The Gathering Night

by Margaret Elphinstone

Between Grandmother Mountain and the cold sea, Alaia and her family live off the land. But when her brother goes hunting and never returns, the fragile balance of life is upset. Half-starved and maddened with grief, Alaia's mother follows her visions and goes in search of her lost son. The Gathering Night is a story of conflict, loss, love, adventure and devastating natural disaster. This gripping novel is set deep in our stone-age past, but resonates as a parable for our troubled planet 8,000 years on.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Prehistoric, Prehistory, Novels, Mystery

375 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2009

About the author

Margaret Elphinstone is a Scottish novelist. She studied at Queen's College in London and Durham University, where she graduated in English Language and Literature. She was until recently, Professor of Writing in the Department of English Studies at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, now retired. Her academic research areas are Scottish writers and the literature of Scotland's offshore islands.

Elphinstone published her first futuristic novel in 1987. Her first historical novel, The Sea Road was published in 2000 and won won a Scottish Arts Council Spring Book Award. She is also the author of Lost People (Wild Game Publications, 2024) The Gathering Night (Canongate Books, 2009), Gato (Sandstone Press, 2007), Light (Canongate Books, 2006), Voyagers (Canongate Books, 2003), Hy Brasil (Canongate Books, 2002), Islanders (Polygon, 1994), Apple from a Tree (Women's Press, 1990), A Sparrow's Flight (Polygon, 1989), and The Incomer (Women's Press, 1987).

She did extensive study tours in Iceland, Greenland, Labrador and the United States. She lived for eight years in the Shetland Islands and is the mother of two children.

Reviews

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully written and engaging story about the peoples who lived in mesolithic Scotland some 8,000-10,000 years ago. Told from the points-of-view of the many different characters in the novel and it all worked well together. This book emphasizes the profound connection that these prehistoric peoples had to the world around them, and sadly something I fear most of us no longer have.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was well written, with lovely descriptions of the Mesolithic Scottish landscape 7,000 years ago. The author has done a lot of research into what is quite a mysterious period of prehistory. I am fascinated by the Mesolithic and am really glad someone has written a novel on it. Jean M. Auel's prehistoric series is of course very famous, but is based firmly in the Upper Palaeolithic, a very different time and period even further back in time.
The Gathering Night deals with the human consequences following a great tsunami. This was a very real event, caused by a landslide off the coast of Norway. It inundated "Doggerland", the low-lying marshland flats that once connected Britain with the rest of European mainland. It extended over much of where the Northern Sea now lies, and was where Kemen's Lynx People were likely based in the book. There is a big focus in the story on the people's spirituality and animistic world-view, lead by the wisdom of "Go-Betweens" or shamans, and how they rationalise the events that unfold.

I liked that the book has no maps, and the author holds her own with helping the reader visualise the landscape. She creates her own terms, incorporated into the characters' language, for the cardinal directions and naming the various lochs and islands along the west coast of Scotland.
The names of the characters were odd, and it was only when I finished the book and read the afterword at the back it is explained that Elphinstone utilised real Basque names, which is pretty interesting. Basque belongs to one of the few surviving non Indo-European languages of the continent and her theory is that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Europe may have spoken something similar. (In fact, there is a scientific study of the DNA of the Basque people that supports this theory!!)

I had a few gripes though.
The book is a little slow-going. It was hard to visualise characters as most of the author's descriptions go lovingly onto the landscape and not so much onto the appearance and dress of individual characters. It's especially important with historical fiction, especially for something as alien to us as the Mesolithic, that some detail is given to help us visualise the characters.

Most of all, I was bothered with the social structure of all the Clans, and how rigidly divided the different roles are by gender. I just feel that with so much freedom and potential Elphinstone had to examine what prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies could have been like, it was an incredibly boring approach that she went for the rigidly patriarchal system. The women are weak and are the burden on the men, who must support and provide for their wives and daughters. None of the women are even allowed to directly address the alpha male of the group (except for his wife). WHY? Each Clan is divided into tiny sub-groups - communication must have been so awkward and clunky on a day-today business!
Having studied this period, it seems to me unlikely that roles like hunting would have been purely allocated to men, and gathering fruits et cetera and all domestic activities would have been done solely by women. In doing this, you are limiting the skillsets of each individual and halving everyone's productivity - not something any Clan would want to do in such a brutal world of survival. (Even if that was the case, it's worth pointing out that hunter-gatherer diet is 70% gathered food - so the women do over half the providing for their Clan!)

