An aging Professor of literature marries a young ex-student with silver hair and webbed hands and feet. She asks him to take her to Orkney for their honeymoon. Orkney is the professor’s tale of their days there, the sea and weather blending earth and water and sky into a mythical, magical place of uncertainty.
Whilst the unfolding of the plot was nothing I hadn’t expected, Orkney is an absorbing read, a book that envelops you in the mists of a world out of time, a world of old stories, told with such precise language that you can’t help but long to go back to it and be lost some more. It is a novel of Fantastical prose poetry. I thoroughly recommend it.
Next week, I’m reading The Light Between the Oceans by M. L. Stedman and the following week I’ll be reading In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield. I’m looking forward to more sea-swept tales.
Please do send in suggestions for future books you’d like me to read. I’d also love to hear your comments.
On Monday, I’m going to be taking part in the Writing Process Blog Tour. I was invited to do so by Heidi James, whose uncompromising and beautiful book Wounding I reviewed earlier this year and encourage you to buy and read if you haven’t already. You can read her responses to the Writing Process Blog Tour here. Do look back for my responses in my next blog.