My favourite Scottish author is doubtlessly George Mackay Brown. Perhaps because his books carry the smell of the sea; perhaps because he feels like a man who yearned for goodness; or because he manages in each of his books to grasp at virtue in the complex mess that is human culture.

‍

Pictures in the Cave is one of Mackay Brown's children's novels. It holds the same richness and beauty that characterise his adult works. It is a trip through time in the history of the Orkney Islands - and at the same time it is so human that it transcends place. It mixes mythology, history, imagination, personalities and various human stories to create a story so full and melodic that if feels like a poem.

‍

I highly reccomend this book, and any of his books, to children and adults alike.