First published 1993
A soldier lies wounded and captive after the battle of Bannockburn, his fate uncertain in enemy hands. Through prison walls, he glimpses his captor's daughter bathing and finds himself overtaken by unexpected love. In another tale, the world itself quickens like an unborn child moving within its mother. Two spirits wander between life and death, seeking peace with their eternal rest. Pirates and betrayers scheme across eighteenth-century seas, their treachery echoing through island communities. George Mackay Brown weaves these stories together with crystalline prose that makes magic from ordinary moments. His characters move between past and present, finding wonder in small revelations and quiet transformations. The collection captures how love, death, and redemption shape lives across centuries of Scottish history.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Scotland
Period: Bannockburn, 18th Century
327 pages · Paperback · Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd