$25.88

FREE Returns

No Import Fees Deposit & $9.71 Shipping to Canada Details

Delivery Wednesday, February 14. Order within 20 hrs 59 mins

Deliver to Canada

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$25.88 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Ships from

Amazon

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

ExcellentWares

Sold by

ExcellentWares

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Details

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$10.90

Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less See less

$8.05 delivery February 29 - March 21. Details

Deliver to Canada

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$25.88 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Ships from and sold by ThriftBooks-Seattle.

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

George MacKay Brown

Follow

BESIDE THE OCEAN OF TIME Hardcover – September 28, 1994

by GEORGE MACKAY BROWN (Author)

4.4 143 ratings

See all formats and editions

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$25.88","priceAmount":25.88,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"25","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"88","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"MhNnGVKfkuEsbqeWU5PIsBr4SOtSvO%2Fmza5wfLgUXMv7vuZdY9WQYKM5aKm2s7UdOPhpOn3dPYKdshWQA%2FrxJ825adihTwg8oTOLurQkFjdKfH%2BOG1EO6vU%2Fq6DX5QmNnvulcEH%2FwbpstAJ5GS9oCMhmYCf4i8gBdc2tVLPhz9eSvyR21HESeyStWnBh0JRs","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$10.90","priceAmount":10.90,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"10","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"90","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"MhNnGVKfkuEsbqeWU5PIsBr4SOtSvO%2FmuIloVxCr8PO58gG%2BvZL5jxI98g6hZQ1vbk4%2FZ1%2F39DQkmGfnrxHWP3phsCjNjRYzSBlGC3OCmv18Hms9eK3cLsro8icmGOg4rCy7H4c6jmGoDASjOnNrgFYxdrFSQlnYyMUPe4V8ys3ZjbgfaU6rLQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

In this novel set on the fictitious island of Norday in the Orkneys, George Mackay Brown beckons us into the imaginary world of the young Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter. In his day-dreams he relives the history of this island people, travelling back in time to join Viking adventurers at the court of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople, then accompanying a Falstaffian knight to the battle of Bannockburn. Thorfinn wakes to the twentieth century and a community whose way of life, steeped in legend and tradition, has remained unchanged for centuries. But as the boy grows up - and falls in love with a vivacious and mysterious stranger - the transforming effect of modern civilization brings momentous and irreversible changes to the island. During the Second World War Thorfinn finds himself in a German prisoner-of-war camp, and it is here that he discovers his gifts as a writer. Long afterwards he returns, now a successful novelist, to a deserted and battle-scarred island. Searching for the peace and freedom of mind he had in abundance as a child, he finds instead something he didn't even know he was looking for. George Mackay Brown intertwines myth and reality to create a novel of deceptive simplicity. The story of Thorfinn and the island of Norday is a universal and profound one, rooted in the timeless landscape of the Orkneys, the inspiration of all his writing.

About the Author

George Mackay Brown was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist, whose work has a distinctly Orcadian character. He is considered one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. "Beside the Ccean of Time" was short-listed for the 1994 Booker Prize.

He studied at the University of Edinburgh and lived most of his life in Stromness, Orkney Islands. He died in Stromness in 1996. This is his last collection of poems.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bayeux Arts
Publication date

September 28, 1994
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1896209122
ISBN-13

978-1896209128
See all details

George Mackay Brown
39
Mass Market Paperback
$18.95
George Mackay Brown
69
Paperback
$16.38
$9.54 shipping
Only 3 left in stock - order soon.
George Mackay Brown
143
Paperback
$18.15
$9.59 shipping
Only 6 left in stock (more on the way).
George Mackay Brown
12
Paperback
$17.80
Get it Feb 23 - Mar 11
$4.99 shipping
George Mackay Brown
115
Paperback
$17.98
$9.60 shipping
Only 5 left in stock (more on the way).
Brian Murray
38
Paperback
$35.41
$10.12 shipping
Only 2 left in stock - order soon.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bayeux Arts; First Edition (September 28, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1896209122
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1896209128
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,195,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,452 in Metaphysical & Visionary Fiction (Books)
- #149,780 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 143 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

George MacKay Brown

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

143 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Richard Druitt

Broad sweeping poetic epic

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a beautiful book. George Mackay Brown reminds us that dreaming lads, far from being idle, may in fact be conjuring poetic epics. As we follow them we learn a great deal about the Orkneys, the history of Scotland, and ourselves. It has a haunting signature that carries the winds of simple truth in its sails. I advise you to read it.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lauryn

A Look into the Imagination of an "Idle, Useless Boy"

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2000

Verified Purchase

The first half of this novel is completely engrossing. Young Thorfinn Ragnar takes occurences from his everyday life and from these common threads weaves beautiful stories in his imagination. Of course, no one in the real world realizes the importance of these dreams, or how gifted Thorfinn is at weaving tales, and therefore he is dismissed as an "idle, useless boy." In the second half of the book, the story takes place in the real world, abandoning the accounts of Thorfinn's imaginary worlds, and it is here that the novel loses a bit of its charm. The novel is still a beautifully-written novel, and I'm very glad I had the chance to read it.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Erling Aspelund

Beside the Ocean of Time

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

Simply an oustanding book by George Mckay Brown just like his other books Magnus, Viking and Greenvoe. It is amazing e.g. how he spins a story around the old folktale "Woman and the sealskin". The best one of his collection and among the best I have read for a long time. Brown's love of Orkney shines though all his writings.
Erling Aspelund

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

dubba

I own a large library of Browns works, I ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

I own a large library of Browns works, I never grow tired of his style and historical content. If you have not read G.M.K.Brown before than please give yourself a real treat and read him.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Tina Magnuson

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016

Verified Purchase

Wonderfully poetic and moving story.

