Lillian Beckwith's Hebridean Tales
7 total works
Lillian Beckwith takes her experiences of moving to a croft of her own, and uses them as the basis of these comic adventures, once again set on the island of Bruach. Adapting to a totally different way of life provides many excuses for humour. In one story, beachcombing yields a strange find; in another, a Christmas party results in a riotous night's celebrations. The eccentric cast of characters guarantees there is never a dull moment on Bruach
`The most amusing book to come my way' Sunday Times
`It would be very difficult not to enjoy The Sea for Breakfast . . . for the charm and simplicity of its writing, not to mention the wonderful, warm people who inhabit its covers' Scotsman
'When I had first come to the Hebrides Morag, my landlady, had advised me always to "take a rope - in case," . . . Over and over I had proved its usefulness. I might need it to catch a calf or a sheep; to carry a bundle of hay to the cow or a can of paraffin from the grocer; to tie a bundle of driftwood I had collected, or a sack of peat; to secure a boat; make a temporary repair to a sagging fence or a halter for a horse . . . Excepting when they were going on holiday or to church, the Bruach crofters were rarely without a length of rope, either coiled around an arm or protruding from a pocket.'
The fourth of Lillian Beckwith's books on her life on Bruach, A Rope - In Case is packed with hilarious stories and delightful characters. Yet it is never sentimental - always observant.
'Hugely enjoyable fourth book of Hebridean humour and characters' Manchester Evening News
`What but whisky will take the ache out of lovin', the fire out of a fever an' the meanness out of a miser?' challenges Tearlaich when `Miss Peckwitt' teases him about his reverence for the `water of life'. Of course she cannot tell him.
Here in this seventh book about the Hebridean village of Bruach and its inhabitants Lillian Beckwith again assembles a galaxy of characters. Some, like Erchy and Morag, the benignly philandering Hector and the artlessly indelicate Tearlaich, are already well known to her readers, but now we meet Willy, the fisherman with his sometimes strange, sometimes bawdy stories of life at sea and in port. We meet the tinkers and we hear how the devout Shamus's determination not to allow the Bruach Sabbath to be profaned led to a small mystery which `Miss Peckwitt' is unlikely every to be able to solve.
But as well as human `characters' in this book we are introduced to some of the animals and birds she encountered or nursed (or fled form) during her crofting life, among them Bonny, her cow; Crumley, the highland bull, the `Infernal Gulliver' and most importantly Rowan, the sheepdog puppy which she resolutely annexed from a neighbour.
In her charming account of the rural village of Bruach, Lillian Beckwith paints a vivid picture of life as a Hebridean crofter, introducing a cast of colourful locals including village clown Johnny Comic and the irrepressible Erchy and Hector. With her trademark warmth, wit and lively humour, "Miss Peckwitt" spins a sparkling, unsentimental tale of an idyllic, long-lost way of life.
`For an unsentimental, lively, apparently photographically accurate picture on a Hebridean island, Miss Beckwith's essays or memoirs or stories would be hard to beat.' The Times
`A sparkling book which could well become a Scottish humorous classic' Weekly Scotsman
`. . . in Bruach when a single woman or a widow owns a net which is borrowed for the fishing that woman is entitled to a share of the catch and there came a day when, my net having been borrowed and the herring having obligingly swum into it, I found myself the recipient of a whole creelful of fresh fish.'
The Hebridean island of Bruach provides the setting for more enchanting tales of life among the crofters. Rich in incident and humour, Beautiful Just! sees Lililan Beckwith at the top of her form.
`This is crofting life at its strenuous best . . . masterly story-telling.' Press and Journal
`hilarious' Sunday Times
`absorbing . . . its humour is happy, easy and natural.' Daily Mirror
‘The Lord puts the salmon in the river like he puts the berries on the trees. They’re there for all of us, not just for the laird.’
The way the Bruachites saw it, poaching wasn’t a crime though you did have to keep an eye out for the local police. And it wasn’t just fishermen like Erchy and Hector who were experts – even a visiting vicar had been tempted by the fat salmon that filled the island’s streams and pools.
Like Lillian Beckwith’s other books about life in the Hebrides, Lightly Poached is packed with the enchanting and hilarious adventures of her island friends.
‘A beautiful book this, smelling of earth and sea, carrying the atmosphere of the crofts, and forcing you to laugh aloud’ Oxford Mail
‘Delightfully tangy and stylish’ Sunday Express