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From the author of the prizewinning As the Women Lay Dreaming comes an evocative and deeply original novel that reimagines the lives of Hebrideans across the centuries, sweeping from the eighth century to the present day.
Interlinked stories unfold across generations, layered like blankets of peat, where fragments of earlier lives lie preserved and later resurface: a sword hidden by a Viking raider; a rosary left behind in a place of sanctuary by a troubled priest.
Past struggles, betrayals, loves and losses reverberate in the lives of modern islanders, woven and distilled by the legacies of the Clearances and devastating wars. Again and again, men and women return to the beehive-shaped stone shelter on a tiny island at the edge of the Loch of the Bees — a place of refuge, memory and renewal.
Here, the land keeps its secrets, and time curves back on itself, as the living find connection with those who came before.
“A beautiful and bittersweet portrait of an extraordinary place.” Antonia Senior, The Times
“The past’s current flows through the characters in his fiction so strongly that it almost becomes the story itself.” David Robinson, Books from Scotland
“Thoughtful and captivating.” Cathy MacDonald, Stornoway Gazette
Praise for As the Women Lay Dreaming:
“Full of memorable images and singing lines of prose.” Sarah Waters
"A searing poetic meditation on stoicism and loss." BBC Radio 4
"A powerful novel... A poignant exploration of love, loss and survivor's guilt." Sunday Times
"I loved this book." Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize–winning novelist
"Murray is an evocative painter of landscapes and a deeply sympathetic writer... a space for forgotten voices to sound, bearing witness not just to this tragedy, but to the terrible cost of World War I itself." Daily Mail
“From the first line I know I’m in the hands of a bard and consummate storyteller. The writing is lyrical and hugely descriptive … The history is rich and fascinating.” Historical Novels Review
Praise for In a Veil of Mist:
“A moving portrait of a place and its people … a quiet, sad but brilliant novel.” Times, Book of the Month
"A well-written and well-crafted novel from an author at the height of his powers.” Oban Times
“A rich and sympathetic portrayal of island life in all its diversity … timely and compelling … a novel to savour.” Allan Massie, Scotsman
“Admirably atmospheric and engaging.” Scotsman, Books of the Year
Praise for The Salt and the Flame:
“Tender, wise and beautiful.” Antonia Senior, The Times, Book of the Month
"Well-researched and heartfelt … an especially poignant story, told with an abundance of humanity and compassion." Herald
“In The Salt and the Flame, Donald S. Murray presents the best of historical fiction: a heart-warming and heart-wrenching story set against a rigorous and well-researched past. He weaves together so many threads of the Leòdhasaich and indeed the whole Hebridean twentieth-century immigrant experience.” Jacqueline Murray, University of Guelph, in International Review of Scottish Studies (49.2, 2024), Edinburgh University Press