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Hame

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Hame

By: Annalena McAfee
Narrated by: David Rintoul, Cathleen McCarron
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Summary

Random House presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Hame by Annalena McAfee, read by Cathleen McCarron and David Rintoul.

Hame, n. Scottish form of ‘home’: a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin

In the wake of the breakdown of her relationship, Mhairi McPhail dismantles her life in New York and moves with her 9-year-old daughter, Agnes, to the remote Scottish island of Fascaray. Mhairi has been commissioned to write a biography of the late Bard of Fascaray, Grigor McWatt, a cantankerous poet with an international reputation.

But who was Grigor McWatt? Details of his past – his tough childhood and his war years as a commando – are elusive, and there is evidence of a mysterious love affair which Mhairi is determined to investigate. As she struggles to adapt to her new life, and put her own troubled past behind her, Mhairi begins to unearth the astonishing secret history of the poet regarded by many as the custodian of Fascaray’s – and Scotland’s – soul.

A dazzling, kaleidoscope of a novel, Hame layers extracts from Mhairi’s journal, Grigor’s letters and poems and his evocative writing about the island into a compelling narrative that explores identity, love and the universal quest for home.

 Family Life Genre Fiction Fiction Highlander
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Critic reviews

Transportive and immersive. (Jonathan McAloon)
This searching and eloquent novel muses on identity, love and belonging. (Hepzibah Anderson)
Bristling with life and passion and wit.
Hame treads a line between light-hearted satire and a discussion on notions of home and belonging… A hugely entertaining, roller-coaster of a ride through poetry and language (Liam Carson)
Richly textured… The emotional complexity of the writing matches the landscape of the island and its surroundings. (Philip Womack)
There are joyful winks and allusions everywhere... an affectionate rebuke to Scots nationalists who pretend that questions of national identity are straightforward... 'hame' isn't so much where you're born, as where you hing yer bunnet' (Sam Kitchener)
Real historical figures interact with the fictional ones, blurring the book’s boundaries. It’s an immersive world, from smoky pubs in 1960s Edinburgh, filled with arguing poets, to the lovely descriptions of the island of Fascaray... Settle in your own home and explore.
Ultimately, Hame is a novel about identity; both with specific regard to Scottish character and nationalism and to broader questions of how we attach ourselves to people over place, or vice versa, and of how we construct our personal life stories. (Will Gore)
A remarkable performance. (Allan Massie)
Exploration of the idea that identity is a creative construct, not just the product of geography, but the imagination. (Claire Allfree)
All stars
Most relevant
I was sucked into the story of this myth of a poet. Such a great escape.

One day I will visit Fascaray

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I really couldn't get into this book but could get past the first 3 chapters. I just found it really boring and difficult to listen to

Tried three times to listen to it

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