As The Women Lay Dreaming by Donald S. Murray
In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community.
Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY Iolaire when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod – a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips – the disaster would mark him indelibly.
Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the Iolaire shipwreck – by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed. The island is still coping with loss and a changing world
As a group we would recommend reading the authors note at the back of the book first. Because read the book and you immediately think this is a memoir, not a deeply moving novel. We felt it to be a book to relax into, as the pace of the novel mirrors the pace of Island life. It is a social history and explores how a single event can so dramatically impact communities, individuals for generations.
Submitted by Donaghadee Reading Group
