At the age of ten, Malachy Tallack moved to Shetland with his family. Now an award-winning singer-songwriter, journalist and author, he has written extensively about life in these remote islands. Tallack has also published two travel books : [b:Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home|26889749|Sixty Degrees North Around the World in Search of Home|Malachy Tallack|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1444712924s/26889749.jpg|45285153], an exploration of lands along the sixtieth parallel (which also crosses through the Shetland Isles) and [b:The Un-Discovered Islands: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes|30170971|The Un-Discovered Islands An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes|Malachy Tallack|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463001773s/30170971.jpg|50610951], about mythical islands once believed to be real. Valley at the Centre of the World is his first novel. Set in Shetland, it is a work of fiction but one shaped by the reality that Tallack knows so well.

Tallack emphasizes the sense of isolation by making his setting doubly insular – his protagonists are not only islanders, but the inhabitants of a valley distant from the comparative bustle of Lerwick. There’s old crofter David and his wife Mary. There’s Sandy – their daughter Emma’s ex-partner – who has stayed on in Shetland even as Emma has gone south to mainland Scotland. There’s crime-writer Alice, who has retired to this distant part of the world after prematurely losing her husband to cancer. There’s Ryan and Jo, a young couple who move in as tenants in one of the cottages owned by David. There’s Terry, battling the demons of alcoholism and family breakdown. And then there’s the memory of Maggie, once the valley’s oldest inhabitant, still inspiring affection and respect from beyond the grave.

In its portrayal of an isolated community and its handling of themes of identity and belonging, Valley at the Centre of the World reminded me of another novel I read recently – Ray Jacobsen’s [b:The Unseen|31936168|The Unseen|Roy Jacobsen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473520085s/31936168.jpg|25879684] which is set in a remote Norwegian island. There is also a similarity in the approach to dialogue, the thick dialect of the Shetland Isles (David’s in particular) rendered phonetically to give readers a feel for its sound. Yet the novels are also very different. Jacobsen’s is more overtly (self-consciously?) literary in style, its purposely vague temporal setting giving the novel a timeless, fable-like feel. On the other hand, Tallack strives for authenticity, to the point of having one of his characters (Alice) work on a history of the valley – a convenient way of putting across information about the island without appearing artificial or pedantic.

Tallack’s novel is also clearly rooted in the present and expresses the challenges faced by young (and not-so-young) people who take the plunge and make a distant island the centre of their world. Indeed, the same care taken in the portrayal of the natural setting is dedicated to the development of character – we are given enough of the protagonists’ backstory to turn them into flesh-and-blood figures. And this is one of the book’s strong points – although it is a novel in which not much happens by way of plot, the dynamics between the different characters are strangely beguiling and by the end of the book, the protagonists feel like old friends. ( )

At the age of ten, Malachy Tallack moved to Shetland with his family. Now an award-winning singer-songwriter, journalist and author, he has written extensively about life in these remote islands. Tallack has also published two travel books : [b:Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home|26889749|Sixty Degrees North Around the World in Search of Home|Malachy Tallack|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1444712924s/26889749.jpg|45285153], an exploration of lands along the sixtieth parallel (which also crosses through the Shetland Isles) and [b:The Un-Discovered Islands: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes|30170971|The Un-Discovered Islands An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes|Malachy Tallack|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463001773s/30170971.jpg|50610951], about mythical islands once believed to be real. Valley at the Centre of the World is his first novel. Set in Shetland, it is a work of fiction but one shaped by the reality that Tallack knows so well.

Tallack emphasizes the sense of isolation by making his setting doubly insular – his protagonists are not only islanders, but the inhabitants of a valley distant from the comparative bustle of Lerwick. There’s old crofter David and his wife Mary. There’s Sandy – their daughter Emma’s ex-partner – who has stayed on in Shetland even as Emma has gone south to mainland Scotland. There’s crime-writer Alice, who has retired to this distant part of the world after prematurely losing her husband to cancer. There’s Ryan and Jo, a young couple who move in as tenants in one of the cottages owned by David. There’s Terry, battling the demons of alcoholism and family breakdown. And then there’s the memory of Maggie, once the valley’s oldest inhabitant, still inspiring affection and respect from beyond the grave.

In its portrayal of an isolated community and its handling of themes of identity and belonging, Valley at the Centre of the World reminded me of another novel I read recently – Ray Jacobsen’s [b:The Unseen|31936168|The Unseen|Roy Jacobsen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473520085s/31936168.jpg|25879684] which is set in a remote Norwegian island. There is also a similarity in the approach to dialogue, the thick dialect of the Shetland Isles (David’s in particular) rendered phonetically to give readers a feel for its sound. Yet the novels are also very different. Jacobsen’s is more overtly (self-consciously?) literary in style, its purposely vague temporal setting giving the novel a timeless, fable-like feel. On the other hand, Tallack strives for authenticity, to the point of having one of his characters (Alice) work on a history of the valley – a convenient way of putting across information about the island without appearing artificial or pedantic.

Tallack’s novel is also clearly rooted in the present and expresses the challenges faced by young (and not-so-young) people who take the plunge and make a distant island the centre of their world. Indeed, the same care taken in the portrayal of the natural setting is dedicated to the development of character – we are given enough of the protagonists’ backstory to turn them into flesh-and-blood figures. And this is one of the book’s strong points – although it is a novel in which not much happens by way of plot, the dynamics between the different characters are strangely beguiling and by the end of the book, the protagonists feel like old friends. ( )

Shetland has a bleak beauty about it, scoured by storms that roll in from the Atlantic, it shapes the landscape as much as it does the people that live there. For some islanders, it is the only place that they have known and they would never leave it, but the population in the scattering of houses in a valley is slowly ebbing away. David, a third generation crofter, live in one of the houses in the valley. It is a place that he would never leave; the island is as much a part of his DNA as the skills that he learnt at his father and grandfathers side and he takes every day as he finds it. Their daughter Emma was in the house next door, but she has headed south to Edinburgh, leaving her ex-partner, Sandy, learning the essential elements of crofting from David. Terry lives nearby, separated from his wife and son, he is seeking comfort in the bottle. Maggie, who is well in her eighties and the oldest resident of the valley, lives just up the road and there is Alice, formerly a bestselling writer and a newcomer to the island and the valley; she is there for the solitude and still bereft after losing her husband to cancer.

As much as things remain the same, there is change in the air. A property becomes available after a resident dies; Ryan and Jo, a young couple with their own difficulties move into the valley and change the dynamics of the relationships that had developed. At the centre of them all is David who takes everything in his stride with a calm and patient outlook.

If you are expecting a dynamic plot then this might not be for you; this is a book where you get to explore the way that characters change as the circumstances flow. There is plenty of tension in the book, some from the complex relationships of the small number of characters
and other tension reflecting how tough it can be to live there. Reading the accents of the locals does take a bit of getting used to, but it does give authenticity and atmosphere to the narrative. The other star of the book is the place. Tallack's prose through the book that Alice has begun to write as she emerges from grief describes the land and seascape of the island and the life that survives and thrive there. I think his non-fiction just has the edge for me, 60 degrees north is an excellent travel book, and I would urge you to read it. However, this proves that he is capable of much more as a writer, and I think can sit happily alongside his contemporaries like Melissa Harrison who write fiction with strong natural history undertones. Looking forward to the next book he writes now. ( )

A part of a year in a valley of a fictional Shetland island, seen (alternately) by the eyes of its few inhabitants. Surprisingly, I could relate (to a greater or smaller degree) to most of them, making this a rather touching experience. Unfortunately, as the book continued, some less pleasant characters were introduced, and the very end was a bit too Hollywood-like to be completely satisfactory. Nevertheless a book I'll probably read and enjoy again one day. ( )

3.5 stars ( )