Greenvoe

Author: Brown, George Mackay, Smith, Ali

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 27 June 2019 by Birlinn General (Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 256 pages
132 x 197 x 23 | 246g

Greenvoe, the tight-knit community on the Orcadian island of Hellya, has existed unchanged for generations, but Operation Black Star requires the island for unspecified purposes and threatens the islanders' way of life. A whole host of characters - The Skarf, failed fishermen and Marxist historian; Ivan Westray, boatman and dallier; pious creeler Samuel Whaness; drunken fishermen Bert Kerston; earth-mother Alice Voar, and meths-drinker Timmy Folster - are vividly brought to life in this sparkling mixture of prose and poetry.

In the end Operation Black Star fails, but not before it has ruined the island; but the book ends on a note of hope as the islanders return to celebrate the ritual rebirth of Hellya.