The Stromness Dinner

“People are people, and ‘The Stromness Dinner’ is one of those books which show this to be so.  Peter Benson is writing well about these characters – he’s creating them, forming them, realistically.”

“This is a really good read that I would recommend; if you haven’t been to Orkney you will want to go, and if you know and love Orkney, you will want to go back.”

“I think The Stromness Dinner is absolutely fantastic. Every reader cliche happened; I couldn’t put the book down, I was absorbed in the novel’s world and time didn’t exist… a rich, warm and funny book… The Stromness Dinner is an utter delight, from beginning to end and, at this point is definitely one of my reading highlights of 2021.”

“…the simple prose and vivid descriptions as seen through Ed’s eyes convey an interesting assessment of the world… I was enchanted by the story – indeed, I have ordered another of Peter Benson’s books looking to fill the void that finishing The Stromness Dinner left behind. An impactful novel that highlights the basic human characteristics of hope and love, from a very distinctive contemporary fiction voice.”

“I gobbled up this book… from page 1… I was in for the whole mini-chaptered tasting menu… For an Incomer to Orkney, as I am, Benson’s skill in capturing the idiosyncrasies of the Islands was as sharp as a Japanese knife blade. His insights were witty and perceptive… The Stromness Dinner is a novel, and an immensely enjoyable main course of one too.”

“You could say nothing much happens in The Stromness Dinner: a young working class Bermondsey lad, Ed, agrees to take on a house-clearing, roof repair and paint job in Stromness. He travels north. He gets on the boat. He arrives in Orkney. He gets on with the job. Nothing much happens. Or everything does… I can’t tell you what happens in Stromness without spoiling the story. A bowl goes missing. An expensive bowl. A woman turns up. Love blossoms. Or does it? What I can say is that… I felt in safe hands with Ed as narrator of his own story and could happily have spent more time with him. I closed the book with a great big smile on my face and a tear in my eye.”

“Benson’s snappy novel rattles along with irresistible pace and panache… his story will captivate and entertain and the happy ending is a great treat.”

“What’s on the menu at The Stromness Dinner? Small plates, big flavours. Peter Benson has the miniaturist’s eye for the tiny details that bring grand themes alive: the love of food, the love of island life, and a love of love itself. His novel is humorous, humane and horrible good (as we say in Stromness.)”

“A beautifully judged piece of poetic fiction with a realist backbone. Lots of handsomely worked language about landscape and the pleasures of food. Finely wrought but staying the right side of rococo, delicious filigree and shadow.”