Possibly Horwood's greatest work! The Multi-stranded novel that goes to tremendous heights and terrible depths demonstrates how apparently unrelated matters can somehow be ultimately dependant, one upon the other. Not a quick read, but then it deserves to have time devoted to it. I could suggest passages to look for, but the true power is in the whole, not the parts. ( )

I love this book. The story of James MacAskill Stonor is interwoven with that of Cuillin, last of the Skye sea eagles. In 1917 Liam MacAskill, Jim's father sees a lone sea eagle near his home on the Isle of Skye. Years later he shares his stories with the young Jim and the tale of the eagle, and the near extinction of the species, exerts a strange influence on Jim's life as an artist.

This is a book filled with loneliness - the loneliness of Cuillin, flying the dark sea to find others of her kind; the loneliness of Jim, as a young boy growing up in an English coastal town and as a man trying to find his place in life; the loneliness of Liam, haunted by the First World War, estranged from wife and children. A story of exile; of the search for a home and family; of the ability to "fly true" and live a life to the best of your ability.

Horwood's writing hits my emotions, he is a wonderful story teller. The stories of the eagles reflect Jim's own journey through life, so the two strands of the novel reinforce each other, adding to the power of the story. I found this as enthralling on re-reading as I did the first time I read it. ( )

Intriguing and beautifully written. Gives insight into the creative process of an artist ( )

This book is probably better than my rating implies: it's just that I found it really hard to engage with. There are two strands to the story: the tale of the eagles, who return to their ancestral home on the isle of Skye, and the tale of an artist finding himself in creative work centred on eagles. However, for me the two strands didn't seem to mesh, since the human artist can know nothing of the inner life of the eagles, and his own struggles are entirely beyond their world. A reader of more literary or psychological sympathies may find this book more satisfying, and I might consider re-reading it in future; but coming to it as a young reader fresh from Duncton Wood, I found it baffling. MB 15-v-2009 ( )