Just generally I was a bit grossed out by all the sexist dialogue and attitudes of the characters. One of the young women in the story goes mute (it later turns out, from the trauma of being raped by her father). So the other men tell this poor woman's husband that a mute wife is the best thing ever because he still gets sex from her but he doesn't have to listen to her talk.
....Lovely. I wouldn't mind so much if held a message or was exploring the injustices of such a system, but it didn't do this.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny thing: I had almost finished this book when I discovered there was an italian edition.
Now, while I have no problems at all with reading books in english, of course I prefer reading in my mother tongue, if I can choose. The tentation of headdesking was strong. Then, I learned that the italian ebook costs 5 dollars more than what I payed for the english one. My mood lifted immediately. At least, my purchase was motivated :P

Anyway. I had been looking for another pre-historical novel to read since I gave up on Earth's children's saga, and this book was literally the first one available that I found looking through Goodread's suggestions. With that I mean that the other novels that interested me were out of print, or unavailable on kindle anyway (yes Reindeer moon, I am talking of you. I'll own you some day, you can trust that!). Also, it was one of those whose plot caught my attention because it didn't seem to include some major romance... and it had mystery in it. Well... I thank my spider-senses for this choice, I ADORE this book. I might also say I prefer it to Ms Auel's series. First of all, no tvu lurv anyway (the part after Ayla and Jondalar meet in VoH are my least favourite part of the book actually), and then..there was something in Elphinstone's description of the characters' world, behaviour and culture that felt more...true. Of course it's all speculation -we know next to nothing on those people anyway-, and the two sets of novels are set in different times (mesolithic for this book, paleolitic for ms Auel's)... but something in Auel's mythology seem less and less authentical if confronted to what Elphinstone recreated there (besides...to much sex in Auel's religion! o.o'').

Anyway (stage#2): here's the plot.
It all starts with the disappearance of young Bakar. He leaves his family (father, mother Nekanè, sisters Alaia and Haizea, Alaia's husband Amets) to go hunting with his dog and he never returns back. After his disappearance -we soon get that he's very likely to be dead-, his mother becomes a Go-Between, a shaman, basically. This is the first major event -and first major mystery, of this story: what happened to Bakar?
Then, another thing happens. When the family arrives to one of their summer camps, they learn one of their cousins, Sendoa, has taken with him and his group a stranger, Kemen. This man claims that he had to flee his homeland, the Linx people's territories, after a tsunami has wiped away his family. All who survived were him, his brother Basajaun and a bunch of cousins. Together,brothers and cousins, set off to reach the Auk's people lands (the main characters' tribe), where they had very distant cousins. Basajaun and the others, during the way, chose not to reach for the Auks, but to stay among the heron people. Kemen arrived to the Auks alone.
At the following Gathering camp -when all the auks from the various families meet for the big hunt-, everyone is asking themselves if the spirits that destroyed linx people didn't follow Kemen among the Auks (also because...remember Bakar's death? yeah, they question if bad spirits following Kemen didn't take Bakar with them). Then, another mystery. A girl, Osanè, is found severly injuried. Someone tried to choke her to death. Nekanè helps Osanè to get better, and the Go-Between ask Kamen to take her as his wife, enraging Osanè's other suitor,Edur.
But after this set of events, hunt starts to be difficult. Meat is scarce, the animals won't give themselves to the people: it's a sign that the spirits are enraged by something misterious that has to be solved and fixed, if the Auks want to survive.
Now, what happens next is the tale of how those two misteries got solved at last, and of how things were fixed in the end. I can't go further with the plot, or I'll spoil the story and I don't think you would like me to spoil it xD

What I really liked, besides the world's building that was incredible, is that it's a choral narration. Basically, the story is narrated by the main characters just as if you were there listening to them telling it around a fire (that's what happens. Basically, the main characters are telling, in turns, this story around a fire at gathering camp). It's a very smart narration device, to me. It gave even more authenticity to the story, since for all the time of the narration we are in their very heads... more, we are part of the story. We are characters too. We are the children listening to the adults telling us a very important story. And this made the whole world those characters lived in ever more believable and real to me.
This is a big difference from the earth's children saga, where the narrator was often distant from the characters, telling us things from a modern POV what those prehistoric guys thought. Besides, while the research work was no less accurate than earth's children, Elphinstone put her research into her work in a more subtle way, than Auel, who sometimes got lost in showing us what she knew of pre-history. Here, the research is woven into the plot, advancing it instead of interrupting it to give us academical notions.