Helpful

Steve

Rewarding, but frequently hard to get through

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

A rewarding novel, but with quite a few chapters that are hard to get through. It does give you a good idea on what life was like in the pre-World War II Orkney Islands of Scotland, and how the war changed them.

The author centers the book around young Thorfinn Ragnarson, who daydreams about the past, including being on a Viking ship that travels to the Byzantine Empire and going to the Battle of Bannockburn with a knight who wants to fight with Robert the Bruce. He winds up in a German prisoner-of-war camp in World War II and becomes a writer. Much of this sounded interesting, so I purchased a copy of the book. The reality did not always come up to these expectations, even with some terrific moments during reading.

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2014

George Mackay Brown, poet and storyteller, was an absolutely brilliant writer. Here he brings readers into a magical world, where past and present mingle in the mind of a young boy. This is not "historical fiction," nor is it an adventure story; and readers who demand fast-moving plot will be disappointed. Instead, the book moves at the leisurely pace of life in the Orkney islands in the early twentieth century, where the story is set. If you are willing to surrender your imagination to a writer whose skill with words is equalled by his mastery of the art of storytelling--and by storytelling, I mean oral storytelling, not the techniques of contemporary fiction--then you're in for a real treat.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

K.N.R.

Okay, but not exciting

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book was hard to get into, mainly because the story took the form of mini-stories, but not until the end did I learn the meaning. The whole beginning is used to make a point that technology can be harmful and that old generations need to get used to things slowly. A dreamer, Thorfinn becomes a very stable, though poor, man who writes what he dreams. A point that becomes apparent with each new tale is that nothing will last, all is but a memory and will soon be forgotten. This hard reality is made when Thorfinn is unable to write his last book; he is unable to dream like when he was young. You are not a child forever

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Captain Book

wonderfully, wonderfully good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is only the second George Mackay Brown I've read but it won't be the last. I don't know how but I was entirely ignorant of his existence. I heard Lorraine Kelly, on A Good Read on Radio 4, talking about his Greenvoe and she made it sound like something I should read. Thanks a lot Lorraine!

Greenvoe is a marvellous book but this one is even better. I've just finished it and I've got that kind of exhaustion of the spirit you get when you've been in the presence of genius. I'll need a rest before I go back to him.There was one chapter that moved me so deeply at its conclusion that I couldn't get to sleep. It had set off something like an undersea landslip way down dark and deep lifting all sorts of blind turbidities. I don't know what that was about but I take it as a mark of the genius of the writer. I struggled to attend to the following two or three pages as my soul was still swimming and I had to go back and read them again.

Magic realism is a phrase that gets used with George Mackay Brown and I can see why but this book made me think of Thomas Mann's The Holy Sinner. The same mythic light and melody, a deft command of episodic and oceanic time, a jewel like quality like an early medieval illuminated book of hours. I loved the descriptions of the island and the people. I cared about the people - even when they weren't people - and Thorfinn Ragnarson sits with me now like Hans Castorp, Tom Cundall or Leopold Bloom; one of the most finely realised characters in literature.

I hope I'm not overdoing this - I have gone on a bit - but I sort of need to get it out of my system. Never mind what I think, just read the first sentence: 'Of all the lazy useless boys who ever went to Norday school, the laziest and most useless was Thorfinn Ragnarson.' I'll have to read it again myself now... when I'm feeling up to it.

3 people found this helpful

Robert McInnis

Memory: the economy of experience

Reviewed in Canada on July 17, 2009

Verified Purchase

I spent 10 days in June 2009 trekking over the Orkney Islands and heard from many folks that I should read George MacKay Brown's work. "beside the Ocean in Time" is the second title I read. I was enthralled by the glimpses that MacKay Brown gives of the history, archeology,flora and fauna, and the people. My treasured memories of the recent trip were reinforced by the tales he created and there were many times that I smiled at the tapestry he wove.

