Morning Tide

Twelve-year-old Hugh MacBeth lives in a small Scottish fishing village in Caithness at the turn of the century. As he begins to realize his mother's sadness and fear that he and his brother will follow their father to sea, he also sees for the first time that his family is being sundered by economic circumstances. And he must cope with the knowledge that not only his mother but also the village may be dying. Poetic and poignant, Morning Tide is the story of a young boy learning what it means to be a man. Neil Gunn is a dealer in joys and the miracles of boyhood. His youthful characters, such as Hugh the fisherman's son, are intense beings wrapped up in the delights of physical experience - the ecstasy of running, touching, feeling the earth and the cold of the sea - and in the undeniable need to be free. In this combination of sensitivity and wildness jealously defended against the restrictions of family and social life, Neil Gunn shows us more than a picture of childhood; he unfolds a set of values that speak as clearly and confidently to the present as to the turbulent 1930s when this book was first published.