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Scotland --- After 1800
This book was first published in 1955.
It is 1813. Twelve-year-old Colin Cameron lives with his family
on a small farm in the West Highlands of Scotland. A few days
before the cattle are due to be driven to the Falkirk market the
farm is raided by thieves. Colin raises the alarm and the thieves
are driven off but Mr Cameron is wounded in the struggle and left
with a broken leg. Mr Cameron cannot go to Falkirk now so it is
arranged that his elder son, Angus, together with Donald the herdsman,
shall drive the cattle to the market. Colin will go with them
because he is the one who can best handle the prize bull, Torcull
the Black. They set off on what is to be a very eventful journey.
The thieves are still determined to steal Black Torcull and on
the night before the market they succeed. But Colin has recently
made two new friends -- Bethia, a little tinker girl whom he had
saved from drowning in a peat bog, and Simon, an escaped French
prisoner of war. With the help of Bethia and Simon Colin manages
to recover Torcull.
Black Torcull is sold, for a good price,
together with the rest of the cattle, to a Cumberland cattle dealer
who then asks for the cattle to be driven direct to his farm just
outside Penrith. This means more adventures for Colin and his
brother. The thieves follow them determined to steal the money
they got for the cattle. They have also found out that Simon is
an escaped prisoner and know that they will get a large reward
if he can capture him.
The story races on. As well as the danger from the thieves there
are problems with the cattle. They ford the Solway and are caught
by the tide in the mist. Then once on land the cattle are frightened
by the stage coach and stampede and Angus is hurt. Even when they
reach the farm they are not safe as Bethia arrives to tell them
that the thieves know where they are. Can they get Simon away
in time?
This is a thrilling story. The pace and excitement is maintained
right up to the very last chapter.
But as well as all the thrills and spills this is also a story
with a very interesting and authentic background. The details
of the cattle droving are fascinating and the journey can be followed
on any map. The settings of the various parts of the book are
well described and contrasted. For example, there is the Cameron
farm in the wilds of the Highlands while later we are shown the
town of Carlisle through Colin's eyes. He is amazed to see so
many shops and he finds it incredible that women actually buy
their dresses in shops. (His mother spins and weaves the material
for her own dresses and then has them made up for her). It is
also the first time Colin has seen a cathedral.
Then the final section takes the reader through the Lake District.
A thrilling story with an unusual background. Well worth reading.
11+
This book is written around one theme to which the author keeps returning again and again. We cannot control the things which happen to us but we can control the way in which we live our lives and the choices we make. This theme is worked out against the background of Edinburgh in the 1820s and the beginning of modern medicine.
Robbie’s mother has breast cancer. Dr Knox operates on her and removes the breast – without an anaesthetic. She dies a week later. Robbie was a small boy at the time. He had been standing outside the operating room and he always remembers his mother’s screams.
After his mother’s death the family starts to disintegrate. His father is distraught but makes an attempt to pull himself together. Then there is a great fire in Edinburgh. Robbie’s father is in insurance and he is ruined. He starts to drink heavily and then he disappears leaving Robbie to look after his young sister as best he can. Robbie blames Dr Knox both for his mother’s death and for the ruination of the family’s fortunes. He starts to wait outside the Doctor’s house and even manages to get inside where he comes face to face with his hated enemy. Robbie even ends up spending a night in jail.
Then Robbie begins to realise what allowing Knox to dominate his life is doing to him. He decides to try to forget the doctor and rebuild his life. He might have succeeded but for an unlucky chance. One night he comes across Burke and Hare and agrees to act as a lookout for them. Later he accompanies them back to the inn and drinks with them. After this Robbie starts to drink heavily – just like his father. Then his sister meets a young medical student, Joseph. Joseph makes Robbie see just how low he has sunk and gives him a chance to redeem himself and learn the truth about Knox. But is Robbie able to seize this last chance?
