Scottish yarn

From a review:

This Scottish yarn is like a lightweight, well-worn, expertly tailored Harris tweed. To scramble metaphors, the cunning mechanism of the plot purrs like a Rolls, and the writing style is luscious thick Devon cream.

That’s The New Republic reviewing Peter Dickinson’s 1970 novel The Sinful Stones. I was amused at the start of that line because I wasn’t sure whether it was talking about literal yarn or a story, and I was amused at the rest of it because of the mixed metaphors.

Join the Conversation