MacIains were independent in their territory, but at heart they were still MacDonalds. As such they continued the traditional rivalry with the neighbouring Campbells. For rivalry, read: reiving, and thieving, raiding and robbing, killing and burning. It was a hard-lived, hard-fought life. And they were harsh lands and hard times so we should maybe not judge by modern morals. It isn't a book to be read for message though. If you don't know the story of Glencoe it is one to be read for history (though do heed the author's warning that it is a fiction, a novel, that should be read as such). Mostly it is one to be read for beautiful writing about beautiful places. Charles Leslie, an Irish preacher, is riding to the Highlands to see what he can do to further the Jacobite cause. Though not part of his original plan, he has heard tales of murder and treachery in the Highlands, and thinking he can use it as fodder for his pamphleteering, he is riding to discover the truth. He is riding to learn of the truth of Glencoe. However, similar charges of anachronism have been levelled at Hilary Mantel’s magnificent Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, as well as the historical novels of writers like Philippa Gregory. There’s a lot to be said for making difficult historical themes accessible through fiction, and it’s often women writers who have the audacity to do it. Hilary Mantel’s imagining of the interior life of Thomas Cromwell is utterly convincing, albeit fictional. Similarly, the voice that Fletcher gives to Corrag, a woman who really lived, still resonates long after finishing the book. This is also the starting point – and the end point – for Susan Fletcher's third novel: the massacre at Glencoe.

What was six days to a Highlander? Consider the distance, consider the weather. What mattered a mere six days? From these mists of time ownership of the glen passed down into the MacDougall clan who ruled the area until the early 1300s when allying with Balliol against Robert the Bruce caught them on the losing side. Bruce gifted the glen to Angus Og, clan chief of the MacDonalds. From him it passed to Iain Fraoch founder of MacIain Abrach of Glencoe. In Glencoe there was a local witch called Corrag. She warned everyone when the Redcoats arrived in the frozen evening of 13th February 1692, but no one listened. She spent the night up in the mountains, wrapped in a plaid to keep off the cold. The next morning she ventured down to the village to discover the massacre left behind by the Government troops. Bodies everywhere, people fled into the countryside to try and escape (given the time of year, many subsequently died from exposure), houses burnt. Through the smoke she went into the house of Maclaid, the Chief of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, who had been shot by the Redcoats, and took his broadsword. She carried it to the water and there threw it in, saying: If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.In 1691 William sought peace with the Highlanders and offered a pardon to all who had fought against him if they would now sign the oath of allegiance by 1st January 1692. The alternative was the death warrant. The book plants the Highlands in the reader’s soul and its imagery is unforgettable. It combines many current trends: the fictionalisation of real lives and historical events; evocation of nature, environment and place; foraging, herbal medicine and living off the land. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? It mattered to those in the south, those with grudges born and axes to grind. It was a legitimate excuse to rid the Highlands for ever of that that thieving reiving papist clan. And who better to give the job to than a force, an English force, composed primarily of loyal Campbell men. Her focus for the tale, however, is not the MacIain nor the Campbell soldiers. Instead she takes another myth. The myth of an old woman, who had lived through it all, and sought to protect the people of Glencoe. A woman who may, or may not, have been a witch.

For more murderous tales from 17th century Scotland try The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona Maclean. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. She sits through the snow of the winter, knowing that the sound she hears outside is the dragging of the logs for her pyre. The next morning, the 1stJuly 1916, was the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Casualties were enormous, and included seven men from the village of Glencoe, the first to die from fighting since the Massacre in 1692. Leslie, also a real historical character, comes to Corrag's prison cell and in return for hearing the truth of the Glen he agrees to hear her life story.

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It isn't necessary, but neither does it detract from the telling, and of course there is a final purpose to it.