Book 99: "Hawkfall" by George Mackay Brown
Thursday, December 25th, 2008 09:31![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittiwake'The tide's turned', said Sander Groat. He wiped his slimy hands on his trousers and walked over to the crag. He took from a sandstone fissure a large stone jar. He prised the cork out of its neck and sniffed the contents. 'This is strong stuff,' he said. 'It's been in the jar since before Christmas.' He set the jar down on a flat rock in the centre of the noust.
The fishermen gathered round it, unwrapping their pieces. James of Dale sank his gums into a wedge of new cheese; the pale juice ran down into his beard. Abel Bews of Lombist had two cold smoked cuithes. Harold Bews cracked the delicate grey-blue shell of a duck egg on a stone. Peter Simison took from under his jacket a large round bannock, thickly buttered. Howie the carpenter had two boiled crabs. Peter and Howie shared their food. Tom of Estquoy say slightly apart from the other men. He had a slice of bread from the baker's at Hamnavoe, doubled over, with honey in the middle. 'I never eat when I'm drinking', said Sander Groat, and winker, and raised the ale jar.
A selection of stories set in the Orkney Islands at various historical periods. They are very atmospheric stories, mostly realistic stories about the lives of the islanders, but a few of them have a touch of the supernatural. The stories really capture the hard lives of the fishermen and crofters, and just how lonely it could be in such a small remote place for the incoming ministers and schoolteachers. You also feel the sadness at how the islands are gradually becoming depopulated as young folk and those with a more adventurous spirit leave for new lives in the cities or the Dominions. And even in the stories set in the twentieth century, the Scandanavian names of places and people hark back to the time before the Orkneys became part of Scotland, and remind you that the islanders are the descendants of the Vikings.
Loved it - definitely a keeper.
Vocabulary:
cuithe = a coal-fish
noust = boat beaching place
Nottingham Round the World Reading Challenge - UNITED KINGDOM - SCOTLAND - ORKNEYS
The fishermen gathered round it, unwrapping their pieces. James of Dale sank his gums into a wedge of new cheese; the pale juice ran down into his beard. Abel Bews of Lombist had two cold smoked cuithes. Harold Bews cracked the delicate grey-blue shell of a duck egg on a stone. Peter Simison took from under his jacket a large round bannock, thickly buttered. Howie the carpenter had two boiled crabs. Peter and Howie shared their food. Tom of Estquoy say slightly apart from the other men. He had a slice of bread from the baker's at Hamnavoe, doubled over, with honey in the middle. 'I never eat when I'm drinking', said Sander Groat, and winker, and raised the ale jar.
A selection of stories set in the Orkney Islands at various historical periods. They are very atmospheric stories, mostly realistic stories about the lives of the islanders, but a few of them have a touch of the supernatural. The stories really capture the hard lives of the fishermen and crofters, and just how lonely it could be in such a small remote place for the incoming ministers and schoolteachers. You also feel the sadness at how the islands are gradually becoming depopulated as young folk and those with a more adventurous spirit leave for new lives in the cities or the Dominions. And even in the stories set in the twentieth century, the Scandanavian names of places and people hark back to the time before the Orkneys became part of Scotland, and remind you that the islanders are the descendants of the Vikings.
Loved it - definitely a keeper.
Vocabulary:
cuithe = a coal-fish
noust = boat beaching place
