A Time To Keep

This is my favourite book of short stories bar none. I stumbled upon it in a bookshop in Stromness on the main island of Orkney on the last day of 1983. When I appeared at the till, the book seller asked me if I would like it signed. Well of course. ‘Where are you staying?’ he said. ‘Brown’s Hostel,’ I replied. ‘I’ll drop in in to you tomorrow.’ And he did. But so much alcohol had passed through my system by New Year’s Day that I’d more or less forgotten about the book. But here it was, signed “George Mackay Brown, Stromness, Hogmanay 1983.” (See extra pic.) I’ve bought another vintage copy for my father-in-law’s ninety-fifth birthday.