Lengthening Shadows is an extraordinary – if not unique – book. A cursory glance at the Contents page could leave one with the mistaken impression that this is little more than a collection of short stories, garnered by the author on his journey through boyhood years and later along a career path spanning more than half a century. But it is more than this:

Niall Weldon has spent most of his working life at the cutting edge of Ireland's development from an agrarian backwater into a modern, economically powerful, European nation. Here he delves into a wide range of topics and has expertly intertwined his own personal experiences with an insight into the social, cultural, environmental and aviation issues of the day. The past and the present are juxtaposed seamlessly. A key element in the Lengthening Shadows ‘mix’ is a brief objective overview of the major events and incidents during the first sixty years of Aer Lingus's operations. In this section a set of contemporary photographs provide a highly effective, and occasionally poignant, form of visual punctuation.

Airline executive by trade, but poet by nature, Niall also relives and explores unexplainable brushes with the paranormal. In today’s high octane, cocaine-fuelled, frenetic Ireland, it is easy to forget that this is also a land of legends and fairy stories.

Whether you believe in them or not, they remain part of our national psyche, and deserve an occasional outing.

In addition to his prose musings, Niall presents here a selection of works from his own anthology of poems. He modestly refers to these as ‘Nonsense Poems’. However, these evocative verses contain elements of nostalgia, heart-searching and humour. They hold much more weight than the term ‘Nonsense’ allows.

Possessed of a creative and active mind, Niall Weldon is also fearless in his opinions and voices them clearly in this volume. He occasionally skates close to the edge on touchy social and religious issues, he does not tumble, although readers may find themselves confronted with some thought-provoking conundrums.

Containing some delightful little cameos including The Forge Bench, The Lady Traveller and The Well in the Back Garden, the book Lengthening Shadows is in many ways a natural follow-on from Niall’s previous – acclaimed – collection Sand In My Shoes.

The cover, designed by Rush-based graphic artist Martin Keaney, cleverly captures the book's main theme and adds to it's overall enjoyment.