I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of escapism and my time out from a hectic world. The story grabs you from the outset and pulls you in and the storytelling really made it worth reading. Characterisation was on point and I know I will be looking out for new publications from this author or similar reads in the future. A recommended read.

I truly wanted to love this book but I just didn't make a connection. The descriptions were grand but the writing in dialect didn't work. It felt unnecessary and jarring. I am keen to look at Tallack's non fiction though as I have a suspicion it will be better.

Lovely, absorbing, poetic prose. I really enjoyed this one - it's not the most original, we have had a very many poetic, haunting stories set in the hills / valleys and with faint ideas of magic about them in recent years. Not much happens, either, but it's a lovely read. I bought a copy for my wife, who also enjoyed it.

Location, location, location. Tallack's sense of atmosphere and place, compounded by mesmerising characterisation, and an emotionally gripping tale is a book that held me in its thrall. Proving his ability to write fiction that is as compelling as his non fiction. Wonderful.

I confess that I found the dialect off-putting to the point that I could no longer continue reading the book. This is a regular failing of mine and in fairness to authors I should stop picking such books up!

I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping and modern books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative and sense of atmosphere, combined with believable characterisation and its beautiful writing too. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Tallack fans in future!

Shetland is a place of sheep, soil, harsh weather, close ties and an age-old wary life. It is a place in which David has lived all of his life and a place where Sandy and Alice may have found a home. The story tells the transition for a small valley in Shetland, as the death of the oldest inhabitant Maggie, causes the others to worry what the future may hold with few young members of the community.

I really enjoyed the depth of the description of the setting, with such beautiful scenery it made me feel as though I was there in the remote valley as I read the novel. The use of the Shetland dialect enhanced this and really brought the natural characters to life. However, I did find the glossary useful at points!

My only criticism is that there was little action in the book as it just considers people’s day-to-day lives. This makes an interesting and realistic story, but for me, it wasn’t overly engaging.

Lucy

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

An absorbing, slow read - encompassing the bleak isolation but also the community and respect of an island community.

A beautiful book where nothing happens and yet it says so much about ways of life in remote areas of the uk, and how people can manage changes to the modern world while upholding traditional ways of life. Some lovely characters, and being written partly in dialect really added to the atmosphere.

In a desolate corner of Shetland live a small community in danger of extinction. Young people move away and few take their place, the population is growing smaller and families are needed to bring life into the valley. For David, a lifelong resident, change is something he has observed over time. For Alice the valley is somewhere to escape after the death of her husband.

This is a gentle and spare book in which nothing really happens but the quality of the writing is enough. Tallack writes in a version of dialect which is almost soporific in its gentleness but keeps the reader engaged. A decent enough debut.

A beautifully crafted and atmospheric book. Tallack's writing was intricate and subtle which worked wonderfully with the plot. I enjoyed the dialect and never felt it off putting which can be the case in some novels. A special read.

Different from what I normally read, thought it was an armchair travel book :)
Took a while to get into it but not bad overall

I'm really sorry but I can't even get through the first few pages of this. Call me squeamish, a city dweller who thinks lamb comes in plastic wrappers, but I've managed to live for 59 years without knowing how to skin and butcher a lamb, and I'd have preferred to have gone to my grave in ignorance. Yes, I know this is a real part of crofting life, so I'm not blaming the book or suggesting it's done distastefully, but it's not to my taste. .I'm abandoning it, and since I barely even began, I won't be posting a review of it on my blog or elsewhere. I hope the author finds readers who are less squeamish.

I really tried but I just couldn't get on with local dialect and I gave up about a quarter of the way through.

One word review: Soulful

Rambling review: This book made my heart sing. A portrayal of the Shetland islands in the 20th century and what community means for that corner of the world. Achingly beautiful writing, masterful in its simplicity. 

The linguistic and dialect choices which Tallacky made were perfect. Reading as a southerner, they were jarring and hard work to begin with (as they should be) but I quickly felt the voice of each character and it made the novel sing off of the page. 

I loved Sandy's character development. Early in the novel, Sandy is established as a lost soul, who cared not for work and wanted to leave his vocation at the door. Through the book, you watch him transform into a crofter, a career he feels truly passionate about, which defines his identity and role in the community, his whole being. He becomes completely (but unknowingly) immersed in his world of work and it's joyful to watch him loving it so deeply. 

Nothing particularly happens, and I loved that. It's a snapshot of life, a series of moments and days strung together.

That said, I was unsure how to feel about the fire... What does it solve, why is it there? Is it a punctuation mark for either character? As it feels like a step backwards for both? (It does, however, feel like a big step forward for Alice and her identity). Or is it not meant to signify anything at all, rather be another moment in the life and history of the island?

