Alastair Macleod 
Embrace of the Sea 

'The tourist to the islands is to be forgiven for imagining that island life is an escape, an idyll where life is easy. It is far from the truth. Winning a living from sea and soil is hard, sometimes on a knife edge of risk. Not only therefore, did the islanders in their deepest hearts expect loss but they expected the bounty, the serendipitous event, the fortunate chance’