Ìmpireachd (Scottish Gaelic)

Theres a sense in which Empire (Impireachd) is based on the interweaving of the two journeys, of son and father. The author has an unusual gift for persuading us we are present with him within the narrative, whether on the Lewis machair or on the streets of New York and Chicago before the Great Depression, in present-day Iran or in Dungavel detention centre. Such sustained and vibrant attention to detail brings a rare power to his exploration of events and attitudes in a book that offers a broad perspective, across time and geography.

And, although this is not at all a political sermon, it takes us on illuminating sweeps through a range of political scenarios, from glimpses of poverty between the wars in the United States, through those who could exploit the situation to enrich themselves, to the effects of global politics on many of the contemporary worlds unstable territories.

Many characters are skillfully drawn, between attractive rogues like Alasdair (Sudanese Ali, a gifted forger) and Maryam, an Iranian journalist. This is a big book, with big ambitions fully realised. It presents a broad fertile plain on which, among peregrinations and places, everyday and exotic, its possible to observe how different kinds of exile are experienced. (Aonghas MacNeacail)

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Thug athair Thormoid an rathad mòr air aon latha agus cha chualas guth bhuaithe tuilleadh. Ach carson? Dè thachair dha? Feumaidh Tormod seann dìomhaireachd fhuasgladh agus aig an aon àm a bhean, Maryam, a shàbhaladh o chogadh is geur-leanmhainn anns an nobhail ioma-fhillte seo.

Chì sinn fear às na h-Eileanan Siar a dèanamh air na Stàitean agus tè à Iran a togail beatha ùr dhi fhèin ann an Alba. Eadar na dhà, tha Tormod a strì ri gàbhadh thall thairis is ana-ceartas aig an taigh, agus an-còmhnaidh tha ceistean ga bhuaireadh mu an àite a th aig dachaigh is dualchas na bheatha.

Tha an treas nobhail seo le Iain F. MacLeòid gar toirt air turasan dàna thar a Chuan Siar agus Tìr-mòr na Roinn Eòrpa leis an aon liut airson deagh sgeulachd innse s a chunnacas ann an Klondykers agus Am Bounty.