"Children of the Black House" is a fascinating glimpse into life on the Hebridean island of Lewis from the closing years of the nineteenth century up to the 1950s. Calum Ferguson employs an unusual narrative technique, drawing on his mother Mairead's reminiscences, and presenting her experiences and conversation in the first person. This is a fascinating account of a culture in transition; it records and preserves for twenty-first-century readers traditions and ways of life which have now gone for ever. Also this remarkable memoir is a treasury of personal recollections, traditional tales, and songs. It is illustrated throughout with photographs of Mairead, her family and friends.