I've read this before, around 10 years ago, but couldn't remember all that much about it, except for the fact that I really loved it, and thought the narrator and I were pretty much the same person. (except that he had had a brain thing, and I hadn't. Then.) So, time to reread it, even though I have mixed feelings about rereading books I've loved, in case I'm disappointed that I don't love it as much the second time.
In this case I did love it as much. It's narrated by Eddie Mackay in the present, and is set in Orkney; and also traces the experiences of his father 70 years before, as a naive young doctor in Penang. The sense of place in both times and locations is superb, as Eddie attempts to come to terms with his mortality and confused relationships in the present, while he also tries to find out more about the scandal that caused his father to leave Penang and return to Scotland. Grieg is particularly good on his character's thought processes and behaviours and motivations, and his descriptions of the Orkney landscape are extremely powerful.
I still rate this as one of my favourite novels, and Grieg as one of my favourite novelists..