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A Time to Keep
A Time to Keep is George Mackay Brown’s second volume of short stories inspired by both ancient and modern life on the islands of Orkney. First published in 1969, its 12 stories depict a vast cast of characters drawn from Orkney’s past and present, offering a range of emotions and incidents. They are elemental tales of the fishermen, crofters and farmers of the island and of the harsh, beautiful landscape in which they live.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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About the author
George Mackay Brown
183 books99 followersGeorge Mackay Brown, the poet, novelist and dramatist, spent his life living in and documenting the Orkney Isles.
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 22, 2018
A lovely collection of short stories.
September 24, 2023
Even if you've never been to Orkney, "a quiet place and a quiet people, mostly farmers and seamen and fishermen" these precise and beautiful stories evoke the place unforgettably. You can almost smell the sea, the wind, the heather, see the cloud shadows, imagine selkies swimming in the surf. Each story, as it unfolds, becomes a favorite. The central one traces in forty pages and five vignettes the history of the island from the Neolithic period to a precisely dated June 9, 1921. It is more memorable than some multi-volume epics tracing families for hundreds of years and thousands of pages. The author can enlarge a seemingly simple moment with magic: a grocer who is also an antiquarian is asked to value a coin a man has dug up in his garden. He rubs the dirt off, gets his magnifying glass, examines it, and pronounces it not VERY valuable (disappointment--the man had hoped suddenly to be the wealthiest man in the village) -a James V shilling. Then we learn "He loved the relics of history--those small objects that have fallen intact between the great millstones of necessity and chance." Wow. Every story has sentences like that.
March 1, 2024
I keep returning to George MacKay Brown.
He clearly had a deep affection for Orkney, the place he rarely left, its history, traditions and landscape. But it is his affection for the people of Orkney which shines most brightly. Flawed characters, from the gossiping, judgemental churchgoers, to the eternally drunken seamen, he presents them warts and all, and loves them all the more for their foibles and traits. He writes with a great deal of humanity and compassion for the fellow members of his community, those still propping up the bars of Hamnavoe, and those who walked the fields and landed their catch, long before him.
A Time To Keep is a pleasure to read. I'd recommend any of his prose works.
He clearly had a deep affection for Orkney, the place he rarely left, its history, traditions and landscape. But it is his affection for the people of Orkney which shines most brightly. Flawed characters, from the gossiping, judgemental churchgoers, to the eternally drunken seamen, he presents them warts and all, and loves them all the more for their foibles and traits. He writes with a great deal of humanity and compassion for the fellow members of his community, those still propping up the bars of Hamnavoe, and those who walked the fields and landed their catch, long before him.
A Time To Keep is a pleasure to read. I'd recommend any of his prose works.
December 4, 2018
This is a truly lovely book of short stories set in the Orkneys and conveying a completely different life to the one I live - and for that I have really enjoyed it. The writing is beautiful, the tales are all interesting and range in time from Viking raiders to a 20th century writer. I would definitely like to read more of Brown’s books - and his poetry.
July 27, 2019
I seldom read collections of short stories but found this volume in a bookshop on Orkney and thoroughly enjoyed it.
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June 16, 2022Very pleased to discover this writer. Great structure and compelling themes and plots.
February 20, 2024
Austere, but with glints of humour. Stories from across eras and styles, but all centring around the land of Orkney
January 5, 2016
Twelve Orkney based stories, the author's second volume. My favourites were:
Celia. About an alcoholic woman. 9
A Time To Keep. The story of a newly married couple.8
Also included:
A Treading Of Grapes. Three sermons by three priests of the same church over different centuries. 4
Icarus. Short humorous tale of a prophesying uncle. 7
The Storyteller. An old man telling tales in a bar. 6
The Wireless Set. Short tale about the first radio in Tronvik. 5
The Five Of Spades. Tale of a legendary gambler. 7
The Whaler's Return. A man navigating the trail of ale houses on his way to see his betrothed. 7
The Bright Spade. Short about a gravedigger's busy winter. 6
Tartan. Vikings come ashore. 8
The Carrier Of Stones. A man refuses several requests and becomes a monk. 8
The Eye Of The Hurricane. A writer's attempts to prevent an old sea captain from drinking. 7
Celia. About an alcoholic woman. 9
A Time To Keep. The story of a newly married couple.8
Also included:
A Treading Of Grapes. Three sermons by three priests of the same church over different centuries. 4
Icarus. Short humorous tale of a prophesying uncle. 7
The Storyteller. An old man telling tales in a bar. 6
The Wireless Set. Short tale about the first radio in Tronvik. 5
The Five Of Spades. Tale of a legendary gambler. 7
The Whaler's Return. A man navigating the trail of ale houses on his way to see his betrothed. 7
The Bright Spade. Short about a gravedigger's busy winter. 6
Tartan. Vikings come ashore. 8
The Carrier Of Stones. A man refuses several requests and becomes a monk. 8
The Eye Of The Hurricane. A writer's attempts to prevent an old sea captain from drinking. 7
March 30, 2014
A good look, through short stories, at the people of the Orkneys -- from Viking times through recent times. Dealing with the difficulties of life in a steady, quiet way. Well-known writer in the Orkneys.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews