The Goat-Wife - Portrait of a Village

The Goat-Wife: Portrait of a Village (1939) by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor is a vivid, semi-autobiographical account of rural life in the Scottish Highlands during the early 20th century. The narrative centers on MacGregor's Aunt Dorothy, a remarkable woman who left behind a comfortable life in Edinburgh's Ann Street to establish a croft in the Easter Ross village of Ardgay—then locally known as "High Wind."

Bringing with her a herd of fifty goats, Aunt Dorothy transformed a patch of moorland into a thriving homestead. MacGregor's portrayal of her endeavors offers a detailed depiction of Highland crofting life, capturing the community's resilience, traditions, and the challenges faced during a period that spanned from before the First World War to the end of the Second.

Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (1899–1970) was a Scottish writer, photographer, and folklorist known for his works on Scottish landscapes, history, and Gaelic culture. Born in Tain, Ross-shire, he had a deep love for the Highlands and Islands, which he captured in both words and photographs. His books, such as The Peat-Fire Flame and The Western Isles, focus on Scottish folklore, traditions, and remote communities. MacGregor was also a keen traveler, documenting Scotland’s rural life at a time of great change. His evocative style and passion for preserving Scotland’s heritage make him a significant figure in 20th-century Scottish literature.

Bibliography:

• Behold the Hebrides! (1925)​
• Over the Sea to Skye: Or, Ramblings in an Elfin Isle (1926)​
• Wild Drumalban or the Road to Meggernie and Glencoe (1927)
• Summer Days Among the Western Isles (1929)​
• A Last Voyage to St. Kilda (1931)​
• The Haunted Isles: Or, Life in the Hebrides (1933)​
• Searching the Hebrides With a Camera (1933)​
• Somewhere in Scotland - The Western Highlands in pen and picture (1935)
• The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-Tales and Traditions of the Highlands & Islands (1937)​
• The Goat Wife: Portrait of a Village (1939)​
• Auld Reekie: Portrait of a Lowland Boyhood (1943)​
• The Turbulent Years: A Portrait of Youth in Auld Reekie (1945)​
• Vanished Waters: Portrait of a Highland Childhood (1946)​
• The Western Isles (1949)​
• The Buried Barony (1949)
• Skye and the Inner Hebrides (1953)​
• The Ghost Book: Strange Hauntings in Britain (1955)​
• Journeyman Taylor: The Education of a Scientist (1958)​
• Phantom Footsteps: A Second Ghost Book (1959)​
• Percyval Tudor-Hart: Portrait of an Artist (1961)​
• The Golden Lamp: Portrait of a Landlady (1964)​
• Land of the Mountain and the Flood (1965)​
• The Enchanted Isles (1967)​
• The Farthest Hebrides (1969)​
• Islands by the Score (1971)​

A fine copy of this scarce 1st edition with good clean cover boards with just some bumping to edges. Clean pages with handsome pictoral end-papers.

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