The Girl on The Ferryboat by Angus Peter Campbell

This is a novel evidently written by a poet – the descriptions of life on the Scottish islands are both vivid and beautifully crafted. The anecdotes Campbell tells about the local Islanders with their Gaelic traditions, skilled craftsmanship and simple pleasures are the book's greatest asset, creating a striking picture of a lost way of life. Several passages read more like a collection of rural verses and short stories than they do a linear novel.

However, in between these pockets of artful storytelling there is a great deal of prose that lacks both emotion and action. The decision to provide such a detailed reflection on the protagonist, Alasdair’s, entire life proves too ambitious as large sections are given up to summing up decades of facts, and some frankly unbelievable career trajectories. The work centres around Alasdair’s brief encounter with a girl on the ferry from Oban to Mull that leaves him with a nagging feeling of regret at a chance not taken. While it appears the formula for a love story it is the romance of music, the sea and the island way of life that resonates as the protagonist’s relationship with both the girl on the ferryboat and his wife lack the genuine emotion devoted to the islands. [Rowena McIntosh]