Là A' Dèanamh Sgèil Do Là

It is a novel which begins in the Torrin/Elgol area of Skye in 2010, when an old man comes to the door carrying a bag of winkles on his shoulders. A young girl, aged about three, answers the door and he asks her — in English — Is your Mum or Dad in? She runs back in to her Mum and Dad and says — in Gaelic — there is an old man at the door and he is speaking English. The father goes to the door and says to the old man — in Gaelic — You don’t need to speak English here — there’s plenty Gaelic in this house.

The novel then becomes the story of who this old man is and who the family are, once the door is opened. He is a Sgitheanach who left in 1940 for the war in the North Atlantic: he has come back to die — he has seven days to live: the extra span allotted to him.

Halfway through the novel, the reader suddenly realises it is not 2010 at all, but some future, unnamed date — perhaps 2040 or 50.

Rinn an leabhar seo an gnothach faighinn air Short Leet Priomh Dhuais na Saltire Literary Awards an 2004. 'Se th'againn an seo ach nobhail chumhachdail eile bho Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul. Chì sinn teaghlach anns an Eilean Sgitheanach agus duine sònraichte aig a bheil buaidh mhòr air am beatha, ach 's ann san àm ri teachd a tha seo, agus tha lathaichean doirbhe, dorcha a' tighinn air a' chinne-daonna. A dh'aindeoin sin, mairidh miann air saorsa, agus faodaidh rudan mìorbhaileach tachairt.

Tha an sgeulachd a' sgaoileadh fad' is farsaing tro thìm - mar is trice eadar 2010 agus 2040/50 - agus air feadh an t-saoghail mhòir. Tha i a' toirt dòchas dhuinn uile. Mar a thuirt Raghnall Macilledhuibh mun leabhar seo anns a' phaipear-naidheachd The Scotsman 'Nach neònach, nuair a bu chòir dhuinn a bhith taingeil air son litreachas Gàidhlig sam bith idir, g’eil sinn a’ faighinn leabhraichean mar seo a bhiodh air thoiseach air càch ann an cànan sam bith?' (The Scotsman 2004).

Bidh an leabhar ri fhaighinn mar 'talking book' cuideachd a dh'aithghearr.