Electric Brae

Description

Electric Brae has been credited with inaugurating a new direction in the contemporary Scottish novel. It is neither urban nor male-centred nor angry. Instead it is distinguished by its breadth of sympathy and generosity of vision. At its centre is the crumbling seastack of the Old Man of Hoy and the consuming relationship between a young artist, Kim, coldly passionate, talented, secretive, and Jimmy, a North Sea roughneck, engineer and climber.It is a story about passionate, painful love and ice-climbing, loss and renewal, loyalty and betrayal, politics and art, fathers and children. It also deals with the possibility of friendship between men and women, overturning and inverting stereotypes all the way.

Andrew Greig was born in Bannockburn near Stirling in 1951. He completed an MA in Philosophy at Edinburgh University and then worked in a variety of jobs, including salmon netting, hop picking and farm work. He 'survived' as a poet for nearly 20 years thanks to the Scottish Arts Council and various bursaries, as well as teaching creative writing in schools and giving readings. He was Writer-in-Residence at Glasgow University from 1979-1981, and at Edinburgh University from 1992-1994.Electric Brae, was shortlisted for the McVitie's Prize and the Boardman-Tasker Award, and his second, The Return of John MacNab, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelist's Award and topped the Scottish bestseller lists in 1996. He is also the author of the acclaimed When They Lay Bare (1999) and That Summer (2000).He is recognized as one of the leading Scottish poets of his generation