
← New Books in Biography & Memoir1 sep · 26 min
David Keohan, "The Wind Beneath the Stone: My Quest to Unearth a Piece of Ireland's Folklore" (Bloomsbury and Chelsea Green, 2026)
When world kettle-bell
lifting champion David Keohan heard the old tales of stone-lifting, he
was captivated, setting off on a quest to rediscover these famous stones
and attempt the feats of heroes past by lifting them. Guided by a 1930s archive, the dúchas,
in which schoolchildren shared their local folklore, Keohan began to
travel the country in search of the stones, as documented in The Wind Beneath the Stone: My Quest to Unearth a Piece of Ireland's Folklore (Bloomsbury and Chelsea
Green, 2026). They were often to be found hidden away in quiet villages
or cemeteries, their purpose almost forgotten. But, as he journeyed
through Ireland, he met those who recalled the stories of the stones and
the legends attached to them. Soon, others joined him as he took on the
challenge of lifting these pieces of history, the heaviest of which
weighed well over 450 pounds.