "Tales of the Glens" tells stories such as 'The Warlock of Glendye', and 'A chapter on Deils and Kelpies', all filled with memorable, vividly drawn characters. In everything, Grant wrote about the world in which he inhabited; the rural farming communities of his native Kincardine, and the simple, hard-working people he found there. He took his inspiration from the wild beauty of the surrounding landscape, from his rambles in the hills and glens of Aberdeenshire, and conveyed this masterfully through lyrical songs and ballads. This is a near-forgotten collection that rediscovers for the modern reader a rural Scotland that is today no more.