On the Island

On the Island

A boy growing up on the Western Isles discovers the world is wider and stranger than his small island could ever contain.

About the Ebook

For an eleven-year-old boy, living with his widowed mother and younger brother in a remote seaside village on one of the Western Isles of Scotland, growing up has its difficulties, as well as its idyllic pleasures. Iain Crichton Smith's vivid evocation is loosely based on memories of his own childhood on Lewis. There are so many discoveries to be made, along the shore and on the moor. Crossing a field under snow has its perils; exploring an empty cottage has its imaginative terrors; you might be humiliated by a village woman when your mother has sent you to a neighbour to borrow half-a-crown until her pension comes through: or playing along the shore with Pauline, a visitor from London with her wider knowledge of the world, you might find your own certainties called into question.

There is poverty and richness; and eventually the war casts its shadows across your world. Iain Crichton Smith has brought to life a gallery of distinctly memorable figures: the sure-footed Blinder with his amazing sense of the island terrain; Stork with his wooden leg; Speedy, the reluctant footballer; Jim returned after twenty years in America with such stories ... The author's own sense of the terrain, and of the characters who inhabit it, is equally sure and beautifully precise; his book will evoke for all ages the inner-emotions of growing up, as well as the outward sights and scents of an island experience.

Why You'll Love This Ebook

• A vivid, tender evocation of Hebridean childhood loosely based on Crichton Smith's own Lewis years
• From the shore and the moor to the shadow of war: a boy's world beautifully recreated
• Written with a poet's precision and an acute sense of poverty, discovery and belonging
• Read another celebrated title from Polygon - an imprint of Birlinn Ltd

About the Author

Iain Crichton Smith (1928 – 1998) was born in Glasgow, brought up on Lewis, and attended university in Aberdeen. After working as a teacher in Clydebank and Dumbarton, he taught at the High School in Oban until he took early retirement in 1977. He was the recipient of many literary awards and received an OBE in 1980. His widow, Donalda, still lives in Taynuilt, where the couple moved after their marriage in 1977.

Publication Details

Publisher: Polygon (an imprint of Birlinn Ltd)

Publication Date: 15 April 2015

Print Length: 131 pages (Ebook edition)

ISBN (Ebook): 9780857907332

Format: Ebook

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