Description

Longlisted for the Ondaatje Prize
Shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize

‘The thing he felt ending was not just one person, or even one generation; it was older, and had, in truth, been ending for a long time . . . It was a chain of stories clinging to stories, of love clinging to love. It was an inheritance he did not know how to pass on.’

Shetland: a place of sheep and soil, of harsh weather, close ties and an age-old way of life. A place where David has lived all his life, like his father and grandfather before him, but where he abides only in the present moment. A place where Sandy, a newcomer but already a crofter, may have finally found a home. A place that Alice has fled to after the death of her husband.

But times do change – island inhabitants die, or move away, and David worries that no young families will take over the chain of stories and care that this valley has always needed, while others wonder if it was ever truly theirs to join. In the wind and sun and storms from the Atlantic, these islanders must decide: what is left of us when the day’s work is done, the children grown, and all our choices have been made?

The debut novel from one of our most exciting new literary voices, The Valley at the Centre of the World is a story about community and isolation, about what is passed down, and what is lost between the cracks.

Publisher Review

What I've been waiting for: a moving, authentic novel of the Scottish islands in the twenty-first century -- AMY LIPTROT, Sunday Times Bestselling author of THE OUTRUN A desperately beautiful novel. Tallack writes with such tenderness for his characters and quiet awe for the patch of earth he places them upon. Now that I've turned the last page, I find myself experiencing a strange kind of loneliness -- SARA BAUME, author of SPILL SIMMER FALTER WITHER and A LINE MADE BY WALKING In this intense debut novel Malachy Tallack takes us to an isolated world inhabited by a community of utterly believable folk. He is great on the nature of work, how it is done, how it exhausts, how it shows our humanity. And when he gets this right other things naturally follow - like love and empathy and understanding. This book leaves us wanting his next -- BERNARD MACLAVERTY, author of GRACE NOTES and MIDWINTER BREAK A vivid novel which immediately lands you in Shetland. It wrestles with big questions about land, community and belonging and how place shapes character. It lingers in the mind long after you have finished reading -- MADELEINE BUNTING, author of LOVE OF COUNTRY Malachy Tallack is the real deal, a writer given over to pure curiosity, honest witness and that most precious of gifts, an unselfconscious sense of wonder -- JOHN BURNSIDE The Valley at the Centre of the World is a remarkable first novel - an intimate, profoundly human look at the inner workings of a community, a meditation on freedom and belonging and the powerful magnetism of home -- JENNIFER HAIGH, author of MRS KIMBLE and NEWS FROM HEAVEN Malachy Tallack has already proven himself to be a thoughtful and very diverse writer . . . This third book is his first foray into fiction, a thoughtful novel set on Shetland and dealing with the constant rural tension between local tradition and the vital energy that fresh blood brings to remote places * * The Big Issue * * Meditative, merciful, and quietly moving - Tallack asks what is place, and who we are within it, all the while summoning pathos out of time past and time passing. A debut of uncommon assurance -- PAUL LYNCH, author of GRACE An engaging and fluent writer of essential kindliness * * Scottish Review of Books * * Portrays Shetland's rugged landscape and harsh backdrop with a serenity that works in tandem with Malachy Tallack's clear passion for the overall setting . . . [His] debut novel explores identity, community and the innate desire that exists within us all to feel some sense of belonging * * The List * *