Santa, baby ...

We don't want no '54 convertible nor a platinum mine, we just want fabulous books. And they don't come much more fabulous that Roger Hutchinson's The Silent Weaver: The Extraordinary Life and Work of Angus MacPhee. 

Like his bestseller Calum's Road, The Silent Weaver is an amazing story about a truly remarkable man. Angus MacPhee returned from the Second World War bearing, as many young men did, invisible scars. At the age of twenty-four he was referred to Craig Dunain Hospital in Inverness where he would spend the next fifty years of his life. Retreating into his own silent world he created wonderful works of art using organic matter – grass, wool, leaves – which he would allow to decay or even destroy himself. It was only when an art therapist discovered him and his creations did some of them begin to be preserved and for Angus to begin to talk again.

Anna - ahoy matey! - chose The Silent Weaver for her Christmas recommendation:

"This beautiful little book not only tells the intriguing story of Angus MacPhee and his haunting artworks made of grass and leaves but also gives fascinating and unexpected insight into schizophrenia and attitudes to mental health following WWII. It's another gem from Roger Hutchinson and has one of my favourite book covers of all time."