The plot was kind of slow, actually. Not too slow to spoil the thrill, or the whole book actually. I liked that the rythm was not fast. It gave more time to deepen the characters, and their everyday's lives which was very interesting! And it make the conclusion of the story very very Climatic. I have enjoyed the final scene A LOT. I tell you, everything will be put in its right place and everything will make sense in the end. And in a MAJESTIC way. She was able to set a narrative rythm, slow, but a rythm anyway. And I liked it A LOT.

The characters are all very well characterized. You can tell them apart by the way they speak...everyone differently, according to their personalities -as it's supposed to be of course.

I have enjoyed this book so much... definitely a must-read!

[Iset · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should have liked this book. It’s well-written, the plot is tight and clearly planned out – no meandering or filler scenes here – and it kicks off with a mystery and develops into a complex character drama. On top of that, the book is thoroughly researched and the author utilises that knowledge to paint the details of Mesolithic life c. 7000 BCE. It sounds like just what has been missing from the other stone age novels I’ve read. But somehow I just couldn’t get into it.

I disagree with some of the author’s interpretations or leaps over the factual gaps, but to be honest that wasn’t what was holding me back. Rather, it was the mode of story-telling. Characters in the book each have their own, alternating sections through which they recount events in first person past tense. Although each adds something new, often they are retelling the same event but from different perspectives. Personally, I just felt like there was too much re-treading going on, and I was finding it soporific. I pushed through it in the beginning, as the central mystery was prompting me onwards, but the author never actually goes anywhere with it – we never do find out what happened to Bakar – and towards the end I had to force myself to get through it.

It’s a shame as I have been searching for a decent stone age novel for some time, and when I started the book it seemed so tightly written that I thought I’d finally found it.

6 out of 10

[Annette Summerfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to pass on this one right now. I read all the reviews and maybe I will pick it up again some day. Right now it isn't catching my interest.

[Fiona Hurley · Rating 5 out of 5]

[copied from my original review on amazon.co.uk]
A geologically-documented tsunami, a scattering of archaeological evidence, the shamanistic beliefs of hunter-gatherer societies: Elphinstone has used these ingredients to recreate a prehistoric world. Her research is admirable, but even more so is her talent for conjuring up the distant past.

This is a story told around a campfire by people whose relationship to nature is elemental. They have rituals for communicating with the spirits of animals, on whom they depend for survival. They joke with each other. They are capable of tenderness one moment and brutality the next. They seem very different from us and yet, in the end, not so different after all.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This my second read for this great novel. I liked it even more the second time. The world-building -- of a Mesolithic settlement in Scotland -- is outstanding. The characters tell their own story many years later at a clan gathering so that the younger members will know some of the reasons for their history. It's a plausible device, which I appreciate. The story itself touches on issues of community, identity, gender, sexuality, violence, immigration, and assimilation that are as relevant now as during the time of the novel.

[Jack Deighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is set in Mesolithic Scotland, a time about which very little is known. This gives Elphinstone scope to portray a fully imagined subsistence society with its own mythology and belief systems. Its characters live off the land (and sea) and feel close to the animals they hunt and the spirits which govern all their interactions. (Since it makes sense to the people in the book, that the belief system doesn’t actually cohere is neither here nor there. In any case very few such things do cohere.)

The tale is told (literally) by various of the characters taking turns to narrate the central events round a campfire, perhaps at one of the various gatherings the Auk people, around whom the book revolves, attend throughout the year. The people are prone to humble-bragging of the “I’m sorry this catch is so meagre” or “I’m sorry this gift of food is so inadequate” type.

As events unfold the tightness of the plot becomes apparent. This is cleverly done, things that at first appear unrelated turn out to be pivotal, and the characters within are all believable as actors in the scenario and as people full stop. Apart from their belief in the closeness of their spirits and reincarnation (if a child isn’t recognised by a family member within days of birth it will be cast out,) their intimate connection with their environment, they could be you, me, or anyone you meet. “People like to think their lives are very difficult, just as they like to think their troubles are unlike anyone else’s,” applies to any society as does, “I’m old. I know that people have always cared about the same small things, and they always will,” and the lament that, “There aren’t enough tears in this world for all there is to weep about.”

The cover dubs this “a wilderness adventure” but it isn’t an adventure as such. It is a description of a way of life that may have been, of a simpler kind of existence. It occurred to me a few days after reading it that it therefore bears similarities to the same author’s The Incomer and A Sparrow Falls. It also aligns itself firmly with the Scottish novel in general in its descriptions of land- (and here especially) seascape.

I’ve yet to be disappointed by an Elphinstone novel.

[Sue Chant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling imagining of how our Mesolithic ancestors might have lived, with a lyrical sense of place and evocation of a world where animals, people, mountains and spirits are all part of the same existence and must all be treated with respect.

[Pete]

Lovely prehistoric novel, a bit of a mystery story also. Well written and researched, seems on the note re; paleolithic/mesolithic life from what little we know today.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gathering Night is a novel set in pre-history. We listen to a bunch of people telling a story about a decisive time in their community, over the course of several evenings. They tell the story of how one young man disappeared without a trace, how his mother mourned and changed, and how a stranger arrived, displaced by the total destruction of his own tribe through a tsunami. I read the entire novel vaguely assuming it was set in the Pacific Northwest. Only after reading the afterword did I realise it was set in Scotland...

The novel sets up mysteries, but, like real lives, people cannot dedicate everything to resolving those mysteries. Lives go on - answers are not always found straight away, if ever. It is not a very plot-driven novel.

The prose is elegant and the speech rhythm - and prehistoric humour - is well-thought-out and compellingly believable. The level of detail about hunting/gathering is comparable to Jean M Auel novels, but there is no single (superheroic) protagonist here. This is a story of a community, and no one gets to dominate. (No Ayla in this book)

I enjoyed reading the book and found it quite absorbing even though it is not very plot-driven. It is a mellow, but satisfying read. The only issue I take with this (and, of course, Auel's work) is the persistent reliance on the supernatural / spirits. It detracts from the ability of such novels to truly convince that they treat spirits and the supernatural as real.

Still, it's quite a bit more literary (and subtle) than Auel's series - and a good novel, on the whole.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not fast-paced but it is really engaging. The story is told from the viewpoint of several narrators sitting round the camp fire during the Mesolithic era in Scotland. And these are indeed different people but they speak with a collective voice which illustrates the communal nature of their existence. There is a little repetition of scenes from these different viewpoints but it all builds quite nicely. They depend on one another, on their Go-Betweens, and the animals that provide for them.

These early hunter-gatherers are depicted as being surprisingly sophisticated, civilised, caring and thoughtful. They have their laws and their religion. It’s amusing the way they all refrain from being boastful, so as not to upset their spirit gods. Brutishness between people is a rarity and violence is permitted only to address serious crimes. But what happens when laws are broken and their Spirits are upset?

The story is well-rounded, detailed, carefully constructed and absorbing. I really enjoyed the trip into this one quite plausible construction of the distant past.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Elphinstone has written a convincing account of what life might have been like in the Mesolithic era in Scotland. This era encompassed six thousand years of human occupation from the last Ice Age until the agricultural revolution of around 4000BC. Not much is known of Scotland's hunter-gatherers, but Elphinstone drew parallels from Inuit, Native American and Sami traditions. Hunter-gatherer cultures share spiritual practices which show their deep relationship to their land. "People could make decisions about their lives, just as we do, based on social and spiritual considerations, and not just the material imperatives of where and how to find the next meal." The one definite historic event of the time was a tsunami that struck the east coast of Scotland following an underwater landslide off the coast of Norway in about 6150BC. The plot of the story is woven from this event as the people try to make sense of it. This was an interesting historical read.

[Sherry Bowie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually did something I don't normally do and stopped reading halfway through. The story never really captivated me.

[Agnes Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts of this book were interesting but most of the time it was boring and repetitive.

