I imagined my granny and her friends in post war Glasgow, and my father in law during the miners strike and it really brought it alive to me where my country and her people had come from and how we ended up here today. The book’s title comes from ‘The Summons’, a 1984 sonnet by Edwin Morgan who was to become Scotland’s first. I felt I got so much from it, relating to the people and places. Among other things, And the land lay still is a history of Scotland in the second half of the 20th century, with a focus on the growth of Scottish nationalism leading to the yes vote for the Scottish Devolution Referendum in 1997. I'd be interested to see how this talks to a non scot. I felt I owed it to the characters to hear their stories to the end and I'm so glad I did. At times i took a break from listening, it felt like hard work in places, especially in part 3, but I was determined to see it through. I loved how all the individual stories and lives entwined and crossed paths through life. The characters are all people you care about in time even when you thought you wouldn't, they all have their place. The story telling is superb both moving and laugh out loud funny at times. James Robertson's breathtaking novel is a portrait of modern Scotland as seen through the eyes of natives and immigrants, journalists and politicians, drop-outs and spooks, all trying to make their way through a country in the throes of great and rapid change. For example, when an area covered by the ocean faces the moon, the moons gravitational force on the water causes a high high tide. James Robertson's breathtaking novel is a portrait of modern Scotland as seen through the eyes of natives and immigrants, journalists and politicians, drop-outs and spooks, all trying to make their way through a country in the throes of great and rapid change.

I know I loved this book as I was genuinely sad when it ended. And the Land Lay Still is the sweeping Scottish epic by James Robertson And the Land Lay Still is nothing less than the story of a nation. And the Land Lay Stillis nothing less than the story of a nation. For anyone interested in how Scotland got to where it is today