In this, George Mackay Brown's first collection of short stories, the themes he would develop over his career are set out - an obsession with his home Orkney, its dark and violent Viking past, the cycle of the seasons, and the struggle of its inhabitants. The characters of these stories - the fishermen, the crofters, the farmers and the wild tinkers - are all struggling to live their lives and find their identities in a harsh habitat and a cruel age. The stories in this collection share the same melancholy tone and sense of the ceaseless renewal made possible by the natural cycle.

Author Biography

George Mackay Brown is one of the major Scottish literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific poet, short story writer and novelist, he took much of his inspiration from the myths and landscape of Orkney, and from his deep Catholic faith. His collection of short stories A Time to Keep (1971) won the Katherine Mansfield Mentor short story prize and his novel Beside the Ocean of Time was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994. He died in 1996.