Episode 1

One of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century, Sunset Song follows the childhood and coming of age of its heroine Chris Guthrie in rural Aberdeenshire. Set at the begnning of the last century, the novel is a beautifully wrought depiction of a rural community coming to terms with a rapidly changing modern world and the devastating impact of the Great War.

The extracts focus on Chris coming into her womanhood: the first shows her inheriting the farm in its entirety from her father, meeting and falling for Ewan Tavendale; the second, after he enlists, his return from military training, brutalised; and the third, the final pages from the book, in which Chris learns of his fate at the Front.

Terence Davies's eagerly anticipated film of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic get its UK premiere at the London Film Festival on 15th October and will go on general release at the beginning of December.

Reader: Hannah Donaldson

Writer: Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.