Apart from the medical aspects this book gives a good picture of the Edinburgh of the first part of the nineteenth century. The cramped living conditions, filth, utter poverty and debauchery of the Old Town are sharply contrasted with the elegance, spaciousness, wealth and culture of the New Town.
A historical note is included and this makes us all realise just what a debt we owe to Dr Simpson and the pioneers of modern medicine.
Young adult.
This is one of the Sparks series of short historical novels for Key Stage Two readers. It is approximately 5,000 words long.
Edinburgh in the first half of the nineteenth century. Old Angus Crabtree is an odd job man in a large Edinburgh hospital. But despite the fact that he has a poorly paid job he has plenty of money and two suits when many a man has only one threadbare jacket to his name.
Angus gets his money because Dr Knox at the hospital does not ask too many questions. Dr Knox is an anatomist. He gives lessons and dissects corpses for students. The few bodies of criminals which he gets from the government are not nearly enough and when Angus says he can supply more Dr Knox accepts gratefully - and does not ask where the bodies come from.
Angus has a ready supply. In the dark of night he robs local graveyards. He is paid well by Dr Knox. He also keeps the corpses' clothes for himself or sells them at the pawn shop.
Twelve-year-old Jack Bean discovers Angus' dark secret and is horrified by such wickedness. He determines to stop Angus. Can he do it? And what part does Braveheart - a little terrier who can bark loudly - play in all this?
This story is scattered throughout with little touches which help to bring the nineteenth century to life. The unfortunate patient is muttering as the doctor operates. No anaesthetic. The doctor is wearing a filthy jacket and he sneezes over the patient. Jack is paid by the doctors for collecting leeches.
And when Jack goes out at night he throws an old sack over his shoulders to keep out the cold.
A well told, interesting little story which illuminates nineteenth century conditions. Comes with very useful notes on: - grave robbers, Dr Knox, Burke and Hare, anaesthetics and hospital conditions.
7+
This book was first published in 1992.
In the late 1840's, in the Highlands of Scotland, the potato crop failed. This was followed by an epidemic of cholera. Later, after 1852 the Highland and Island Emigration Society helped many crofters to emigrate to Victoria in Australia. This is the story of a group of such crofters who took part in these "famine clearances" of 1852. It is told from the viewpoint of a thirteen-year- old girl - Morag MacDonald.
Morag and her family leave their home for the last time and, together with the rest of their little township walk across to Skye to the east coast where they embark on a paddle steamer which takes them to Greenock where they transfer to the barque, Georgiana.
The background is described in great detail. In the first two chapters, in a few pages, we are given a clear picture of the "black houses" of Skye and the way of life of the crofters. Then there is a brief description of the slums of Greenock and there is a very full description of life on board the Georgiana. The islanders are carefully prepared for life in Australia. They are taught to eat with a knife and fork - instead of with their fingers. They are made to have their long, unkempt hair cut short. There are English lessons because most of them speak only Gaelic, and there is dancing every day to keep them fit.
Finally, when they reach Geelong we are shown Australia through their eyes - the journey by bullock cart to the sheep station. They had not realised just how big Australia is - and that they could be miles from their nearest neighbour. Writing home to her old minister, Morag says that the work is harder than at home but there is more to eat.
But they do settle down and the story ends with a description of the New Year celebrations.
One other important feature of the book. Throughout the islanders are sustained by their strong Christian faith.
The book is strongly founded on fact. The voyage of the Georgiana is based on the real voyage of that ship in 1852 and no attempt has been made to introduce a superfluous story element. The truth is quite dramatic enough. There is the hint of mystery about Rory MacRae and there is the mutiny when the ship reaches Geelong and the crew desert and run off to the gold diggings - but that actually happened.
Judith O'Neill is an Australian whose own great-great-grandparents emigrated from Skye to Victoria in 1852. So here she is virtually writing about her own ancestors.
A well researched book with an authentic, detailed background which is, nevertheless, written in a fluent, easy to read style.
