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This book is from the Forget-me-Not series of teenage historical romances. 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, and 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.
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 whelks 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 her son 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 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. 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 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.
10+
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 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 is one of the Sparks series of stories for children of seven and upwards.
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.
7+
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 +