<p>In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community. Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY <em>Iolaire</em> when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod ¿ a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips ¿ the disaster would mark him indelibly.</p><p>Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the<em> Iolaire</em> shipwreck ¿ by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed.</p><p>A deeply moving novel about passion constrained, coping with loss and a changing world, <em>As the Women Lay Dreaming</em> explores how a single event can so dramati