A Book of Death and Fish

by Ian Stephen

Peter MacAulay sits down to write his will.
 The process sets in motion a compulsive series of reflections: a history of his own lifetime and a subjective account of how key events in the post-war world filter through to his home, Stornoway. He reveals his passions for history, engines and fish, and witnesses changing times - and things that don't change - in the Hebrides.

The novel is driven by its idiosyncratic narrator, but with counterpoints from people he engages with - his father, mother, wife, daughter, friends. It's all about stories, a litany of small histories witnessed during one very individual lifetime.

Genres: Scotland, Fiction

540 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2014

About the author

Ian Stephen is a writer, storyteller, artist and sailor from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. He studied English, Drama and Education at the University of Aberdeen. His prose, poetry and drama has been published around the world and garnered several awards, including the Robert Louis Stevenson Award. He was the first artist-in-residence at StAnza, Scotland’s annual poetry festival. He is the author of Living at the Edge (1982), a book of short stories, and Malin, Hebrides, Minches (1983), a collection of poems.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

How ridiculous of me to give this book four stars when I haven't anything like finished it. But I can tell that this book celebrates language, and the telling of a good tale. I'm not in the market for a long immersive read at the moment, but I know I will come back to this book.

[Alex G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes me back home.

[Sallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quintessential book of the Western highlands of Scotland, uniquely isle of Lewis.
Really impossible to not fall in love with this man’s mind.
Simple,
poignant,
intelligent,
funny,
erudite,
insightful,
intermate,
economical.
Highly recommend.
Should be compulsory reading for all incoming strangers moving to the islands.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I battled on for 186 pages before admitting defeat. I couldn't get interested in the characters, the subject matter is better-suited to someone who likes and understands fishing, and the constant transition between past and future - which incidentally I don't usually have any issue with - confused me to the point that I didn't even know who the narrator was talking about much of the time. Hate to quit on a book, but I had to this time.