As the Women Lay Dreaming

In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community. Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY Iolaire when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod - a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips - the disaster would mark him indelibly.  Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the Iolaire shipwreck - by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed. A deeply moving novel about passion constrained, coping with loss and a changing world, As the Women Lay Dreaming explores the human aftermath of what remains the worst British disaster at sea. Through it comes an intimate understanding of how a single event can so dramatically impact communities, individuals and, indeed, our very souls. Released to coincide with Remembrance Day 2018, Murray's novel considers how this devastating event cast a multi-generational shadow over the island of Lewis. Focusing on a survivor's tale, it is ultimately a story of compassion, hope and the healing of time.