Vengeful gods and lovelorn monks

D.J.Taylor
Short Works
BBC Radio 4

An aural equivalent of a field of shamrocks was the sound of the opening sentences of “Relic”, Jess Kidd’s contribution to the new series of Short Works (2 June). As fiddle music scraped drily away in the background, a ruminative Irishman wondered, “Is any of this true? you ask”, went on to declare that he hadn’t yet decided (no, really?) and then, pint in hand, wide-eyed female companion at his side, embarked on the tale of a tiny island in the Atlantic whose monastic settlers were swept away by vengeful pagan gods unable to bear the human traffic that seethed below.