Glenfarron

"Glenfarron" is the tale of a rugged Scottish Highland landscape, and of the impact of three generations of incomers: Polish aircrew at a military hospital in the 1940s, a young Glaswegian couple who inherit a remote property in the 1970s, and African diplomats visiting Scotland in an attempt to recover stolen artefacts in 2006. These three stories overlap in a web of hauntings, illicit love, and a farcical battle to protect cultural heritage.
This is fine prose, filled with highly evocative descriptions of Scotland mixed with desperately poignant story-telling, as well as some bizarre comedy. It is a remarkable it of writing.

"Glenfarron" is Jonathan Falla's third novel after the hugely acclaimed "Blue Poppies" (concerning a radio operator caught in the Chinese invasion of Tibet) and "Poor Mercy" (concerning aid workers in Sudan). Of "Glenfarron" the reviewer in The Scotsman wrote: "An intelligent, well written and ambitious book. Falla is no longer to be described as a promising novelist, but as an accomplished one. Glenfarron is a real achievement."

Of Falla's previous books, the critics have said: "A vivid, engrossing work of fiction" (The Guardian), "Saturated with loving detail, unpredictable and opulent" (Sunday Times), "Glacial and understated, Falla's prose has an almost mythical quality. Beautifully evocative and utterly engrossing." (Textualities).