An Island Christmas by Micheál Ó Conghaile is a small gem of a memoir incorporating, place, people and childhood recollection as set on the small island known as Inis Treabhair (Inishtravin in English) off the Galway coast. It recounts an “older world” and yet a world that continues to weave its spell just a few short years after the last inhabitants left the island for the Connemara mainland.