Description
Book SynopsisThis tender and personal memoir by the poet Joanna Ramsey of George Mackay Brown gives an account of some aspects of the last eight years of his life in Stromness, Orkney, and of the friendship between them. It also provides a background to his poem 'A New Child: ECL 11 June 1993' (included in the anthology Following a Lark), which he wrote for Joanna's daughter. There are many small details of George's day to day life in those last years that are not included in any other account. Also included are an unpublished poem written for Joanna, and a number of birthday acrostics written for her and her daughter, Emma. In his final years George Mackay Brown rarely travelled beyond Stromness, but many of his friends visited him there; the book is also peopled by George's other friends, and paints a portrait of a man who remained very dear and important to others until his death and beyond it.
Trade Review'Joanna Ramsey has written a scrupulously honest, nuanced account of her close friendship with George Mackay Brown. As well as containing previously unpublished verse by this great Orcadian poet, this book is full of hints and glints of the remarkable cultural life of Brown's Stromness in the late twentieth century.'
‘Refreshingly, Ramsey reveals a kind and relaxed private man.’
* The Skinny *
‘In several glowing, loving passages she honours art and artist alike.’
* The Herald *
