leafless hawthorne branch

Donald spends all day with his cows, leading them on a “round mile” and stopping to graze at twelve marked intervals. There is an allusion to the Stations of the Cross in this. The book is a one-way conversation with the reader as Donald goes around, meditating on his life, his cows, his neighbors, faith, relationships, and the change and loss of community that he has witnessed through his life. Interspersed throughout are a number of folktales related to the landscape. Donald talks to his cows, to folktale characters, and to the people of his past. And they talk back to him.

In this novel, set on a Scottish Island, Donald also listens to the fairies.