A crofter’s son living on the remote island of Norday escapes into the limitless world of his imagination, in George Mackay Brown’s lyrical saga. 

Closing his eyes in the 1930s, Thorfinn dreams of crossing the ‘fish-fraught’ ocean with Viking raiders. Falling asleep to the monotonous tones of a history lesson he finds himself running from the press gang into the arms of a beautiful seal-maiden who longs to return to the sea. War and adventure, the struggles of great men and the everyday toil of the fisherfolk: Thorfinn dreams the sweep of Norday’s history, its life and its inevitable death.

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1994
Published by
John Murray
Publication date

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George Mackay Brown

George Mackay Brown

About the Author

George Mackay Brown was one of the 20th century’s most distinguished and original writers.
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