[Michael Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Elphinstone does a great job of evoking Mesolithic Scotland. This is a Scottish author from a Scottish publisher and we are gently reminded of where we are by her use of the word 'loch'. She is also clear in her notes that this is another country. Her books often have maps but not this one because the land where Scotland now is would not have the familiar modern outline we recognise so easily.

For me, her major achievement is the creation of an utterly believable Mesolithic culture with tribal and personal tensions played out in a society that is both recognisable and utterly different to our own. She has certainly done her homework and the attention to the detail of everyday and seasonal tasks brought home to me just how skilled our ancestors were, compared to modern humans. Everyone works and everyone is skilled, from the youngest to the oldest, and everyone contributes. Some are better than others in some fields and specialise in certain areas but everyone takes part and everyone belongs.

This is a community in a landscape and the landscape is an essential part of their lives, rather than a nice view through a window. Grandmother Mountain is the source of everything and everything around Her is imbued with life. There is no overt eco-message in this book but it is clear that, although we live a life very different from our ancestors, we are just as dependent on the Earth but now lack the skills and awareness to do so with respect and gratitude.

The story is told from multiple points of view. Margaret Elphinstone has chosen to use Basque names for her characters as the Basque language is older than others in Europe (almost all of the others moved westards from India) and is a contender for being a language spoken in Mesolithic times. The problem with this is that a non-Basque speaker does not know how to pronounce the names and there is no clarity about whether the names are male or female. There is a key at the beginning of the book saying who is who and how they are related which helped but I was still often confused about who was talking - although this could just be me.

The society of The Gathering Night is shamanic. Spirits are everywhere and it is the shamans who communicate with them, keep them happy and try and work out why they are angry when something goes wrong. There are times when the spirits are present and felt or even seen, usually as formless shapes or lights and occasionally as the body (or barely glimpsed part) of one of the shamans' totem animals.

Although there is a lot of tribal and family conflict in the story and the stakes are high, there is also an acknowledgement of the rightness of the cycle of birth and death. Prayer is habitual for these people, both in gratitude and as a petition. There is an acknowledgement of the importance of landscape, the spirits, community and animals as equal partners in the world. There is wisdom in the community the author has created that we can all learn from.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

If young men didn’t die there’d be too many... Young men must die, just as young Animals must die when we hunt them. If there weren’t so much death we’d all perish, and not be able to come back. I’d always known that young men must die. But not my son! [loc. 258]

Set in Mesolithic Scotland, around the time of the Storegga slide, this is the story of Nekané and her family, who are of the Auk People: her daughters Haizea and Alaia, Alaia's partner Amets, Nekané's dead son Bakar, and Kemen of the Lynx People who joins them after his home and clan are swept away by a monstrous wave. Kemen also forms an attachment to Osané, a woman from another camp who's been badly beaten and does not speak. It soon becomes clear that something is wrong, perhaps in the world of the spirits: the hunters come home with less meat, and the winters are harsh. Nekané, who becomes a Go-Between -- a shamanic figure -- after her son's disappearance, slowly comes to recognise the root of the wrongness.

There's a solid belief in reincarnation, and a baby is not named until its soul is recognised: when someone dies, their name is not spoken again until they've returned. There's a strong spiritual element, but it's firmly rooted in the mundane business of survival, the constant busyness of finding food, rearing children and gathering fuel. Though Nekané and the other Go-Betweens talk of spirits and guides, there is nothing supernatural in this slow, thoughtful novel: just the accounts of the various characters, each with their own voice and concerns and bias, and the gradual revelation of crimes committed and the punishments that must be imposed.

In an Afterword, Elphinstone discusses her use of Basque names (which did feel slightly odd, but 'Basque is thought to be the only extant language of pre-Indo-European – which is to say, pre-agricultural – origin on the western seaboard of Europe.') There's more about the writing of The Gathering Night here.

