![After the Dance: Selected Stories of Iain Crichton Smith](http://monsterbookshop.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/9781846974038_5042c002-ef77-4d81-8aac-7b8a8fcd037f.jpg?v=1718468976&width=1445)
As a child Iain Crichton Smith was raised speaking Gaelic on the island of Lewis. At school in Stornoway he spoke English. Like many islanders before and since, his culture was divided: two languages and two histories entailing exile. His divided perspective delineated the tyranny of history and religion, of the cramped life of small communities, and gave him a compassionate eye for the struggle of women and men in a world defined by denials. After the Dance proves that big themes - love, history, power, submission, death - can be addressed without the foil of irony and acquire resonance when given a local habitation and a voice that risks pure, humane, impassioned speech. This updated edition includes the story 'Home'