Book Review: The Gathering Night

Margaret Elphinestone's The Gathering Night was an incredibly enjoyable read.

From amazon.ca: "Between Grandmother Mountain and the cold sea, Alaia and her family live off the land. But when one of her brothers goes hunting and never returns, the fragile balance of life is upset. Half-starved and maddened with grief, Alaia's mother follows her visions and goes in search of her lost son. Then a stranger from a rival tribe appears on their hearth seeking shelter. Are his stories of a great wave and a people perished really to be believed? What else could drive a man to travel alone between tribes in the depths of winter? Hopes of resolution come when Alaia's mother returns home as a Go-Between, one able to commune with the spirits. But as all the Auk people come together for their annual Gathering Night, who there will listen to the voice of a woman?"

I love historical fiction and I pretty much consider an story set in the past as historical fiction. I love to read about how people lived in another time and place, and in this case that would be Mesolithic Scotland  One thing I like about this time period is that I think the author, and reader for that matter, are more free to examine the spirit world than is generally accepted  in our time. I also particularly enjoy stories that weave complex relationships within and between families, and in this case Peoples or clans. The Gathering Night reminded me VERY much of Jean Auel's Earth's Children series as her novels are also set in a similar time period.

All in all I enjoyed The Gathering Night AND Elphinstone's writing-I will be looking into her other books!!