Greenvoe

By George Mackay Brown

Book Overview

Greenvoe, the tight-knit community on the Orcadian island of Hellya, has existed unchanged for generations. However, a sinister military/industrial project, Operation Black Star, requires the island for unspecified purposes and threatens the islanders' way of life. In this, his first novel (1972), George MacKay Brown recreates a week in the life of the island community as they come to terms with the destructiveness of Operation Black Star. A whole host of characters - The Skarf, failed fishermen and Marxist historian; Ivan Westray, boatman and dallier; pious creeler Samuel Whaness; drunken fishermen Bert Kerston; earth-mother Alice Voar, and meths-drinker Timmy Folster - are vividly brought to life in this sparkling mixture of prose and poetry. In the end Operation Black Star fails, but not before it has ruined the island. But the book ends on a note of hope as the islanders return to celebrate the ritual rebirth of Hellya.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 190459817X
• ISBN13: 9781904598176
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Birlinn Publishers
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly wonderful book by George MacKay Brown

I came to love the residents of Greenvoe who are so lovingly portrayed by George MacKay Brown. I so loved the atmospheric nature of the novel, the town still feels so real to me and I love that appreciation of nature, and human nature on the part of the author. If you are interested in British Isles, Scotland, the unique culture of the islands in the North Atlantic, you will love MacKay Brown's work.

Thank goodness it is back in print!

I read this an undergraduate Scottish lit. seminar. And for years, it has been out of print. That was a terrible shame, not least of which because I now want my own students to read it! It's a gem of a novel, portraying the people of a small community, and their intertwined lives. It's also about the clash between tradition and modernity. George Mackay Brown had an amazing ear for dialogue, and an ability to weave complex tales. The people of Greenvoe are wonderful character studies. One of the greatest Scottish novels...