I've owned a paperback of this novel for many years, and never managed to get past the first few chapters, which I find slow and melancholy. (I note that I also found Voyageurs difficult at first, though I don't recall having this problem with pre-blog Hy Brasil, or with Light or The Sea Road.) I finally read the Kindle version, and think it counts as part of my 'Down in the Cellar' self-challenge, which riffs on the metaphor of to-be-read pile as wine-cellar rather than to-do list.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great example of the prehistoric fiction sub-genre. Elphinstone proves she has the ability to juggle what we know through archeological record, draw informed hypotheses based on similar societies, and fill in the rest with vivid imagination. I did wish the event with which Elphinstone centers her story, a tsunami which we know happened in prehistoric Scotland in the 6000 BCs, took more of a center stage. Still, I can't fault Elphinstone much in this gripping story which imagines the Auk people with complex personalities, beliefs, routines, and relationships. More than anything, this optimistic and courageous tale shows us how social ties strengthen communities and improve lives. The characters are distinct; they don't simply serve the plot, but have their own voices which you come to know and love, but are still very much a part of their communities and display social mores and norms. (Although I maybe could have done without the heavy emphasis on the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus trope.) I also loved the world-building fashioned here, and found it every bit as nuanced and realistic as the best examples from fantasy, complete with thorough research brought to life. The plot was a bit slow-moving, but I found even in those times I could settle down and just enjoy the slice of life pace, the way we were allowed a glimpse into how the characters lived. It's not always a cheerful story--it can sometimes be a bit painful--but in the end, we're given a tale that is both hopeful and satisfying.

[Danny Thorkildsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didnt wanna dnf this, but i did. It was just very boring tbh. The formatting was weird, ive never seen a book formatted like that i didnt particularly enjoy it but it was easy to read through it.

My main problem was just, from what id seen this book centred on one of the biggest natural disasters in history, but that wasnt what i got. What i got was a few pages talking about the tsunami loosely and the whole book actually being about how people hunt and them sailing to see their family. Ive seen some people say the event has last impacts through the book but to be totally honest i dnfed at 30% because i was just really struggling to get through it.

Also, the chapters are 2.5 hours long?? I get why, but not a fan of that

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me nearly two months to read this. Not sure if that's because of the content or the distractions of the pandemic.

The author says she didn't include a map because the sea level has changed since the time it was set, but I wish she'd tried. It might have added a lot to the story. Initially I thought I was reading about a North American tribe.

[Barbara Lennox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating glimpse into the lives of a hunter gatherer society in Scotland in neolithic times. A bit slow as a story, largely due to the many different points of view, but enjoyable nevertheless. The author explained why she didn't include a map but personally, being familiar with the general area, I would have liked to have seen one.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to see how the author imagined the lives of prehistoric people in Scotland, but nothing much seemed to happen in the book. It's described as a wilderness adventure but it was more of a diary of the little daily dramas of peoples' lives in their villages.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4.

[Florian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, yet touching story set in prehistoric times.

[Raddledoldtart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would be enjoyed by fans of the 'Clan of the Cave Bear' series (it's better, imho) and even ranks up with Naomi Mitchison's 'Early in Orcadia'.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost gave this four stars, but there was something a bit juddery about the writing in places that stopped me from staying completely absorbed in the story, which was a shame because it's beautifully described and completely different from anything I've ever read before. It's set in hunter-gatherer times, and I really appreciated Elphinstone's well-researched efforts to bring this society and its people to life. There are a fair few grizzly bits to do with hunting, but if you aren't too squeamish, you'll be rewarded with a good story.

[Kelsi H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please check out all my reviews at http://ultraviolentlit.blogspot.ca!

I have to admit that I snooped through the afterword before beginning this book – and I’m happy I did. Elphinstone’s perspective and motivation were very helpful in understanding the context of the novel. I found out that the story is set in Mesolithic Scotland, not the Pacific Northwest as I would have assumed from the coastal setting. I highly suggest reading the afterword first, it will certainly enhance the story.

The characters of The Gathering Night are focused on hunting and gathering for survival in 400 BCE, and as such, there is no written literature. Elphinstone narrates her novel with many voices, as each family member tells stories around the fire. The verbal storytelling feels very authentic to the time period, as their historical account of events changes with each new voice. My only complaint was that the voices were perhaps not distinct enough.

The general outline of The Gathering Night seems plausible to me – there is no anachronistic romance or other contemporary influences. The tsunami that sets all following events into motion is the only true historical event in the novel, but it is completely believable that this could have been a story passed down through generations, retold around the campfire at the gathering. There is no modern omniscient narrator telling us how the characters would have thought or felt, so all we have is their seemingly authentic story.

