These charismatic and eclectic short fictions are from the mid-to-late twentieth-century, as imagined and re-imagined by Samuel Whitman Cooke.

Cooke, an American-born traveller and journalist, was captivated by the work and spirit of Alfandega and his Contos das Ilhas. So he grabbed a stout pair of walking boots and set off to explore, determined to pick up yet more fascinating anecdotes and folk stories from around the country.

Widely syndicated in newspapers and magazines, as well as a regular radio and later television host, Cooke was a popular cultural icon beloved by many. He became a naturalised Antaman in the Sixties.

As well as his own pieces – and as a deliberate homage to Alfandega’s original Contos – the Tales Of The Islands columns and collections often including contributions from invited collaborators, each writing pseudonymously as his touring companion, A Peregrino.

Many of his – and his collaborators’ – best-known works are published in a five-volume collection comprising: