The Gathering Night by Margaret Elphinstone
Taking the historical fiction genre to a new level - this is pre-history
AudaciousAs warm and inviting as a hot spring on a clear winter's day. * * The Times (on The Sea Road) * *
Gripping, its mix of reality and myth reminiscent of Louis de Bernières. * * Scotland on Sunday (on Hy Brasil) * *
A pacy, colourful and intelligent epic. -- Boyd Tonkin * * Independent (on Voyageurs) * *
The heart of this novel is a place described so finely and so beguilingly that everyone who reads it will want to go there. -- Helen Dunmore * * The Times (on Light) * *
Elphinstone creates a richly imagined world. -- Susan Mansfield * * The Scotsman * *
A brilliant fictional evocation of a time that's usually given short shrift in history books . . . At the core of The Gathering Night is a very human story, a complex tale of love, revenge, murder and honour, a book that managed to be both gripping in terms of plot, engaging with character psychology and a hugely evocative exploration of time and place. -- Doug Johnstone * * List * *
The Gathering Night offers us a totem plot centred roudn ideas of identity, interdependence and our own here-and-now. Where our experience diverges from the Auk People and our hunter-gatherer heritage, Elphinstone turns Go-between. -- Jen Hadfield * * Scottish Review of Books * *
Employing her considerable skills as a historical novelist, Elphinstone imagines the lives of the hunter-gatherers who thrived in the period from the end of the Ice Age until the adoption of agriculture . . . Imagination is well-woven with avid research . . . The reader is ultimately engaged by Elphinstone's beguiling prose to listen well to the strange stories of struggle, stoicism and survival coursing throughout this challenging novel. -- Anita Sethi * * Independent on Sunday * *
Elphinstone is a fine purveyor or evocative literary historical fiction . . . Excellently researched, it wears that knowledge lightly, concentrating on the human heart of the tale. * * Big Issue * *
A cracking story. -- Graeme Warren * * British Archaeology Magazine * *
A vivid tale . . . both lyrical and matter-of-fact, at times touched with humour . . . Perhaps the most telling achievement of The Gathering Night is that it persuades us to accept its entirely different value-system without a qualm, and even to regret that humanity ever thought of swapping the hunter's spear for the tiller's spade. -- Adam Thorpe * * Guardian * *
Gripping, its mix of reality and myth reminiscent of Louis de Bernières. * * Scotland on Sunday (on Hy Brasil) * *
A pacy, colourful and intelligent epic. -- Boyd Tonkin * * Independent (on Voyageurs) * *
The heart of this novel is a place described so finely and so beguilingly that everyone who reads it will want to go there. -- Helen Dunmore * * The Times (on Light) * *
Elphinstone creates a richly imagined world. -- Susan Mansfield * * The Scotsman * *
A brilliant fictional evocation of a time that's usually given short shrift in history books . . . At the core of The Gathering Night is a very human story, a complex tale of love, revenge, murder and honour, a book that managed to be both gripping in terms of plot, engaging with character psychology and a hugely evocative exploration of time and place. -- Doug Johnstone * * List * *
The Gathering Night offers us a totem plot centred roudn ideas of identity, interdependence and our own here-and-now. Where our experience diverges from the Auk People and our hunter-gatherer heritage, Elphinstone turns Go-between. -- Jen Hadfield * * Scottish Review of Books * *
Employing her considerable skills as a historical novelist, Elphinstone imagines the lives of the hunter-gatherers who thrived in the period from the end of the Ice Age until the adoption of agriculture . . . Imagination is well-woven with avid research . . . The reader is ultimately engaged by Elphinstone's beguiling prose to listen well to the strange stories of struggle, stoicism and survival coursing throughout this challenging novel. -- Anita Sethi * * Independent on Sunday * *
Elphinstone is a fine purveyor or evocative literary historical fiction . . . Excellently researched, it wears that knowledge lightly, concentrating on the human heart of the tale. * * Big Issue * *
A cracking story. -- Graeme Warren * * British Archaeology Magazine * *
A vivid tale . . . both lyrical and matter-of-fact, at times touched with humour . . . Perhaps the most telling achievement of The Gathering Night is that it persuades us to accept its entirely different value-system without a qualm, and even to regret that humanity ever thought of swapping the hunter's spear for the tiller's spade. -- Adam Thorpe * * Guardian * *
Margaret Elphinstone is the author of nine previous novels, including Light, Voyageurs and The Sea Road. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She lives in Glasgow.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781847672889 |
| ISBN 10 | 1847672884 |
| Title | The Gathering Night |
| Author | Margaret Elphinstone |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Canongate Books |
| Year published | 2009-05-21 |
| Number of pages | 480 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |