It seems telling that as Ranald's husbandry of the Breckness farm grows the prosperity and community the local Viking ships become less and less successful. When Ranald finds sanctuary in the hands of the Christian church, something of an epiphany occurs, revealing a narrative dichotomy, pitching the old barbarous Viking traditions against the more enlightened spirit of Christianity into Ranald's coming of age. A brief sojourn into war and Irish king-making leaves a distinct impression on Ranald, one of pointlessness and does much to dissuade Ranald of the innocence of youth. Ranald as a character is always growing, always revealingly another thread of McKay Brown's long term storytelling. However as the years pass the insidious creep of politics, warfare and bloodshed that swirls around the Orkney Earls leaves Ranald evermore disaffected with his life.
#SECRETS OF GRINDEA SUMMONER BUILD FULL#
Ranald’s homecoming is idyllic, a young adult full of vigour, enthusiastic at life's opportunities, the confidence drawn from responsibility, thoughts of marriage and children, but not just yet. As Ranald returns home a wiser, stronger young man his adventures and the dream of returning to Vinland are waylaid by an increasing set of domestic responsibilities and local leadership that soon relegates Vinland to a fireside tale and then sullen silences.
MacKay Brown weaves multiple themes, conflicts and dramatic contrasts throughout the skein of Ranald’s life in a marvellous feat of long-term narration. Initially an adventure set at sea told from a naïve young boy’s perspective as he first steps out into world, yet as the expedition to Vinland unfolds, the narrative reveals something more than its adventuresome beginnings suggested….Vinland is the march of time, a coming of age tale and the dream of youth that fades into the responsibilities of maturity. George Mackay Brown's Vinland, and Ranald, is reminiscent of Treasure Island and young Jim Hawkins. And so Ranald finds himself at the heart of a saga joining Leif on his adventure to Greenland and then on into the west, chasing the dream of a new land, the eponymous Vinland. Forced into his father's life at sea, eking out a living trading with Iceland, Ranald learns what it means to have a weak man for a father and stows away with the charismatic Leif Ericson, the famous adventurer of Norse saga. Vinland tells the tale of a young Norse boy, Ranald Sigmundson from Breckness Orkney. ‘This Voyage of ours will be famous….told over winter fires from Iceland to Ireland’
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