The mystery of the tsunami and its influence, whether direct or subtle, is slowly built up throughout the novel, and the development of characters is advanced at a similarly plodding pace. Part of this is due to the repetition of scenes, shown through the different perspectives of each storyteller. This device is a little tedious, yet it does illustrates how the individual voices merge into a collective voice of the community.

The group’s interactions with nature could be a commentary on our present disconnect with wildlife. There is a concept of agreement between hunters and animals that is not a sacrifice but a compromise between the two: the animals were not afraid because “they knew [none] had agreed to give itself that day.” This phrasing is repeated throughout the book, and I think it is a beautiful way of describing the fact that the hunters only took what they needed, and nothing more.

I was expecting that the tsunami would have a bigger role in the novel, and I felt my interest in all of the minor conflicts dragging in the middle of the novel. However, everything picked up as the loose ends began to tie together in an unexpected way. The concept of life continuing on after death was so important to these people living just to survive, and this is why storytelling is so important for the community. Whether the deceased are truly reincarnated or not, they live on through their stories. The ending justified the means of telling this story, and pulled it all together.

[Erin Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Elphinstone knows how to tell a story. As an example of novels set in times other than our own, and those for which little historical or archeological records exist, she does an amazing job of pulling together the knowledge that we do have in order to create a story. She weaves her extensive historical research into a tale of murder, redemption, and loss in ancient Scotland. We are immediately engaged by her narrative, as all of the various narrators talk directly to us, the reader, as if they are telling the story around the campfire to the younger generation.

All of the narrators’ stories and voices flow together naturally, and we learn of dances, hunts, and shamans as they would have been in our Mesolithic past, though the people’s concerns and jealousies seem to be those we know for ourselves.

Many stories are woven into one in this book: that of Haizea, the youngest daughter of the family from River Mouth Camp, her mother, Nekane, who chooses (or is called) to become a shaman after her son goes missing, and the story of Kemen, a man from across the ocean who plays a significant part in the fates of the family.

My fault with this story is actually the same narrative device that also makes the book interesting. I would have found more tension in a story told by Haizea alone, really exploring her journey into womanhood and her estrangement from her mother. It would have been more interesting to me if we were in deep first person POV for the entire book. As it was, I felt slighted when we shifted to other narrative view points, as interested as I was in Nekane and Kemen’s stories.

It is a novel way to tell a story, though, and if it occasionally reminded me that I was reading a story (instead of living it), then it also offered up some interesting bits like this: (from Nekane’s story)
When I dreamed my cloak I saw how little bright spirit-catchers made of shell and bone and stone glinted between the threads. Look, you can see them in the firelight now! I saw the snakeskin with the spearhead mark between its eyes woven into the plaited rushes down my back. No, you can’t see that. I’m not going to stand up and turn my back on this warm fire!

Her lyrical yet sparse writing brings us directly into a time and place that we will never know, but through the voices of these characters, the stories of their clans and camps, their hunts and rituals, we feel as if we have lived then, and are no different from the people of that long ago time.

p.s. what is up with the cover and the font style? It looks like a horror or suspense novel, and I would have no idea that this was historical fiction without having read a list.

[Marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One night, Bakar disappeared. His family is left alone, with only an old man to hunt for them. But then a stranger appears with a story of a great wave that killed his people, and this sets in motion a series of interweaving stories, told by the many voices of the People.

Set in prehistoric Scotland, The Gathering Night is a story about survival, as well as a community’s attempts to heal itself after a tragedy.

As I was reading, I couldn’t help but to compare this novel to Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series. I think it might be blasphemy to say this, but I found that Elphinstone actually did a better job. Both authors try to convey a lot of “land knowledge” in their books, explaining the various things that can be eaten for example. But while Auel simply lists them in page after page of plant names, Elphinstone builds it right into the story.

The story itself is captivating. I’ve been very critical of books with multiple narrators in the past, but it works in this case. The set up for telling the story is plausible, and the narrative voices are distinct enough to feel like the story is really being told by several different people (but not so much that it feels like a gimmick).

All in all, I’d say this is a very worthwhile read. It preserves all off the appeal of prehistoric novels while avoiding many of the flaws.