That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz
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1957. Sonny is working on a whaling ship in the South Atlantic, reckoning with the most vicious storms he has ever seen. It's a brutal way to make a living. When he finally returns to his Shetland home to build a life with his wife and young son, the legacy of his time at sea is felt by all of them.
In present day Shetland, Jack is an old man, living alone in the cottage where he grew up, in the shadow of a hill. And it is here, one evening, that something appears on his doorstep. Something that throws off the rhythm of his solitary existence in the most profound way.
This is a story of unlikely friendship, longing, the power of music and the pull of home. It is about a life revisited - and reimagined.
About this Author
Malachy Tallack is one of the most exciting and critically acclaimed writers to emerge from Scotland in the past decade, and has won praise from Robert Macfarlane, Bernard MacLaverty, Sara Baume, Madeleine Bunting, Will Self and John Burnside, among others. He was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Award for 60 Degrees North; The Un-Discovered Islands was named Illustrated Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2016; and The Valley at the Centre of the World was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
@malachytallack | malachytallack.com
Reviews
That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz is a quiet marvel, a rich and gentle book of small moments, large lives and hidden miracles. With real skill and restraint, Tallack shows characters living with dignity and wit and no small courage, faced with the vagaries of fate
At once both heart-throbbingly beautiful and deeply contemplative, both deftly sparing and expertly evocative . . . An entrancing, enthralling and enriching read from start to finish - I savoured every moment and morsel of it
Wonderful
Touching and gracefully written . . . Though Tallack is dealing with themes of loss, loneliness and guilt, he does it with a lightness and humour that can't help but evoke frequent smiles, but never gets overly sentimental. That the novel comes with an ironic sting in its tail makes it no less life-affirming
Triumphant . . . touching. Above all, the book is a celebration of art and music and their power to extend beyond surface limitations
This is a beautifully written novel, imaginative, understanding and sympathetic. The Northern Isles have a rich literary heritage. Malachy Tallack takes his place in a line of excellence, a worthy heir to Eric Linklater . . . Edwin Muir and George Mackay Brown. Matching such writers is no mean feat
Malachy Tallack is working at the very top of his game as a novelist. This lovely book is beautifully put together, with perfect economy - the language is clear, sparse and beautiful, not a word wasted. In quickly but expertly drawn strokes, the story of a life lived unremarkably but no less meaningfully for that, is illustrated with perfect clarity and heartbreaking poignancy. A tiny shining gem of a thing
A novel of quiet elegance and emotional intelligence, great delicacy and deceptive simplicity. Its story of grief, redemption and an unlikely friendship left me longing for the quick skies and luminous seas of Shetland
Unexpectedly profound. Tender-hearted and graceful, this is a novel to be cherished. A quite beautiful evocation that every life is extraordinary
As an islander and a songwriter, it seems to me that both, when done well, are about a kind of truth. About finding one correct note after the other. And in this beautiful book, and in Cautious Jack, Malachy Tallack does it for us over and over again. A life portrait that proves each person is an island themselves, surrounded by the notes of the Atlantic
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