And the Land Lay Still
Winner of the 2010 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year
Tracing the intertwined lives of an unforgettable cast of characters, And the Land Lay Still is a searching journey into the heart of a country of high hopes and unfulfilled dreams, private compromises and hidden agendas. Brilliantly blending the personal and the political, it sweeps away the dust and grime of the post-war years to reveal a rich mosaic of 20th-century Scottish life.
Michael Pendreich is curating an exhibition of photographs by his late father, Angus, for the National Gallery of Photography in Edinburgh. As he arranges the images and writes his catalogue essay, Michael explores his past and unearths the stories of individuals captured – and missed – by Angus Pendreich’s lens over the decades.
And the Land Lay Still has enjoyed rave reviews since its publication in August 2010. Irvine Welsh described it as ‘a panoramic, illuminating and compassionate portrait of a turbulent and confused era, the book represents nothing less than a landmark for the novel in Scotland, and underlines the author’s position as one of Britain’s best contemporary novelists’ in the Guardian.
It has also been praised in the Independent on Sunday (‘dizzying . . . subtle and profound’), The Times (‘gripping narrative, easy prose style, delivering an intricate plot with elegant simplicity’) and the Financial Times (‘A cleverly orchestrated narrative . . . an ambitious enterprise’).
If you’d like to read more, there are also great reviews in the New Statesman, Telegraph, Herald, Daily Mail and Scotland on Sunday.