I feel like I have to say something about Liz... I understand that the author had to explain to explain how and why she abandoned her "bairn" but she was only character I didn't sympathise with (even Ryan - yeah he's an arse but most people would do what he did)

P.S. Sandy and Emma, my heart aches for them

Star rating: 5!

A simple story about life on Shetland. Based on a group of people. It is about their everyday lives. Some people stay and some people go. Island life is not for everyone. It is an interesting read about their work, how they feel and their interactions with each other. It is a world far removed from my own. That is what makes this book so interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Valley at the Centre of the World is a fascinating debut novel from Malachy Tallack; I’ll be looking out for his previous non-fiction works on the basis of this. Set over nine months in a Shetland valley, the novel explores the nature of community, isolation, living and working in an isolated environment, the strengths and weaknesses of family bonds and friendships and the sometimes harsh reality of life as a crafter. Told through a selection of residents, some having spent their whole lives in the valley, some islanders and some incomers, the dialogue mixes English with a simplified dialect. I say simplified, but it takes a few chapters to get used to - very quickly you have a Shetland accent in your head as you read.
This isn’t a book with a huge dramatic arc; instead it is more akin to a gradual changing of the seasons, reflecting the pace of life in the valley and the occasional storm.

Whether we live in New York, Tokyo, or a Valley in the Shetland Islands in Scotland, the Centre of OUR World is us and our family. It grows to include our neighbours and friends. In remote areas, that cluster of Our World can be geographically quite small, like within a valley.

Malachy Tallack has written a great book capturing various facets of life and presented in a small remote community in the Shetland Islands: love and rejection, happiness and despair, achievement and failure, generosity and greed, life and death. The valley is essentially a microcosm of the global world we live in, a world where culture, technology, ambitions and principles, are experiencing increasing forces of change. The only thing that remains durable is the geology, history and natural history, which forms the bedrock of any place.

I felt slightly discontented with the first half of the book because it was all character development and I just wanted something else to happen. The characterisation was superb and that became so apparent in the second half of the story because I became really really attached and interested in what was happening with each person. Sandy is one of the central characters and he is a man you will feel a lot of empathy and warmth towards, he doesn’t get it easy. David and Mary are an elderly couple that provide a wonderful stability about the valley. David is a character we would all love to know or be like. He seems so perfectly balanced, neither living in the past nor worried about the future, he just lives in the moment, and that moment is life. Not all the characters are good and the range of personalities is well balanced, from David to an alcoholic destroying his life and relationships, and an opportunist that we should declare as greedy and avaricious.

There is no real underlying plot and if I had one criticism of the book is that a few more exciting developments or surprises could have been introduced. I kept thinking I could see a surprise coming but it didn’t, and maybe that was the surprise.

The use of the local Shetland dialect is likely to be a personal choice for readers. It did slow me down quite a lot, just needing to reread to make sure I was picking it up right, but that was a compromise I was willing to take as it brought much more authenticity to the narration.

Overall I really enjoyed the story, the pace was excellent, the characters were brilliant and I would highly recommend reading this book.

Many thanks to Canongate Books Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.

Just not for me. The phonetic spellings of the Shetland dialect got in the way of an easy read. I’d always rather read ‘normal’ English and hear the accent in my head. A stronger storyline would have helped probably but it didn’t draw me in. Disappointing as I’d waited for a review copy for a long time.

This is the first non fiction novel by the Scottish singer-songwriter, journalist and author Malachy Tallack who moved to Shetland from England with his family when he was ten years old. The story is set in an valley with each chapter chronicling the events that take place there on a particular day over several months. There are a number of themes here which include change, isolation and community.

This is a period of transition for the valley which is thrown into focus by the death of Maggie the oldest inhabitant who has lived there all her life and symbolises the links to the past. David now in his sixties has also always only lived in the valley but with his daughters now departed he worries what the future will hold and who will take over. Always seemingly ever present and on hand to offer advice David will try to ensure that the jilted boyfriend of his daughter Sandy will stay and live the life of a crofter here enabling the Valley to continue as a working environment rather than end up as a site for holiday homes.

Other Valley residents include Alice a writer who is there trying to rebuild her life following the death of her husband but is struggling when writing a book on the valley to understand the character and meaning of Maggie's existence there.

After recently reading Amy Liptrot's Outrun and Ray Jacobsen’s The Unseen I was again reminded of the impact nature has on an isolated community and also to the human psyche. A really beautifully written book that although may appear slow moving to some captures the essence of fine story telling where although change may appear barely perceptible it is none the less there together with character development. The use of the local dialect (which the author explains the reasons for at the end) also gives it an added authenticity. A
thought provoking read which I believe will appeal to many readers.