Chris Guthrie torn between her love of the land & her desire to escape the narrow horizons of a peasant culture is the thread that links these three works. In them Gibbon interweaves the personal joys & sorrows of Chris life with the greater historical & political events of the time. Sunset Song" the first & most celebrated book of the trilogy covers the early years of the twentieth century including the First World War. Chris survives with her son Ewan but the tragedy has struck & her wild spirit subdued. In " Cloud Howe" as the ministers wife Chris learns to love again & we witness the cruel gossip & high comedy of small village life until once again Chris suffers a terrible loss. " Grey Granite" focuses on her son Ewan & his passionate involvement with justice for the common man. For Chris with her intuitive strength nothing lasts
- only the land endures."