Fascinating.
Shortlisted for the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal.
12 to adult.
A sequel to So Far from Skye.
Hearing Voices is not historical but it does explain what happened to the MacDonald family in Australia.
Malcolm MacDonald lives in Edinburgh. He flies out to Australia for a MacDonald family gathering. He wants to know why his father suddenly left Australia several years ago. Malcolm finds the answer - but in so doing he puts himself in great danger.
Of particular interest to readers of So Far from Skye will be the descriptions of the various phases of the family gathering where all questions about Morag and her family are answered. For example, who did Morag marry? The answer is in Hearing Voices.
This book was first published in 1964.
This is fiction which is very firmly founded on fact. The story of the Highland Clearances - in this case from Sutherland in 1812 - and the later founding of the Red River Colony in Canada, is told as it affects one particular small family.
It starts with the ten-year-old twins, Davie and Kirsty Murray collecting mussels and crabs on the beach. Then the factor, Patrick Sellar rides up and tells the children that the shellfish belong to the Countess of Sutherland and orders them to throw them back on the beach. The children stand their ground and argue with him and he takes his whip to Davie.
A few days later a notice is pinned to the door of their cottage saying the tenancy of their croft has been terminated and they must quit the house and lands in a few weeks.
There is nothing they can do. Mr Murray sells the animals and most of their possessions. Then Patrick Sellar's men come and burn the cottage. The Murrays load everything onto a cart and go first to Dornock and then across Scotland to Ullapool, where they get a ship to Stornoway and then another to Glasgow,
In Glasgow they find cramped, dirty lodgings. Mr Murray cannot find work but Davie and Kirsty are employed all day in a cotton mill. Then there is a ray of hope. Mr Murray receives a letter from his brother telling him that the Earl of Selkirk is setting up a colony in Canada. Their names have been put forward by a former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company.
It is a chance for Mr Murray to become a farmer again and once again the family are on their travels. By carrier cart to Leith and ship to the Orkneys where they join the emigrant ship bound for Hudson's Bay.
There is danger on the voyage from an iceberg. Then there is an outbreak of typhus fever. The ship's captain takes the emigrants to Churchill instead of York Factory where they are expected and the Murrays have to make an arduous journey on snowshoes. Later they travel by foot and canoe seven hundred miles to the south to the Red River.
Once arrived their troubles are not over. The settlers build their cabins and start to farm the land. They are helped by a friendly Indian chief called Peguis. Then trouble breaks out. There is trouble between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. The Northwesters attack the infant colony. The cabins are destroyed and settlers killed and there is much hardship and sorrow before Lord Selkirk brings a company of soldiers to defend them.
Despite everything this is a happy book. This is because the spirit and resourcefulness of Davie and Kirsty shine through all the adversities. By telling the story of the Highland Clearances from the viewpoint of one particular family Kathleen Fidler has humanised a very significant event in the history of both Scotland and Canada.
10+
This book was first published in 1965. It is an adventure story set against the background of the Highland Clearances.
March 1854. The Sheriff-Officer and his constable have come to issue writs for the eviction of the people of Greenyards. He holds a pistol to the head of Anne Ross. Her fifteen-year-old son Connal draws his own pistol and orders the Sheriff Officer to drop his pistol. The Sheriff Officer and his constable then retreat. But they return later with forty armed soldiers. There then follows a brutal attack on the women and children of Greenyards. Many are injured and some killed. Connal, who had earlier drawn his pistol on the Sheriff Officer, is accused of the attempted murder of an officer of the law. For that he could hang.
The people of Greenyards are forced to leave the glen and their cottages are pulled down and set on fire. Connal hides in a cave in the hills. How he and his sister go to their mother's trial in Inverness, find their way on board the emigrant ship the Good Chance and evade the evil McCaig, makes a thrilling story.
A Pistol in Greenyards is based on an actual historical event. It vividly brings to life the cruelty of the Highland Clearances.
