Product Description

For many years George Mackay Brown wrote a weekly column in 'The Orcadian', and this book is the first of three selections from the column which have been published in book form. 'Letters from Hamnavoe' was published in hardback in 1975, and this is the first paperback edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #292791 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Margery Palmer McCulloch, Times Literary Supplement, 2002
There is humour, wit, a playful - sometimes self-mocking - irony ... There is also pure poetry.

Manus McGeehan, Cencrastus, 2002
All aspects of Orkney life ... none of it is mundane ... an ideal book to dip into.

About the Author
George Mackay Brown was born in Stromness in 1921. He was at Newbattle Abbey College when Edwin Muir was Warden. He read English at Edinburgh and did post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins. He was known for his poetry, short stories, plays and novels, and won many prizes including in 1987 the James Tait Black prize for his novel 'The Golden Bird'. He died in 1996.

Customer Reviews

wise, gentle and life-affirming
Every week for years the Orkney poet and novelist George Mackay Brown wrote a short piece for the local newspaper 'The Orcadian'. This book contains a substantial selection of them. The subject could be anything, from a little piece of local news to something almost philosophical in its range, but the manner was always friendly and inviting. He had a poet's eye for the world around him, an interest in now, the future and (especially) the past and, it goes without saying, a way with words. These short pieces are never dense or difficult, they are very readable, but it is surprising how deep they can go and how far they range. This book is a friendly companion which gives great pleasure.