The Gathering Night

Between Grandmother Mountain and the cold sea, Alaia and her family live off the land. But when one of her brothers goes hunting and never returns, the fragile balance of life is upset. Half-starved and maddened with grief, Alaia’s mother follows her visions and goes in search of her lost son. Then a stranger from a rival tribe appears on their hearth seeking shelter. Are his stories of a great wave and a people perished really to be believed? What else could drive a man to travel alone between tribes in the depths of winter?

Hopes of resolution come when Alaia’s mother returns home as a Go-Between, one able to commune with the spirits. But as all the Auk people come together for their annual Gathering Night, who there will listen to the voice of a woman?

The Gathering Night is a story of conflict, loss, love, adventure and devastating natural disaster. This utterly enchanting pre-historical novel is set deep in our stone-age past, but resonates as a parable of our troubled planet 8000 years on.

Praise for The Gathering Night:

‘Elphinstone is a fine purveyor or evocative literary historical fiction…Excellently researched, it wears that knowledge lightly, concentrating on the human heart of the tale.’

Big Issue

‘Employing her considerable skills as a historical novelist, Elphinstone imagines the lives of the hunter-gatherers who thrived in the period from the end of the Ice Age until the adoption of agriculture…Imagination is well-woven with avid research…The reader is ultimately engaged by Elphinstone’s beguiling prose to listen well to the strange stories of struggle, stoicism and survival coursing throughout.’

Independent on Sunday

‘The story holds the attention…There is plenty to keep the pace…the detail gleaned from archaeological research is skilfully woven into the fabric of the novel…a well crafted novel.’

Antiquity Magazine