The Seed Beneath the Snow

This tender and personal memoir by the poet Joanna Ramsey of George Mackay Brown gives an account of some aspects of the last eight years of his life in Stromness, Orkney, and of the friendship between them. It also provides a background to his poem 'A New Child: ECL 11 June 1993' (included in the anthology Following a Lark), which he wrote for Joanna's daughter. There are many small details of George's day to day life in those last years that are not included in any other account. Also included are an unpublished poem written for Joanna, and a number of birthday acrostics written for her and her daughter, Emma. In his final years George Mackay Brown rarely travelled beyond Stromness, but many of his friends visited him there; the book is also peopled by George's other friends, and paints a portrait of a man who remained very dear and important to others until his death and beyond it.