The Loud Halo

The Hebridean Trilogy #3

by Lillian Beckwith

In The Loud Halo Lillian Beckwith serves up another delightful slice of Hebridean life and a collection of local characters. Meet Johnny Comic, Morag, Kirsty, Behag, Hector, Erchy and the postie - among others. Subjects for amusement include tourists, an election, blizzards and a tinkers' wedding. Each episode is told with wit and affection

Genres: Fiction, Scotland, Humor, Novels, Comedy, Biography Memoir

271 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Lilian Comber wrote fiction and non-fiction for both adults and children under the pseudonym Lillian Beckwith. She is best known for her series of comic novels based on her time living on a croft in the Scottish Hebrides.

Beckwith was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, in 1916, where her father ran a grocery shop. The shop provided the background for her memoir About My Father's Business, a child’s eye view of a 1920s family. She moved to the Isle of Skye with her husband in 1942, and began writing fiction after moving to the Isle of Man with her family twenty years later. She also completed a cookery book, Secrets from a Crofter’s Kitchen (Arrow, 1976).

Since her death, Beckwith’s novel A Shine of Rainbows has been made into a film starring Aidan Quinn and Connie Nielsen, which in 2009 won ‘Best Feature’ awards at the Heartland and Chicago Children’s Film Festivals.

Reviews

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although entertaining and amusing these essays lacked the freshness of earlier books.
There is a lot more concentration upon illness and death and a sudden and unexplained ending. Very unsatisfactory if like me you have read and enjoyed Lillian Beckwith's series of her life and adventures on Bruach!

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 3 out of 5]

After being shelved for about 10 years, I loved “The Hills Is Lonely” in 2016. I hope Lillian Beckwith’s autobiography explains why a young woman needed recuperating in the 1930s. These anecdotes were written with intelligence, admiration, well-balanced observation, and humour but Lillian censored them. I eagerly read “The Sea For Breakfast” a year after, giving four stars to both. Two years later, always in the spring for some reason, I continued with “The Loud Halo”, 1964. My enthusiasm for it dipped to three stars but I appreciate all these snapshots. They are like nothing I have read.

They describe the astonishment of this Englishwoman, at the illogic of a surreal community. It shifted to amusement. No one would respect and fit into new worlds better. Islanders counted on one other. Plumbing and tourism arrived and isolation dropped but the terrain wouldn’t change. Lillian bought a croft and car in a year and enjoyed the housekeeping chores of all seasons. She must have developed prime healthfulness. However, another unnamed illness closed this book in a hospital. An unnamed gentleman took her back to England. Nonetheless, more books about Brach were published.

Something I would tolerate less than Lillian was interruption. She explained to Morag candidly, her best Bruach friend, that she couldn’t stand drunkenness and wanted to spend New Year’s eve reading. The townsfolk thought they must visit every friend. She went with the flow anytime anyone dropped in and catered to any eccentricities. Deaths of villagers were moving. However, references to animal killing were too numerous. People never want to hear about that. My overall reaction is that what Lillian ought to have elaborated upon, is complete stories instead of allusions. Why was she sick, who was the gentleman, and what precipitated leaving Bruach.... besides the seasons of precipitation!

[MB (What she read) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 1964 edition has lovely illustrations that so add to the pleasure of reading. I wish I owned her other Bruach books as well. This was one of those 25 cent library book sale books. Such a find!

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from the rather sudden ending this is probably the best of the three collections of Ms Beckwith's work that I've read. The characters are shown in a way that reveal more depth to them, the "short story-ness" of each chapter feels more natural than previously and you get more notion of there being some sort of through-line, even if it is only that this is a snapshot of a small village.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another charming set of stories about the crofting life in the Hebrides in the 1940s and 50s. Her love for the island and its people shines through every one, in spite of the hard life and almost constant rough weather.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a lovely book - makes me want to move to the Hebrides right away!

[Vonnie Skaggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this last book of Lillian Beckwith's trilogy of a Hebridean community, inspired by her own life, when she lived there, working her own croft, for twenty years.
It was when my children were still at home that I discovered her first book of the trilogy, 'The Hills is Lonely', and read it out loud to the family, much to their delight. Years later, it seems to be one of the books they remember most.
Recently, when a Scottish Aunty bequeathed the trilogy to me, I re-read book 1, followed by books 2 & 3.
Reading book 3 was a bittersweet affair. To begin with, it almost seemed as if Miss Beckwith had found her stride and there are passages that are far more descriptive than in her previous books, as if she herself was trying to imprint every hill and stone in her memory so as not to forget a time that was precious to her. The stories are delightful and I could not put the book down mid-chapter. Each chapter is a mini-book itself. But, sadly, all good things come to an end. And this good thing was enjoyed cover to cover.
This book is a thoroughly enjoyable read!

