A Scots Quair

This classic trilogy—now in one volume—of a woman’s life on the Scottish coast in the early 20th century “may be read with delight the world over” (The New York Times).

Chris Guthrie, torn between her love of the land and her desire to escape the narrow horizons of a peasant culture, is the thread that links Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s trilogy of novels set in the Mearns of Northeast Scotland. Gibbon interweaves the personal joys and sorrows of Chris’ life with the greater historical and political events of the time, from the Great War to the Depression and beyond.

Sunset Song introduces young Chris, the spirited daughter of a farming family. In the years leading up to World War I, she finds love for the land and for the man who becomes her husband. Chris and her son Ewan survive the war, but when tragedy strikes close to home, it subdues her wild spirit. In Cloud Howe, as a minister’s wife, Chris learns to love again, and we witness the cruel gossip and high comedy of small village life. Grey Granite focuses on her son Ewan and his passionate involvement with justice for the common man. For Chris, with her intuitive strength, nothing lasts but the land.

This edition of A Scots Quair is edited and introduced by Tom Crawford.

“A landmark work; it permeates the Scottish literary consciousness and colors all subsequent writing of its kind.”—David Kerr Cameron