Customer Reviews

The Hills Is Lonely

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Time travel into an austere island of the Hebrides of the early 1960s - an entirely different place in time than my recall of the 60s! Remote and harsh, truly a difficult existence, but mingled with fun and high spirits. Ms. Beckwith takes just the right tone - no condescension, but rather an unvarnished yet sympathetic portrayal. Seeking a refreshing convalescence, she is intrigued by a response to an advertisement from an isolated croft in the Hebrides: "Surely it's that quiet even the sheeps themselves on the hills is lonely and as to the sea it's that near as I use it myself every day for the refusals." The reader never particularly gets to know the author, but instead quietly lives the village life of this remote island. Alternatively lovable and bizarre, the locals are sketched with much affection and the language is plainly inspired. The landscape is very much a part of this armchair travel guide to a very uncommon world view. I am off to find Ms. Beckwith's other books, reading this story was like finding riches.

A beautifuly soft and funny book, Ms Beckworth captures the soul of the Shetland Isles. A retired School teacher retires to a remote isle and re-discovers the Human nature. You need to have a love of nature to truly appriciate her view of the world. In this rush, rush world we have evolved to, her story allows us to slow the pace for a while and enjoy the simpler pleasures of life. Try the other 2 books, The Load Halo and The Sea for Breakfast. This is a book you would want when the day is cold and wet. Short but full of characters.

when you are reading this. The characters described is this lovely book will come alive - in all their strangeness and hilarity. The entire premise is bizarre, a not-so-young Englishwoman moves to the isolated Hebrides to live among crofters, who are simultaneously practical, inept, stubborn, deeply loyal, irreverant, convivial, argumentative and drunk a lot of the time. Beckwith certainly has a way with words, especially describing the vagaries of the English that the crofters speak, given that their mother tongue is Gaelic. Many of her observations and stories are laugh out loud funny - my boyfriend kept wanting know why I was laughing so much. If you want to travel great distances in time and space, farther than linear time and space would seem to suggest, check this book out. Personally, it will be on my re-read list and I'm going to get all the other Bruach tales too.

I've read the first two books in this seven-book series. She seems baffled, and sometimes condescending, in the first one, but her affection for the way of life and for the people deepens significantly by the second book (The Sea for Breakfast). I loved both, but the first one is a bit more slapstick. I can't wait to start the third.

I have read all of Lillian Beckwith's books 3 times and am starting again. She is one of those authors that are able to put the reader in her shoes. The characters of her books are eccentric, charming and captivating. Her sense of humor and eye for detail are pure fun. She unfailingly captures the moment with all its richness and translates it into the vivid picture and experience that it was. Her love of the people, the country and the life are evident from beginning to end.

After reading this book (twice) and Ms. Beckwith's other books describing her life in the Hebrides, I long to visit the islands myself. These books are charming, delightful, hilarious, and introduce the reader to a different "breed" of delightful characters and customs.