10+
This book was first published in 1967. It is a sequel to Ribbon of Fire which is set on the Isle of Skye in 1885. The lairds and factors are making life unbearable for the crofters. Rents are increased despite bad harvests and harsh winters. Their hill pasture is taken away from them, another rent is required before they can cut peats, and money is to be handed over for the right to gather welks on the shore.
Alasdair Stewart helps the laird's daughter, Fiona, when she is hurt falling from her horse. Alasdair also manages to show her father how badly the factor, Major Traill, is treating the crofters.
Major Traill is removed from office and the laird promises Alasdair that he will send him to school in Edinburgh.
Thus A Ribbon of Fire ends on a note of hope for Alasdair. But Alasdair is soon to find that his hopes are to be dashed.
At the beginning of A Sound of Trumpets the laird is killed in a fall from his horse and his estate is put in the hands of his Edinburgh lawyers who promptly reappoint Major Traill as factor. As soon as he arrives in the township he announces the date of a rent collection. Those who fail to make payment will have their goods and cattle seized or they will be evicted from their land. While he is still speaking the peat stack of the ground officer is set on fire.
Alastair's mother still believes that the lawyers will honour the laird's promise to send him to school in Edinburgh but Alastair is summoned before the factor who tells him that the estate cannot afford to finance his further education. Instead Alastair is offered work as a stable boy.
But there is one person who is not prepared to put up with Major Traill's treatment of the crofters. After the firing of the ground officer's stackyard William Mor's cellar is broken into and all his casks and kegs of whisky, rum and wine are staved and overturned.
Alastair is accused of this deed and also of horse stealing. On the run he meets up with Lachlann Bann who has returned to rally the crofters. Lachlann Bann's mother is evicted and one of the sheriff officer's helpers killed.
Lachlann and Alastair hide out in a cave in the hills. In an interesting touch Alastair's father brings Mr Drummond, a lawyer, to them. Mr Drummond explains that Sheriff Ivory can be defeated only by the forces of the law and that Lachlann is actually making things worse.
An exciting story which gives a vivid picture of the problems of the highland crofters at the end of last century.
12+
This is one of the Sparks series of stories linking with History National Curriculum Key Stage 2.
Dundee on Christmas Eve 1879. Eleven-year-old Alastair Reid has a nightmare. He dreams he is in a train crossing the new railway bridge over the River Tay. There is a storm and the bridge collapses. He awakes shivering and goes and looks out of his bedroom window. He sees the Tay Bridge before him. It looks so fragile with its latticed girders compared with the heavy plate girders and stone pillars of other bridges. Alastair thinks of his dream again and wonders. Is it a premonition? His father is a railway engineer who has been working on a new line in Australia and is coming home in time for New Year. His journey will end with a train crossing the Bridge. Is Alastair's dream a warning about that crossing?
Three days later, on the evening of Sunday 28th December, despite a fierce storm Alastair goes down to the station to meet his father's train. At the very time he is waiting his father is sitting on the train from Edinburgh. He falls asleep and dreams of Alastair.
This story about the Tay Bridge disaster has a slight element of the supernatural and this helps to turn what otherwise might have read as a factual account into a miniature novel. Nevertheless a good deal of information is still trickled into the story. The account of Alastair's dream gives a good impression of the trains of the time with their horsehair seats, gas lamps, foot-warmers for the first class passengers, the engine whistle and steam and smoke. The Bridge itself is clearly described both when Alastair looks out of his bedroom window after his dream, and later when, after the disaster, he follows the railwaymen and ventures out on the Bridge and gets to the broken part. Throughout the book there are several little references to the fact that many people think the Bridge is too frail and has not been built properly.
There are some useful historical notes at the end.
A good story into which much factual information is introduced quite naturally.
One morning Jamie Craig slips on the snow loses his balance and falls awkwardly. A perfectly ordinary incident, but in this case, one which is to change the course of Jamie's life forever.
