Beside the Ocean of Time (Paperback)

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Set on the imagined Orkney island of Norday, Beside the Ocean of Time follows Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter whose inner life is rich with story and possibility. Through daydream and memory, Thorfinn drifts beyond the limits of his island, travelling through centuries of Orcadian and European history.

In his imagination he stands among Viking adventurers at the court of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople, then marches south with a boastful knight towards Bannockburn. These journeys are not escapes but ways of understanding his place in a long chain of lives shaped by land, sea and time.

The novel moves into the twentieth century as Thorfinn is caught up in the Second World War and held in a German prisoner of war camp. There, cut off from home, he begins to recognise his calling as a writer. Beside the Ocean of Time is a lyrical exploration of history, identity and the sustaining power of storytelling.