The Bookseller of Inverness: an absolutely gripping historical thriller from prizewinning author of the Seeker series

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Her story touches on the sensitive fact that some Highland chiefs kidnapped their own people to sell into indentured servitude, and subsequently profited from the North American and Caribbean slave trade. There are plots, spies, long-hidden secrets and shocking betrayals; and castles with underground tunnels and exciting escapes across night-clad moors. Then there was a move to Easter Ross, thence to Muir of Ord, so that day by day throughout her youth Shona trod in the footsteps of those caught up in the intense events of the 18th Century uprisings and their fallout. Her title came through James VI, so I thought it was wonderful she was taken to Holyrood and then up to St Giles. I was more interested in the historical detail, the descriptions of everyday life in 18th century Inverness and the insights into the mood, politics and changing loyalties in the years following Culloden.

There are several dour Scots among the townsfolk, but Iain’s true nature is revealed in his rebellious singing at the Assembly dance.Iain was captured by Government forces and transported to Virginia where he was fortunate to have friends who bought his indenture. gripping historical thriller set in Inverness in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden from twice CWA award-winning author S.

A fabulous read from this author , quite history laden but that was right up my street , and the storyline brought it alive for me . Although I’m rather tired of the Scottish obsession with the Jacobites, MacLean handles the historical aspects excellently, weaving real history seamlessly into her fictional plot. The Highlanders of the past, the ghosts of Culloden, had been real, flesh and blood characters with cares and intrigues and sorrows and laughter of their own.HNS Awards have helped discover and launch the author careers of Michel Faber, Ruth Downie, Hilary Green, Martin Sutton, Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott, Nikki Marmery, Margaret Skea, Warwick Cairns, Katherine Mezzacappa and Elizabeth Macneal. Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. Ah yes, we think, the seeds of defeat were always there because, in the end, politics is all about people. The reading around the Jacobite cause and history has been very intense and there isn’t a happy ending to it. The strength of the book is in the characterisation, especially of Iain but of all the other main characters too, and in the portrayal of the town and the historical setting.