It is 1885. Twelve-year-old Jamie lives with his widowed mother in a shared flat in a tenement in Aberdeen. Mrs Craig works a twelve hour day in the mills and Jamie works for a grocer on Saturdays and, during the week, before and after school. Jamie would like a good education but he knows he will have to leave school when he is fourteen.
Then one morning when he is delivering the milk Jamie slips and sprains his ankle. The door opens and Mr Gordon the owner of the fine town house comes out and carries Jamie inside - not down to the servants' quarters in the basement but up the stone steps to the front door. Mr Gordon does not seem to understand the dreadful thing which Jamie has just done - he has spilled the milk. Instead Mr Gordon gets his servants to wash and massage Jamie's foot and bring him cocoa and bacon, eggs and buttered toast. Then Mr Gordon drives him home in his carriage. Mr Gordon continues to take an interest in Jamie. Instead of spending his summer holidays working at the berry picking Jamie is offered a job in Mr Gordon's office. (Mr Gordon is a solicitor).
But this is in the future. After Jamie's fall before Mr Gordon's house strange - and sinister - things start happening. First of all, Jamie sees a mysterious, expensively dressed gentleman outside his window. Then Jamie would have thought his mother would have been pleased that Mr Gordon took care of him. But she is not. She is angry. Worst of all, a few days later Jamie is nearly run down by a horse. The incident is observed by a horse bus driver who tells Jamie, "If I didn't know better, I'd swear that horse meant to run you down, laddie."
Jamie is convinced that it was just someone who could not control his horse and continues with his everyday life. But there are other incidents and Jamie's friend Daft Harry is sure someone is trying to harm him. Someone else thinks this too. In the summer Jamie and his mother have a special treat. They go to a variety show at the People's Palace. There is a magician, the Amazing Alfredo, who invites Jamie on stage. He quietly tells Jamie, "Somebody disnae like you laddie ... There's danger for you lad, somewhere among great columns."
The story builds up to a final climax when Jamie is kidnapped and taken to the Rubislaw Quarry where, among the columns of granite, he comes face to face with his would be murderer.
This book gives a good picture of Aberdeen at the end of the nineteenth century. There is a clear contrast between the lives of the rich and the poor. Mr Gordon lives in a large house with carpets, chandeliers and fires - and even a library whereas Jamie and his mother live in a three roomed flat with Mrs Sturrock and her daughter Lizzie. In winter the flat is always freezing as they can only afford to light the fire in the evenings. School plays a prominent part. The Bible, arithmetic, spelling, punctation, slates - and the tawse. But there are some compensations which modern children do not have. In winter when the school is too cold the children are sent home at half past one. So they can have a whole afternoon making a slide.
The characters are well drawn and really come to life - Jamie, his mother, Daft Harry and Lizzie Sturrock. The Aberdeen accent has been strictly modified. It gives a Scottish flavour but no one should have any difficulty understanding it. The story is well balanced between everyday life and the elements of the plot.
One thing, though, I would have liked a map.
An absorbing story which really evokes the atmosphere of nineteenth century Aberdeen.
10+
This book is from the Forget-me-Not historical teenage romance series. It is set in the Highlands of Scotland in the nineteenth century - in a small village near Fort William.
The story charts the developing relationships of a group of young people in the community: - Kirsty Strachan the daughter of a widow and a seamtress, Richard the son of the laird, who has a darker side to his character, Richard's cousin Charlotte, spoiled and petulant but who is not as fortunate as may appear at first, Effie, the daughter of the housekeeper, and poor but ambitious Roddie whose exact parentage is a mystery. The story builds up to a grim and tragic climax at the Druid Stone which stands amid a circle of oaks on a small island in the loch.
The reader is not overburdened with historical details but there are informative descriptions of the blanket wash and the peat cutting. There are also some interesting facts about Scottish irregular marriages.
