Muckle Flugga
Published on 22. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-571-38773-1 (ISBN)
Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRES FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
'A kaleidoscopic and linguistically daring work . . . Scintillating.' OCEAN VUONG
'A quirky and original debut that sizzles with scintillating prose.' BERNARDINE EVARISTO
'Michael Pedersen is a rare writer of real passion and power and this debut is phenomenal.' MATT HAIG
Life on a remote island is turned upside down by a stranger's arrival, testing bonds of family and tradition and leaving a young dreamer's future hanging in the balance.
It's no ordinary existence on the rugged isle of Muckle Flugga. The elements run riot and the very rocks that shape the place begin to shift under their influence. The only human inhabitants are the lighthouse keeper, known as The Father, and his otherworldly son, Ouse. Them, and the occasional lodger to keep the wolf from the door.
When one of those lodgers - Firth, a chaotic writer - arrives from Edinburgh, the limits of the world the keeper and his son cling to begin to crumble. A tug of war ensues between Firth and the lighthouse keeper for Ouse's affections - and his future. As old and new ways collide, and life-changing decisions loom, what will the tides leave standing in their wake?
'A kaleidoscopic and linguistically daring work . . . Scintillating.' OCEAN VUONG
'A quirky and original debut that sizzles with scintillating prose.' BERNARDINE EVARISTO
'Michael Pedersen is a rare writer of real passion and power and this debut is phenomenal.' MATT HAIG
Life on a remote island is turned upside down by a stranger's arrival, testing bonds of family and tradition and leaving a young dreamer's future hanging in the balance.
It's no ordinary existence on the rugged isle of Muckle Flugga. The elements run riot and the very rocks that shape the place begin to shift under their influence. The only human inhabitants are the lighthouse keeper, known as The Father, and his otherworldly son, Ouse. Them, and the occasional lodger to keep the wolf from the door.
When one of those lodgers - Firth, a chaotic writer - arrives from Edinburgh, the limits of the world the keeper and his son cling to begin to crumble. A tug of war ensues between Firth and the lighthouse keeper for Ouse's affections - and his future. As old and new ways collide, and life-changing decisions loom, what will the tides leave standing in their wake?
Reviews / Votes
A lyrical, windswept novel of a lighthouse keeper and his son that is both small and big in all the good ways. A story about place, about family, about love, the forces of change and so much more. You can feel the energy and life in every sentence. Michael Pedersen is a rare writer of real passion and power and this debut is phenomenal. -- Matt HaigA quirky and original debut that sizzles with scintillating prose. -- Bernardine Evaristo
There isn't a word out of place. Muckle Flugga is what happens when a poet has full command of a novel. -- Blindboy
A fever dream of a book, melding myth and magic to the monumental landscape of Scotland. -- Ian Rankin
To read Muckle Flugga is to stand on the edge of a sea cliff and scream into a storm. This is thrilling, beautiful and impossibly alive writing, bringing all of Michael Pedersen's ferocious and tender skills as poet and memoirist to his debut novel. There is clearly no form of writing Michael cannot master. -- Chris Carse Wilson
Muckle Flugga is an epic, a glorious and wonderful book; the language so inventive and imaginative and the soul of it so tender and true. -- Salena Godden
Michael Pederson's debut novel is exuberant, soulful and affecting. His deeply flawed, deeply loveable characters continue to hold me hostage now the book is read and back on the shelf. -- Jo Browning Wroe
Muckle Flugga is a triumph of a debut novel. Exquisitely and poetically written, broodingly evocative of its beautiful but harsh setting, and with characters that really get under your skin and into your heart. The storytelling is supreme. -- Nicola Sturgeon
A beautiful and fascinating tale woven by the ultimate word maverick Michael Pedersen. -- Russell Tovey
Michael Pedersen's lush, rococo prose imbues Muckle Flugga with a fantastical, magical, gasp-inducing gait. It is both a domestic tale of island life and a searing paean to the power of art and imagination. -- Alan Cumming
Muckle Flugga dazzles with narrative originality, succulent prose, technicolor scenes, and high-definition characters. It's unbridled imagination at its most enthralling. I've never been so in love with a work of fiction. -- Grace Tame
Muckle Flugga is a veritable feast, brimming with gusto and magic, in Pedersen's own most singular, glorious and acrobatic language. A real triumph and a gallus debut. -- Shirley Manson
More details
Edition
Export - Airside ed
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-571-38773-1 (9780571387731)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning poet and author of Boy Friends, which was a Sunday Times Critics Choice and shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish National Book Awards. He was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship and is the current Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh, and Edinburgh's Makar.