Lewis Grassic Gibbon (1901–1935)

I saw this book mentioned in a list of books set in Scotland which caught my eye because we are planning a trip to Scotland next year. This book was mentioned as the one that was consistently rated the best Scottish book. So, of course, I had to read it. Luckily my public library had one copy in its catalogue.

Grassic Gibbon does a wonderful job of setting the stage for this book by describing the small valley of Kinraddie (which is fictional) and all the people who live there at the beginning of the book. Kinraddie is a little south and west of Aberdeen and quite near the shore of the North Sea. Most of the people in the valley don't own the land they farm so they could be turned out at any time. Chris Guthrie is the central figure of this book. Her father had brought the family to Kinraddie in the early part of the 20th century. The family consisted of 6 children at the time: Will, the oldest, Chris, Dod, Alec and then two twins who were just infants at the time of the move. Chris's mother was worn out with the childbearing and when she became pregnant again she killed herself and the twins. Chris, who was a smart girl and was planning to continue her education, had to leave school. Her father was a strict man with a violent temper. He and Will were always fighting and finally Will couldn't take it any more. He left the farm and Scotland. Chris, who had been very close to Will, was thus left to do even more of the work. Her father had a stroke or a heart attack and was left bedridden. Chris held the farm together but couldn't look after the two small boys so they went to live with a childless aunt. After her father's death she fought to keep the land and she was able to do so with the help of her new husband, Ewan. For a few years they had a happy marriage and a happy life and then the conflict that we know as World War I started. That changed everything but Chris persevered. A son was born and maybe he will continue on farming.

I made liberal use of the glossary at the back of the book as much of the dialect is sprinkled with words that are peculiar to that time and place. I learned, for instance, that bigging is a building and glunch means to mutter half-threatenly. I saw some reviews that complained about the use of this Scots idiom but, for me, it added to the charm of the story-telling.… (plus d'informations)