The language the novel is told in seemed so surprising to me at first that for a long time it simply didn't remind me of anyone. Even the many cool, introspective, observational scenes of her alone – which in less skilful hands could easily have seemed voyeuristic – have an air of genuine sympathy and truth to them.īut she saw herself then in her long green skirt, long under the knee, and her hair wound in its great fair plaits about her head, and her high cheek-bones that caught the light and her mouth that was well enough, her figure was better still and she knew for one wild passing moment herself both frightened and sorry she should be a woman, she'd never dream things again, she'd live them, the days of dreaming were by and maybe they had been the best…. The coming-of-age element is the more remarkable because of how brilliantly Gibbon seems able to understand his female protagonist: Chris Guthrie is completely convincing. The first book of the trilogy is the most astonishing – all the pleasures of a Bildungsroman combined with a very rich and involving portrait of life in a Scottish farming village where we get to know and care about almost every inhabitant. Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell (1901 – 1935), a Scottish writer famous for his contribution to the Scottish Renaissance and portrayal of strong female characters.Ī long, powerful, moving, and ultimately pitiless account of that generation in Scotland who lived (if they were lucky) through the First World War and saw the rural lives of the crofters swallowed up by a new urban society. But everything is threatened when the cause becomes bigger than the people around him. Ewan is forced to become a communist activist due to violence and police brutality. Grey Granite is the final book of the trilogy and the story of Ewan, Chris's son in the depression era. They move to Segget, a mill town where a class struggle is taking shape and Robert is at the helm of political affairs. Cloud HoweII is the story of Chris Guthrie and her second husband Robert. Life is hard after her dad's death and she must take some tough decisions to save her farms under the inevitable threat of World War I.
Chris Guthrie, the female protagonist, is a strong character who grows up in a dysfunctional farming family. Sunset Song is the first book of the trilogy A Scots Quair and widely regarded as one of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century.
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