Greenvoe, the tight-knit community on the Orcadian island of Hellya, has existed unchanged for generations, but Operation Black Star requires the island for unspecified purposes and threatens the islanders' way of life. A whole host of characters - The Skarf, failed fishermen and Marxist historian; Ivan Westray, boatman and dallier; pious creeler Samuel Whaness; drunken fishermen Bert Kerston; earth-mother Alice Voar, and meths-drinker Timmy Folster - are vividly brought to life in this sparkling mixture of prose and poetry.
In the end Operation Black Star fails, but not before it has ruined the island; but the book ends on a note of hope as the islanders return to celebrate the ritual rebirth of Hellya.
- ISBN10 0582348722
- ISBN13 9780582348721
- Publish Date 24 January 1977
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 13 August 1997
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Pearson Education Limited
- Imprint Longman
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 288
- Language English