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Willie Gavin, Crofter Man

Willie Gavin, Crofter Man

£3.99

Willie Gavin, Crofter Man—A Portrait of a Vanished Lifestyle

A moving portrait of the last generation of Scotland's crofting folk


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About the Ebook

Willie Gavin, Crofter Man is a portrait of a crofting life in the bare and sometimes bitter landscape of Scotland's North-east lowlands. It is the closely reconstructed life of one man in particular, and beyond that, the wider story of a croft and its people, assembled from the family's folk memories. Willie Gavin's real identity has been blurred, but this is essentially a true story and is illustrated with a fascinating selection of period photographs.

Through the eyes of Willie Gavin we experience the hardships and wretched lifestyle endured by crofters throughout Scotland. But with deep understanding David Kerr Cameron reveals too their love for the land, the fragile bonds of friendship forged by crafting families, the weddings and the festivals they enjoyed, and the children who were raised in that life without luxury. The traditional crofting way of life began to break down in the early-twentieth century, but David Kerr Cameron has captured and recorded for future generations a culture and a landscape that have now gone forever.

Willie Gavin, Crofter Man is the second part of Cameron's trilogy of rural life; the other books are The Ballad and the Plough (about life on the farmtouns) and The Cornkister Days (which focuses on agricultural practices).


Why You'll Love This Ebook

  • Discover the hard, dignified rhythm of the crofting year
  • Meet a way of life that has all but vanished from the land
  • Experience classic rural writing of rare power and tenderness
  • Read another celebrated title from Birlinn Ltd - Independent Scottish Publisher

About the Author

David Kerr Cameron was himself born into a crofting family in the north-east of Scotland and there he experienced at first hand the last days of that harsh way of life. He worked most of his life as a journalist, including 22 years spent in London. He died in 2002.

Publication Details

Publisher: Birlinn Ltd

Publication Date: 03 March 2016

Print Length: 272 pages (Ebook edition)

ISBN (Ebook): 9780857903297

Format: Ebook


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