Elemental
As seen:
By Amanda Curtin
avg rating
6 reviews
It has taken a lifetime for me to see that the more afraid people are of the darkness, the further into it they will flee.
Nearing the end of her life, Meggie Tulloch takes up her pen to write a story for her granddaughter. It begins in the first years of the twentieth century, in a place where howling winds spin salt and sleet sucked up from icefloes.
A place where lives are ruled by men, and men by the witchy sea. A place where the only thing lower than a girl in the order of things is a clever girl with accursed red hair. A place schooled in keeping secrets.
Moving from the north-east of Scotland, to the Shetland Isles, to Fremantle, Australia, Elemental is a novel about the life you make from the life you are given.
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A fascinating book and great story. Gives you a brilliant insight into growing up in a fishing community and the working/living of the herring girls
A fascinating story of Meggie's life both in the North of Scotland and Australia. It was very moving and tragic but totally compelling to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.
Once I got into this book I really enjoyed it. It gave a stark account of how hared lives were for the fisher folk in the north of Scotland and how women were treated. The story was quite emotive in places but well written and descriptive,with a twist at the end. Some people might find the 'broch' language difficult to understand but I think that this this lends to the authenticity of the book.
St regulus Book Club
This book is engrossing. From early life as a fisher girl in the Western Isles of Scotland we travel through the years and across the world to her dying days in Australia. She had a harsh upbringing, not usual in those times, and was marked as 'unlucky' from her earliest years due to her flaming red hair. Yet this tiny bird flew the nest and her dying memoirs recall her life for her beloved grand-daughter. The simple exercise books lay undiscovered for many years but became a resource in time of great need. We hear Meggie speaking across the years and miles and the family history reveals that actions in the present have their roots in the almost lost tales of family past.
Engrossing read - very moving. Fisher Meggie's life story is full of hardship & struggles. She finds love and a new beginning in Australia. Great insight of life in the early 1900's. Thoroughly recommend.
I enjoyed this book, especially the sections recounting Meggie's life in Scotland, her harsh upbringing and her time "away at the fish". It was heartbreaking and moving.
