The Quantum of Happiness

On a trip through the Scottish highlands, Marius Kociejowski stumbles upon the scattered remains of the Clearance village of Badbea on the east coast of Caithness. Intrigued by the fate of those settlers, forcefully evicted from their homes in 1793, and by those who today live their lives on the extreme edge of existence, Kociejowski takes as his subject the major isles of the Outer Hebrides – Lewis and South Uist – and the people who call them home. His story has heroes – the poets of Upper Bayble, perhaps, or Father Colin MacInnes, whose promotion of Gaelic culture led to the founding of the annual Fèis Bharraigh festival; and villains – like the brutal Donald Munro, who delighted in evicting tenant farmers during the Clearances. Winding through the heavy mist that shrouds the islands and obfuscates their past, Kociejowski weaves the threads of place, personhood, and history into an honest and poignant tapestry illuminating an archipelago, a people, and an intricate and unique culture. Encompassing anthropology, travelogue, philosophy, ornithology, and many things besides, and brought together in Kociejowski’s distinctive poetic style, The Quantum of Happiness distils the elements of joy that exist in this north-westerly corner of Europe – the pampering of a beloved cow; a calm evening on the loch with a fishing rod; or the spotting of a corncrake in the reeds – and wonders if it is truly measurable: or if it moves at such speed through our lives that we don’t even notice its passing.