Knightowld

Eine außergewöhnliche Reise durch die Zeit

Reviewed in Germany on November 26, 2002

Verified Purchase

Auf dem Ozean fahren Schiffe, bald in diese, bald in jene Richtung. Auf dem Ozean der Zeit sind es Schicksale, die bald diese, bald jene Wende vollziehen. Ein Beobachter an den Ufern des Ozeans der Zeit, fasziniert von der Entwicklung dieses einen Schicksals, achtet auf Begegnungen, sich kreuzende Kurse und erkennt aus seiner Distanz den Tanz in den Wirbeln der Fahrtrinnen. Strömungen erzeugen eine Drift in nicht vorhergesehene Richtungen, doch günstige Winde helfen scheinbar verlorenen Boden wieder gut zu machen.
George Mackay Brown führt seinen Leser mit dem Teleskop seiner Schreibfeder ganz nah zu Thorfinn Ragnarson, dem 11jährigen Schuljungen auf Norday, einer Orkney Insel, so nah, dass selbst seine Tagträume sichtbar werden. Thorfinn ist ein begabter Träumer, ein begnadeter Segler auf dem Meer der Zeit, und es bedarf nur einer der zahllosen todlangweiligen Unterrichtstunden seines Lehrers, einer Stammtisch-Politik-Runde in der Schmiede oder eines herrlich warmen Sommertages im Fischerboot, und schon gleitet seine Fantasie in die Welt hinaus, dort, wo Schwedische Vorfahren Erkundungen auf der Wolga machten, wo Schottland sich bei Bannockburn gegen England behauptete, wo Orkneys Fischer sich in Rundtürmen verschanzt gegen Winkinger zur Wehr setzten.
Die Perspektiven wechseln, nicht nur mit den Handlungsorten, sondern auch mit den Personen. Schon begleitet der Leser den Schulmeister, die Besitzerin des Post- und Krämerladens oder den Gutsherren, der für ein paar Wochen auf der Insel verweilt. All diese vielfarbigen Garne webt GMB in Thorfinns Flies mit hinein. Eine Bilderfolge entsteht und zeigt, wie der kleine Junge sich entwickelt, wie er älter wird. Eine der Begegnungen schlägt Wurzeln, ein Urlaubsgast, ein junges Mädchen, durchschaut das Bild vom angeblichen Faulpelz und Nichtsnutz und sieht statt dessen ... einen Poeten. Doch der Krieg erreicht auch den Norden Schottlands und drückt der Inselgruppe nachhaltig seinen Stempel auf. Der Bau des Luftwaffenstützpunkts vernichtet Jahrtausendealtes, entreißt den Insulanern ihre gewachsene Lebensweise, vertreibt sie schließlich. Aber die Kraft der Fantasie zeigt mit der Geschichte des zum Mädchen verwandelten Seehunds, ihrer Kinder und ihrer Befreiung, in die Thorfinn abermals eintaucht, dass Veränderungen nie endgültig sind. Der Dichter, der keiner wurde, kehrt als Bauer und Fischer auf die Insel zurück, das Mädchen, dass seine Zukunft sah, erkennt, dass es sich um die Zukunft ihrer Kinder handelt.
George Mackay Brown enthüllt das Leben auf Orkney in allen Stationen, zeigt die Vielschichtigkeit der dort lebenden Menschen und vor allem, wie sehr ihr Leben von der Natur und von der Geschichte geprägt wurde. Und Seite für Seite nimmt man Teil an diesem Leben und hat am Ende das Gefühl, Norday sei Station im eigenen Leben gewesen.
Eine Sternstunde der Erzählkunst und alles andere als Fantasy.

2 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

Mena

Wundervolle Geschichte

Reviewed in Germany on March 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

Dieses Buch hat mich so dermaßen in seinen Bann gerissen, wie lange kein Buch mehr. Ich kann es jedem nur ganz warm empfehlen.

Translate review to English

CaSundara

Lucid, Dream-Like Prose

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is an intelligent and complex novel that explores the concept of time and how the past influences the present.

Having enjoyed but simultaneously been utterly confused by a previous title written by the same author, I felt compelled to read more of his work, to see if I'd failed to understand his intentions, or whether his work just wasn't my cup of tea. Happily, the former seems to have been the case as I found this book made perfect sense, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Thorfinn, the protagonist, travels through time via dreams and daydreams, thereby sharing with the reader the history and mythology of the Orkneys. The island portrayed in the book is, in fact, imaginary but presumably acts as a substitute for any of the other islands.

Having visited and fallen in love with the Highlands, I adore reading about Scottish history. I also find Scottish mythology the most believable or reasonable so am often drawn to books incorporating it into modern tales. This book didn't disappoint in either area. As an Orcadian, Mackay Brown obviously knows the islands well and does an impressive job of bringing Norday to life.

Mackay Brown's uniquely-styled prose is conversational yet poetic. He animates people and places with such ease that one is entirely captivated, to the extent of forgetting one is reading at all; the reader is drawn into a dream-like state in which time passes almost imperceptibly.

I read this short novel in little over two hours and will almost certainly return to it again. I imagine there is much metaphorical profundity hidden within its pages that will become apparent with closer attention to detail.

The only thing the story lacked, for me, was a recognisable plot. However, it was still an enjoyable read, and I may feel differently about that after a second read.

4 Stars

2 people found this helpful

See more reviews

Price		$25.88
AmazonGlobal Shipping		$9.71
Estimated Import Fees Deposit		$0.00

Total		$35.59

Shipping & Fee Details

Image Unavailable

Follow the author