Argyll curiosities

Three celebrated travellers, Martin, Pennant and Johnson, once applied the word 'curiosity' to almost anything out of the ordinary: individuals, flora, folk tales, historical oddities and rock formations alike. Marian Pallister takes that same broad sense on a present-day tour of Argyll and its islands. Few parts of the county lack something curious, and archaeology, geography, geology and genealogy together make this western edge of Scotland stand apart.

Pallister sets aside the curiosities that visitors can spot on any trip through the region. Instead she digs into places, people and events whose stories are curiously layered, one on top of another. The result is a book crowded with enchanting curiosities and local histories.