=
×

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Head To Head
Log In
Register
The Modern Antiquarian Forum »
Books of possible interest
Log In to post a reply
461 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
Littlestone
Littlestone
5386 posts

Edited Jan 05, 2010, 20:04
The Gathering Night - Margaret Elphinstone
Jul 26, 2009, 18:00
The Gathering Night by Margaret Elphinstone
ISBN 9781847672889


"The Gathering Night, set among the hunter-gatherers of Mesolithic Scotland, is a story of conflict, loss, love, adventure and devastating natural disaster. This pre-historical novel is set deep in our stone-age past, but resonates as a parable of our troubled planet 8000 years on."

More here - http://www.margaretelphinstone.co.uk/

"Nature" would not be graced with a separate word in Mesolithic culture, with the trials and tribulations of these humans co-existing in the same holistic world with animals, rivers, mountains; inextricably linked, not separate. It is Elphinstone's formidable depiction of nature which is the greatest strength of this atmospheric novel. Nature is depicted as both cruel and benign, from the harsh and biting winter in forbidding terrain where the family pull lily-roots from the freezing mud, to a time of plenitude, when birds flutter throughout the land.

"Water and islands are at the heart of her work and here a river runs throughout the narrative; Elphinstone is in her element in depicting the sea flooding into estuaries, white gulls wheeling overhead. Here the river is a metaphor for storytelling, and this indeed is a novel which flows at its own pace, with many voices trickling into its main current. The powers and pitfalls of storytelling are explored and also exemplified; the voices of the multiple narrators oscillate so rapidly that it is difficult to build up fully-developed, three-dimensional characters."

More here -
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-gathering-night-by-margaret-elphinstone-1696219.html
In reply to:
Books of possible interest (Littlestone)
Topic Outline:
The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index