Mark Edmonds is a professor of archaeology who lives in Orkney, and in this book he traces what is known about the people who lived in Orkney up to 6000 years ago, based on the widespread archaeological sites found there. They were a spiritually sophisticated people, who built houses and other structures from local stone, they farmed, fished and kept livestock, and erected astounding circles of stone and tombs which today appear mysterious. Edmonds relates this ancient history to the present through photographs and extracts from the work of the great Orkney poet George Mackay Brown. It's a fascinating and authoritative book on a fascinating place.