Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen
Muckle Flugga, the debut novel from Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen, is a work of simultaneous joy and grief
Best known as a poet – the current Edinburgh Makar, no less – Michael Pedersen has brought out his highly anticipated debut novel, and it is a thing of magic and enchantment, with a deep humanity. Set mostly on the remote island of Muckle Flugga, it centres on the lives of three individuals.
The Father is the lighthouse keeper who is near paralysed with grief since the death of The Mother, the repetition of work and the isolation allowing him to exist in crisis. His son Ouse is both a comfort and an agonising reminder of their shared loss. A gentle artistic soul, Ouse proves to be fragile yet fierce, and not the naif people believe him to be. The charismatic Firth is the cuckoo in the nest. A troubled and tormented person, he comes to the island with one thing on his mind, but soon imagines an arresting alternative future. Through their unfolding relationships, with each other and with the natural and supernatural, mortality and morality are explored.
The writer’s love of language is joyful – the descriptions of flora and fauna bring the island to life, becoming a character in its own right. Sitting in the long and lauded literary tradition of the Scottish Gothic, Muckle Flugga is, at its heart, a treatise on grief, but it’s also a celebration of life and what it means to be human; often flawed but with the potential to be fantastic.
