{"product_id":"9781444779738","title":"Beside the Ocean of Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this novel set on the fictitious island of Norday in the Orkneys, George Mackay Brown beckons us into the imaginary world of the young Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter. In his day-dreams he relives the history of this island people, travelling back in time to join Viking adventurers at the court of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople, then accompanying a Falstaffian knight to the battle of Bannockburn.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThorfinn wakes to the twentieth century and a community whose way of life, steeped in legend and tradition, has remained unchanged for centuries. But as the boy grows up - and falls in love with a vivacious and mysterious stranger - the transforming effect of modern civilization brings momentous and irreversible changes to the island. During the Second World War Thorfinn finds himself in a German prisoner-of-war camp, and it is here that he discovers his gifts as a writer. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLong afterwards he returns, now a successful novelist, to a deserted and battle-scarred island. Searching for the peace and freedom of mind he had in abundance as a child, he finds instead something he didn't even know he was looking for.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeorge Mackay Brown intertwines myth and reality to create a novel of deceptive simplicity. The story of Thorfinn and the island of Norday is a universal and profound one, rooted in the timeless landscape of the Orkneys, the inspiration of all his writing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John Murray Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46513421156593,"sku":"9781444779738","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0674\/5433\/7265\/files\/9781444779738_p0.jpg?v=1765989657","url":"https:\/\/shop.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781444779738","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble","version":"1.0","type":"link"}