Book Review And The Land Lay Still 
by James Robertson
Hamish Hamilton, hb, £18.99, Fiction
Book Review: And The Land Lay Still
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Mike Pendreich has amassed a collection of photographs taken by his famous father, Angus, and is putting together an exhibition for the National Gallery of Photography in Edinburgh. Interspersed in Mike’s narrative of his own efforts to become a photographer, are the stories of the people in Angus’ work.
Robertson’s epic tale of Scottish life is told through the eyes of Don Lennie, a working man with two sons who take very different paths. Woven into the story is Lennie’s friend, Jack Gordon who, haunted by his PoW past in a Japanese labour camp, disappears only to be caught by Angus’s camera. Other characters add to the colourful history of Scotland in the second half of the 19th century, and are at times eclipsed by Robertson’s research into the politics of Scottish nationalism and Thatcherism.
However, this does not mar Robertson’s moving portrayal of emotion within each character and at the novel’s close, the intertwined stories are wonderfully brought together.
Posted on Wednesday 1st September 2010
Laura Christie
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