George Mackay Brown was steeped in the life and traditions of Orkney, a world set firmly between the sea and the sky, where time has an altogether different nature and significance from the rest of the world.<BR>The rich history of the islands - the succession of Neolithic man, Pict, Norsemen, Scot - leaves its impression upon the life of modern Orkney and is reflected in this finely wrought collection. Mingling past and present, the human world and the spiritual, George Mackay Brown brings together both the modern islanders and the Orcadians of centuries past, for the same lineaments are discernable in both.<BR>'Hawkfall', the central story, traces the vicissitudes, violence and hypocrisies which recur over many generations; in 'The Drowned Rose', the ghosts of dead lovers, still in love with the things of this world, mix with the living, while 'Sealskin' explores the relationship between legend, art and life.