In her declining years, as her memory for the past overtakes her connection to the present, Meggie Tulloch sets out to write her life story. Addressed (in the mid-1970s) to her hippyish granddaughter, and kept secret from her daughter, Kathryn, the girl’s mother (although, as time goes on, Meggie increasingly confuses the two), it’s a story of migration from north-east Scotland and the Shetlands to Fremantle, Australia, a journey through the elements of water, air and earth, and finally (in a contemporary strand picked up by the daughter herself) fire.
Born into a community in which men are ruled by the sea, and women and children by men, Meggie is nevertheless a spirited young thing from the start. Despite her grandfather’s envious attacks, and the household’s need for another pair of hands to avoid the family singing below the bread line, she clings to her place at school until a tragedy pushes her to follow her sister Kitty to work as a herring girl. Long hours standing in the cold, the stench of fish and blood in her nostrils and her hands sacrificed to the salt and the sharpness of the gutting knife, cannot sour the pleasures of a place that brings her a husband, a lifelong friend and freedom from the closed minds and traditions of home.
While Maggie’s life is littered with hardship, Elemental is an uplifting story of endurance and the strength of women’s friendship and the threads of family across generations, peppered with lovely dialect words such as quine. Published this week by Scribe, there’s a free copy available for one lucky reader of my blog anywhere in the world. To be eligible, all you need to do is to leave a comment on this post and on any other post from this month (or to have already done so) until the competition closing date of 16 February. The winner will be selected at random and announced on 17 February, or as soon as possible thereafter. Do check out the other posts in the blog tour and good luck!
While Maggie’s life is littered with hardship, Elemental is an uplifting story of endurance and the strength of women’s friendship and the threads of family across generations, peppered with lovely dialect words such as quine. Published this week by Scribe, there’s a free copy available for one lucky reader of my blog anywhere in the world. To be eligible, all you need to do is to leave a comment on this post and on any other post from this month (or to have already done so) until the competition closing date of 16 February. The winner will be selected at random and announced on 17 February, or as soon as possible thereafter. Do check out the other posts in the blog tour and good luck!
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