There is a historical note at the end about the Druids and superstitious beliefs in the Highlands. This note shows that although the book may appear to be lightweight it has actually more substance than may appear at first.
This book should appeal to the many devotees of the romance genre.
Teenage.
We are told that one picture is worth a thousand words and this book proves that saying. Here the well known story of Greyfriars Bobby is told in a large format picture book and the pictures really evoke the spirit of the Edinburgh of 1872. The front cover shows the Castle and the tenements and inside are details of the way in which people dressed.
The book starts in modern times. Tom and Becky are tired of sightseeing
when they come to a fountain. They read the inscription and find
that the fountain is a tribute to a little dog -- Greyfriars
Bobby. They go into the churchyard and the gardener tells
them the story of Bobby.
At once the pictures change. Tom is now wearing a sailor suit
and Becky has a straw hat, a flounced white dress and boots. We
are shown the cattle which Bobby's master brought into Edinburgh
each evening ready for the next day's market and we are shown
the scenes in the cafe where he ate. We are also shown the hills
around Edinburgh.
This book really brings the Edinburgh of the 1870's to life. It
is beautifully illustrated. It is a book for children to enjoy
and adults to treasure.
7 +
This book was first published in 1993.
This is a story about juvenile emigration - when thousands of children were sent by orphanages, children's societies and welfare institutions to Australia, Canada and South Africa where they would be sent to orphanages or farm schools, or placed for fostering or sent out as servants. It was believed that these children would have a better chance in Canada or Australia than in the poverty and squalour of the British slums. But often it did not work out like that. Some children were lucky but others found themselves living in dreadful conditions and treated little better than slaves. Also children were often sent out to these countries without the knowledge or permission of any remaining family which they might have. This resulted in children being cut off from their families completely. It is only comparatively recently that organisations have been set up to help these enforced emigrants trace their families.
This is the story of Lucy - a little girl of six who was lost. She was placed in an orphanage and within a week was put on a ship for Canada. But she was lucky. Her elder sister found out what had happened and was determined to find her - even if she had to cross the sea to Canada herself to do it.
It is 1937. Fourteen-year-old Kezzie considers herself lucky. She lives in a mining village just outside Glasgow. Her house is at the end of the row so it has three rooms instead of the usual one or two. Her mother is dead and she lives with Lucy, her six-year-old sister, her father and grandfather. Her father works down the mine and her grandfather does odd jobs so there is enough money coming into the house to enable Kezzie to stay on at school.
Then disaster. Her father is killed in a mine accident. The house is "tied" i.e. it belongs to the mine and must be occupied by a miner. So Kezzie, Lucy and Grandfather are evicted. But a farmer for whom Grandfather used to work allows them to stay in a derelict cottage on the farm. Even so they are soon destitute and only survive with the help of the Salvation Army. Then things take a turn for the better. A travelling family whom they had always welcomed before now comes to their rescue. They are given a warm, dry, travellers' caravan and Kezzie is taught how to trap rabbits. Then Kezzie gets a job in the new knitwear factory and Grandfather finds work in the Glasgow shipyards. There is a factory outing and they all go on a trip to the seaside.
Then another disaster. Kezzie is injured in a bus accident and taken to hospital. Lucy leaves the caravan and goes to look for her. She takes a wrong turning, ends up lost in Glasgow and is taken to an orphanage. Within a few days, sick and terrified she finds herself aboard a ship bound for Canada. Once there she is ill-treated and becomes traumatised and people think she is an idiot.
Back home Kezzie recovers and traces Lucy as far as the orphanage in Glasgow. She raises some money herself and the factory workers have a whip round. Kezzie boards the next ship bound for Canada. She is determined to find and rescue her little sister. There follows a gripping account of her quest. Does she find Lucy?
This book gives a true and lifelike picture of a Scottish mining village in the late 1930's. The characters are well drawn and Kezzie comes across as determined and resourceful. But above all this book highlights the scandal of the enforced child emigration.
