Donald S Murray
A son of the Hebrides, Donald S Murray is a writer and poet whose first novel, As the Women Lay Dreaming, won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize in 2020, as well as being shortlisted for a host of other literary awards. Like his first novel, his second, In a Veil of Mist, is set in the Isle of Lewis and centred on historical events of the 20th century. In a Veil of Mist was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize. Donald’s previous books have been shortlisted for both the Saltire Literary Awards and the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. His critically acclaimed non-fiction books bring to life the culture and nature of the Scottish islands, and he appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. He is also the writer of The Man who Talks to Birds, a collection of poetry published in 2020.
His latest novel, The Call of the Cormorant, is an ‘unreliable biography’ of Karl Kjerúlf Einarsson: an artist and an adventurer, a charlatan and a swindler, forever in search of Atlantis.
The Loch of the Bees
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Buy The Loch of the Bees
From the author of the prizewinning As the Women Lay Dreaming comes an evocative and highly original fictional rendering of a Hebridean island across the centuries.
Continuing his elegiac Lewis novels, Donald S. Murray serves up a remarkable new work that sweeps across time from the eighth century to the present day. Layering interlinked stories of successive generations like blankets of peat, he allows echoes of ancient lives to surface in the present.
This is a novel that mirrors the shifting rhythms of wind and tide. The struggles and joys of past lives are refracted in the heartaches and hopes of modern-day islanders. As in his award-winning previous novels, the ordinary is suffused with quiet wonder; every place and gesture carries memories and meaning.
Ultimately, this is a novel about continuity. The land holds its secrets, letting the past break surface in sometimes surprising ways. Murray’s compassionate gaze reminds us that time can be viewed as a circle, where the living are in constant conversation with those who came before.
Prizes and awards
Paul Torday Memorial Award 2020: Winner
The Herald Scottish Culture Awards, Outstanding Literature Award: Shortlisted
Authors’ Club Best First Novel: Shortlist
HWA Debut Crown: Longlist
Highland Book Prize: Longlist
Walter Scott Prize: Commendation
