Hawkfall: and other stories - Couverture souple

George Mackay Brown is one of the major Scottish literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific poet and novelist, he took much of his inspiration from the myths and landscape of Orkney, and also 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. Andrew Greig (b. 1951) is one of the leading Scottish writers of his generation. He has published six collections of poetry, including 'Men on Ice' and 'The Order of the Day' (Bloodaxe). He has written two books on his expeditions to the Himalayas and four novels, including 'Electric Brae' and 'That Summer'. He divides his time between Orkney and Sheffield.

A selection of stories set in the Orkney Islands at various historical periods. Atmospheric, touched occasionally by the supernatural, these tales capture the hard lives of the fishermen and crofters, and explore the potential for loneliness in this remote place. Filled with sadness at the gradual depopulation of these islands, the stories address the departure of the young folk and those with a more adventurous spirit for new lives in the cities or the Dominions. This theme of change pervades even those stories set in the twentieth century: we are reminded by Scandanavian names that the Orkneys were once not part of Scotland, and that the islanders are the descendants of the Vikings.