The decision to recreate the fresh vision and sensitivities of boyhood rescued Gunn from violent bitterness. He had a deep need to discover whether anything permanent exists in the psyche, whether integrity is possible in the face of repeated assaults on pride and self-respect. If it does exist, it must be present from the start. It must be fundamental, an essence.

To return to his early life in Dunbeath would bring back the reality of light. The material was so familiar that there would be no room for doubt.

Between the years 1891 and 1903 when he was growing up in Caithness, the economy was already threatened, but fishing still granted a livelihood to his father, and the whole community retained a pattern to include all generations. A boy could run, jump and fall with a sense of security.

The story explores moments of stress, crisis, adventure and celebration within an integrated family. Hugh is a reluctant witness to the growing sexual rivalry of his sisters; he loves and escapes from his mother, who hates the sea; he helps and admires his father, but at a distance; he follows brother Alan when allowed; he fights enemies at school and falls out with friends; he watches his father save their boat in a storm. Above all, he runs through the living texture of the world and into loneliness as at once a refuge and a positive joy.

Hugh is the eye of the story. Only occasionally do we share the thoughts and feelings of sister Kirsty or sister Grace. We are involved with Hugh at an intimate, nervous level, yet the story has its own life.

The book begins with Hugh gathering mussels at ebb-tide on the shore. His father has hooks to bait.

We are alone there, and boy-size already.