Product Description

In the early hours of New Year's morning, 1919, in a raging storm, the lolaire, bringing troops back from WW 1, sank on its entry to Stornoway Harbour, Isle of Lewis. Most on board perished. The island community was devastated and, in addition to its high loss of men in WW1, lost a further 200 men in its sinking, The wreck is still in Stornoway Harbour. The Dark Ship is about a poet who went to war; his lovers; his friends who stayed behind, and his friends who fought beside him. The novel spans three generations and two world wars, to the present day, and celebrates love, music and poetry in this carefully interwoven story that reflects the complex past and community of a Scottish island.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #423475 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 412 pages

Anna Burnside, The Sunday Herald, 10.06.01
about the way love evolves and adapts to the worst of times, the best of times … Anne MacLeod should write more books.

James Smart, The List, 7.06.01
The Dark Ship is concerned more with deep emotions than dour theory, and its portrait of a changing community is strongly compelling.

Alan Riach, The Scotsman, 16.06.01
… the conviction that the experiences of men and women need to be understood equally before any adequate sense of the modern world is conceivable.

Customer Reviews

Lyrical and Evocative
Enchanting story set (mostly) on the island of Lewis at the time of WW1. The war resonates throughout the story, with young men going away to fight and some of them getting killed, while others are resentful at being left behind.

The book centres around three childhood friends; Iain Murray, soldier and poet, charismatic and self-confident; the beautiful and vivacious Mairi, pregnant with Iain's child, but in reality in love with Callum; and Callum small town newspaper editor whose disability keeps him out of the army and who is in love with Mairi. But there is also a host of other characters, giving the book an incredible richness and depth.

Much of the action takes place in the island of Lewis (in the far north west of Scotland) in the period 1916 - 1918; But there are also scenes set in France, in Edinburgh and Inverness.

I loved the lyricism of the writing and the richness of the character and place contained within this novel. It is a love story, told with incredible sympathy and strength, but it is a great deal more; a wonderful description of island life in 1916; and also a commentary on the effect of war on whole communities.

I was captivated from the first page - but this is not a book to devour in one sitting, rather a work to savour.

A Scottish Classic
This book is captivating. I spent some time on Lewis 20 years ago and still have friends there. Memories just came flooding back. The dark ship perfectly captures for me the essence of what Lewis must have been like in the early part of the last century. It deals compassionately with the First World War and what it must have been like for non comissioned soldiers serving at that time. A very moving read.

An excellent read
vivid, haunting and tragic description of Island life at the turn of the 20th century. Beautifully written and captivating.