Monday, January 12, 2009

SEA ROOM
Adam Nicolson
Harper Collins Paperback

Last year I enthused about SISSINGHURST - AN UNFINISHED HISTORY by Adam Nicolson (Harper Collins).
Wellington-based historian Gavin McLean subsequently left a comment on the blog which read:

Nicolson's one of the best writers - period. Read his SEA ROOM if you ever see a copy. A magical meditation of history, place and inheritance.

I now want to thank McLean for his comment which caused me t read the book over the holidays, and I loved it and agree entirely with his description.
Nicolson inherited the Shiants, three lonely islands off the coast of Scotland. This is his story of those islands and his relationship with them.
His book (pubished in 2002) is an exquisite, simply beautiful piece of writing, his description of landscape is as good as anything you will ever read. I loved it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I loved the way Sissinghurst was written. I thought the way Nicolson managed to merge today with the past and then link it to the future was extremely well done. 'Sea Room' has just arrived from the library for me so I'm looking forward to reading it.
One of the best/worst things about this blog is the personal recommendations that you and others make which often start me off on a reading path that ends up miles away from where I started. I know that this is only another title by the same author but I fully expect to finish somewhere new. :)