For decades his navy held the balance of power in the northern seas, and it was he who cleared the Vikings out of the Hebrides.

    and then the departure of the island's young men to fight in the Second World War. Together they bring alive the warmth and closeness of a unique Hebridean community.In Crotal and White Finlay J. Macdonald continues his story with a witty account of his adolescent years during the depression. Hard days for the villagers. but their sense of humour never deserted them. And when young Finlay won the bursary to secondary school in the Northlands it was with a mixture of joy and sadness that he prepared to leave behind him a community that would soon be changed forever.