{"product_id":"beside-the-ocean-of-time","title":"Beside The Ocean Of Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWITH A NEW FOREWORD BY AMY LIPTROT\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 1994\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 1994\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Intimate, humorous, effortlessly combining the strands of history and folklore, the past and the present, this is a deceptively simple book, like a tale told to a child. But its echoes sound on unforgettably. A whole universe is created from a grain of Orkney sand'' \u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIn this novel set on the fictitious island of Norday in the Orkneys, George Mackay Brown beckons us into the imaginary world of the young Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter. In his day-dreams he relives the history of this island people, travelling back in time to join Viking adventurers at the court of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople, then accompanying a Falstaffian knight to the battle of Bannockburn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThorfinn wakes to the twentieth century and a community whose way of life, steeped in legend and tradition, has remained unchanged for centuries. But as the boy grows up - and falls in love with a vivacious and mysterious stranger - the transforming effect of modern civilization brings momentous and irreversible changes to the island. During the Second World War Thorfinn finds himself in a German prisoner-of-war camp, and it is here that he discovers his gifts as a writer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong afterwards he returns, now a successful novelist, to a deserted and battle-scarred island. Searching for the peace and freedom of mind he had in abundance as a child, he finds instead something he didn''t even know he was looking for.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Mackay Brown intertwines myth and reality to create a novel of deceptive simplicity. The story of Thorfinn and the island of Norday is a universal and profound one, rooted in the timeless landscape of the Orkneys, the inspiration of all his writing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57399230628222,"sku":"NW9781399827188","price":10.77,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781399827188.jpg?v=1778622867","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/beside-the-ocean-of-time","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}