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  • Published: 6 September 1991
  • ISBN: 9780099599906
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.99

Nairn in Darkness and Light



'Thomson has a Proust-like memory for detail and everything seems to fit the place and time' - Financial Times

Set in the 1920s, this marvellously sensitive autobiography recreates the varied community of Nairn, with its fishermen and townsfolk, its crofters and its prosperous upper-middle-classes. Nairn has witnessed many of the triumphs and tragedies of Scottish history, and these are recalled with intuitive understanding. But it is also the scene of David Thomson's formative years when he suffered an eye injury which nearly blinded him and shaped his whole future.

Winner of the McVitie's Prize and the first NCR Book Award For Non-Fiction

  • Published: 6 September 1991
  • ISBN: 9780099599906
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

David Thomson

David Thomson was born in India in 1914 to Scottish parents, but grew up in Scotland and Derbyshire. After the period described in Woodbrook he developed a career in writing and at the BBC. He died in 1988.

Also by David Thomson

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Praise for Nairn in Darkness and Light

The effect might echo Proust, or Alain-Fournier; the tone is completely distinctive

Roy Foster, Observer

Long matured, an exceptional malt of the mind... David Thomson's book is one that can be returned to time and time again to refresh with its vision and the brilliance of its writing

Herald

His writing combines a feel for the "this-worldness" of his characters' lives with an understanding of the "otherworldness" they keep a place for in their consciousness. Which is a way of saying that the stylistic achievement depends upon a deep imaginative sympathy

Guardian

A brilliantly original mix of love story, memoir and history

Brian Moore