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Beside the Ocean of Time (Paperback)

by George Mackay Brown (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Beside the Ocean of Time + The Collected Poems of George Mackay Brown + For the Islands I Sing: An Autobiography
Total RRP: £33.98
Price For All Three: £21.84

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Product details

  • Paperback: 197 pages
  • Publisher: Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited (Aug 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1904598293
  • ISBN-13: 978-1904598299
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17,255 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Brown, George Mackay
    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Genre > Metaphysical
    #52 in  Books > Fiction > World > Scottish

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Product Description

Product Description

Thorfinn Ragnarson is the daydreaming son of a tenant farmer, avoiding both work and school despite the best efforts of family, friends and neighbours. Instead, the boy dreams up elaborate historical fantasies. In a series of intriguing chapters, George Mackay Brown transforms Thorfinn into a Viking traveller, a freedom-fighter for Bonnie Prince Charlie and the colleague of a Falstaffian knight who participates in the Battle of Bannockburn. He is then hurled into the future as Thor, who returns to the Orkneys as an adult and recalls his internment in a German POW camp, where he discovered his writing skills. Thor also reflects on the history of Orkney, the links between dreaming and writing and the whims of fate. In this beautiful and haunting novel, Brown's lyrical descriptions and gift for local colour capture, as ever, the myth-drenched magic of his native islands.

About the Author

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.

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Beside the Ocean of Time
68% buy the item featured on this page:
Beside the Ocean of Time 5.0 out of 5 stars (7)
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For the Islands I Sing: An Autobiography
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Each page a gem, 26 April 2001
By A. Thirsk (Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Beside the Ocean of Time (Paperback)
This was the first George MacKay Brown book I ever read and since then I have managed to read everything in print by this great, under-rated author. He is one of those incredibly rare talents that could paint a picture with a word, descride a life in a page or the history of a people in a chapter. A true storyteller that brought the story of his people(the orcadians) to the world. This book centres on a young boy growing up on an Orkney island and how he see's his world steeped in myth and legend and coloured with characters from the past and present. The author takes the reader into another world of dreams and passions until the end of the book that comes all too quickly. Read this book and experience the lost art of storytelling.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I do wish I had discovered him sooner..., 16 Feb 2006
This review is from: Beside the Ocean of Time (Paperback)
I have come to George Mackay Brown very late in life and find it rather fascinating that, once a fortnight, I flew over everything he writes of on my way to and from North Sea oil platforms situated north of the Shetlands. I am now too old and infirm to manage to travel to the Orkney Isles which he describes so well, so must content myself with seeking out his works in Amazon's lists. They are well worth the hunt. Anyone with an interest in such things as the sea, small communities, folk, and life in general should take a peek into his books. They are all great volumes to have at the bedside, especially for those interminable insomniac hours: never waste those hours again if you have his books to hand.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars spellbinding storytelling by a true bard, 11 Sep 2001
By colbegley@aol.com (Orkney Islands) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Beside the Ocean of Time (Paperback)
A moving tale suffused with magic, poetry and a deep wisdom. From Orkney's greatest Bard, the pages reveal the life of an islander from birth to death, as straighforward and extraordinary as any life.

As with all GMB's work the language is remarkably simple and yet deeply symbolic. Shortlisted for the Booker prize, this work speaks as perfectly and poetically of our green islands as it does of the nature of man and his place in the universe.

This is the work of a truly great poet. Read it!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Delight!
A delight to read.
An amazing array of characters, all unique and yet bound together with their common environment. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Jean C. Macbride

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly magical
I read this book a couple of months ago and found it absolutely engrossing. I too thought it may have been written for younger people, but I think it will appeal to anyone who... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Siblah

5.0 out of 5 stars The Charm of the Orkneys
Like the previous reviewers, I have only just discovered G M Brown, and I certainly expect to read more of his work in the future. Read more
Published 22 months ago by David

5.0 out of 5 stars simply magificent
This is the first book by George Mackay Brown that I have read. It won't be the last. Superb storytelling, wonderful, lyrical language. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2007 by Mr. Re Williams

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