10+
This book was first published in 1995. It is a sequel to Kezzie.
The story opens with Kezzie aboard a liner taking her young sister, Lucy, back to Scotland from Canada. The ship is fired upon by a German plane - a grim portent of what is to follow - but no one is hurt and the crew organise a party for the passengers that evening. There Kezzie meets an Italian-American family and dances with the student son Ricardo. Back in Scotland Kezzie and Lucy stay with their grandfather in his new flat in Clydebank. He has now found work in the shipyards. When Lucy starts school Kezzie gets a part time job in a local cafe - and finds that it is run by relatives of Ricardo - the Casellas.
The Second World War starts. Italy is now allied with Hitler. Hatred is stirred up against Italians living in Britain and the Casellas' cafe is wrecked but Kezzie helps them to rebuild and carry on. Then Ricardo and his uncle are arrested and interned and sent to the Isle of Man.
Clydebank is the centre of the Clyde ship building industry. There are other industries there too - the Singer Sewing Machine factory, the Royal Ordnance factory, Rolls-Royce, Beardmores. Clydebank is therefore, an obvious target for German air raids and wave after wave of German bombers fly overhead and unload their cargo of destruction. Oil tanks are set ablaze and so the German planes can see their target quite clearly. Only eight houses in the whole of Clydebank are left undamaged. The fires of the burning town can be seen as far east as Edinburgh and as far north as Aberdeen.
Everyone does what they can. Kezzie's grandfather, a former mining engineer, helps to rescue people from collapsed houses. Kezzie drives a makeshift ambulance - the delivery truck from the Italian cafe - through the scenes of death and devastation. Even twelve-year-old schoolboys help as messengers on their bikes. They are needed as the telegraph lines are down.
Then there is a change in the story. Clydebank is completely destroyed. Kezzie gets a letter from Lady Fitzwilliam (whom we met in Kezzie) inviting her to stay in her large house in the country. So Kezzie and Lucy travel south and stay with Lady Fitzwilliam. Kezzie organises a school for evacuee children and works on a farm as a land girl. She meets up again with William and her gypsy sweetheart, Michael Donohoe.
This book really brings home the stark horror of the Clydebank bombing. I was born and brought up in Glasgow and I had, of course, heard of it, but before I read this book I had no idea of what it was really like.
Well worth reading.
11+
This book was first published in 1988.
The story is set in Sutherland in February 1943. Fourteen-year-old Murdo Mackay lives with old Hector, a crofter and fisherman. Hector agrees to take his boat over to an island and collect some machinery for an Englishman, Henry Smith. Both Murdo and Hector are slightly suspicious of Henry Smith, but the pay is good and Hector agrees. Murdo comes with him in the boat. They brave the stormy, mountainous waves and icy waters of the treacherous Pentland Firth to bring the machinery and a group of Norwegians to the mainland.
But Murdo is still curious and when he gets a chance he prises open one of the crates and finds, instead of machinery, German guns. He is caught in the act and learns of a German plot, terrifying in its very simplicity. The Germans do not need an invasion force. It is in Britain already - in the form of the thousands of German prisoners of war, who are not kept locked up in camps but who work on the land. German guns are being landed at quiet parts of the coast all over Britain and the German prisoners of war will be armed when the code word is given -es flutet, es flutet, es flutet -the tide is flooding.
Murdo manages to escape. He scales the cliffs and reaches Hector's car and drives off in it. But he is forced to abandon it and make his way across the moors and mountains on foot. Then follows a chase over some of Scotland's most rugged and desolate countryside in the midst of the driving snows and icy winds of a blizzard.
But Murdo just has to elude his ruthless pursuers and bring word of the plot to the authorities.
Murdo is running, not only for his own life, but for the fate of his country. He is battling, not only against his heartless pursuers but also against the relentless elements.
A thrilling and unusual war story. For anyone who enjoys a really good story.
11+
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