Peter MacAulay sits down to write his will . The process sets in motion a compulsive series of reflections: a history of his own lifetime and a subjective account of how key events in the post-war world filter through to his home, Stornoway. He reveals his passions for history, engines and fish, and witnesses changing times - and things that don't change - in the Hebrides. The novel is driven by its idiosyncratic narrator, but with counterpoints from people he engages with - his father, mother, wife, daughter, friends. It's all about stories, a litany of small histories witnessed during one very individual lifetime. A vivid portrait of the islands comes into being incrementally, transmitted through Peter's diverse remembrances. Hebridean dialect and fishermen's argot texture his tales, creating a rhythmic and lithe form of fiction.