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful book by Lillian Beckwith. As I read these stories, set somewhere in the Scottish Hebrides, I enjoyed meeting up with familiar characters, meeting some new ones and just being transported to another place and time. And my favourite tale from this collection? The Green Halo. In typical Bruach style, although this story centred around a funeral and burial it was by far the funniest of the whole book! I just couldn't stop laughing and will never look at Epsom salts and treacle again in quite the same way!

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man merkt dem Buch sein Alter (es wurde Ende der 50er Jahre geschrieben) sein Alter an. Vieles, was in den Geschichten erzählt wird, gehört einer längst vergangenen Zeit an. Auch die Sprache ist altmodisch. Die Dorfbewohner kommen meistens nicht gut weg. Sie wirken weltfremd und manchmal auch nicht sehr clever. Miss Peckwitt dagegen als Zugezogene erweckt den Eindruck, als ob sie sich für etwas Besseres hält als die Einheimischen. Ich weiß nicht, ob dieser Eindruck beabsichtigt ist und ob sie sich wirklich so gefühlt hat, aber bei mir hat das einen eher negativen Geschmack hinterlassen.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like The Sea for Breakfast, The Loud Halo, the third book in Lillian Beckwith's Hebridean Series, was, for me, more enjoyable than The Hills Is Lonely. It seems the author intended The Loud Halo to be the final book documenting the period of her Bruach residency. She then went on to write four more, making of her Hebridean Trilogy, a Hebridean Heptalogy. It will be interesting to see how the final four compare.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful "fictionalized" account of an English woman's time as a crofters in the inner Hebrides, with Bruach standing in for the Isle of Skye. I was sorry to hear that not long after completing her trilogy, Beckwith (really Compton) was allegedly shunned by her neighbours for being too accurate in her depiction of her characters based on real people, and moved away from the island. If you like James Herriot's books, you will like this.

[Adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beat the backlist reading challenge: Bought/borrowed it for the cover
It’s undeniable that while rummaging amongst dusty bookshelves in the local thrift store it was the beautiful jacket design and decorations by Douglas Hall that attracted me to this 1964 2nd printing of the final instalment in Lillian Beckwith’s Hebridean trilogy of warm-hearted tales of her life on a croft.

[Brendan Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

A year in Provence but make it Scottish. I didn’t realise when I started this it was the third book (a find from a 2nd hand book store), but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I really want to find the other two books now, and if anyone has recommendations for this slice of life style of writing let me know!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a humorous, warm and entertaining read. The descriptions of scenery and characters are vivid and charming. This reads more like an anthology of anecdotes when compared to "The Sea for Breakfast", which feels like it has more of a continuous narrative. And who'd have thought that Womans Hour would still be going strong on Radio 4 today!

[Mardi D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did find this one a bit more disjointed than others I've read but just the same, I love reading about a different time and place and way of life. The way she describes the scenes has me feeling the biting wind and smelling the smells and hearing the wind and the birds.

[Joan Barton · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF failed to engage me

[Helen Magee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book that came from my grandma’s house, it was interesting in parts but having taken 5 months to finish you can draw your own conclusions!!!

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of lovely little tales of crofting life in the Scottish Islands.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very amusing.

[Johann Rossouw · Rating 3 out of 5]

an election, blizzards and a tinkers' wedding, what a delightful read!

[David Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising look at life in the Hebrides islands in the 1950's or thereabouts.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I love her writing. Love her little books. So full of charm and cheer. Delicious.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a series of vignettes than a novel

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost as delightful as the previous two in this trilogy. The stories flow easily but do tend to focus a little more on the darker side of island life like death and illness. But the writing is always uplifting containing many funny moments and never depressing. The author paints such a vivid picture of the landscape and islanders, you can't help but fall in love with the fictitious village. The writing is so expressive that the stories and anecdotes do play out in your mind like a movie. Anyone who longs for simpler times, closer knit communities, and learning about how people survived on remote islands without many of the modern conveniences we enjoy today will enjoy this collection of stories.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book three is a series of short stories of her time on the island and its people and events. I love this writer. (I hate the cover choices of Goodreads and its lack of flexibility in allowing me to put up the cover of the book I own).

[Iain Watson]

The Loud Halo by Lillian Beckwith (2001)

[Elizabeth Downes]

Retread January 2015

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful!

[Sam Schulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

See review of The Hills is Lonely