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He feigns death but then we meet him again several years later, now working as a bookseller of Inverness. I am a big fan of SJ MacLeans Seeker series and her books set in Scotland and I was not disappointed by the Bookseller of Inverness. The Jacobite Letter Book of Bailie John Steuart can be read simply as the correspondence of a successful Highland merchant, but the letters are commonly believed to be coded messages used in the Stuart cause, and SG MacLean presents them as such. 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.The world it conjures up leaps off the page with a vivid authenticity: a world in which the betrayals and defeats of the past are ever present, like an overlay of painted glass which also acts a refracting mirror for the longed-for future the Jacobites are still trying to will into being. The importance of local politics for the novel’s plot made me worried that the book would become overwhelming, but that never happened. She said: “I was getting further and further away all the time and writing about London in the 1650s had been a big leap for me anyway. 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.
His father was never seen again after the battle, so was also presumed dead amongst the more than 1200 Jacobites who died that day.gripping historical thriller set in Inverness in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden from twice CWA award-winning author S.
Following the battle of Culloden, Jacobite Iain MacGillivray had been left for dead on Drumossie Moor. There are several dour Scots among the townsfolk, but Iain’s true nature is revealed in his rebellious singing at the Assembly dance. Although he’s been an absent father for most of Iain’s life, they still have a strong bond of love, and Hector’s arrival stirs Iain back to life from the kind of dull stagnation he has felt since the defeat at Culloden.This is an enthralling and riveting historical read, a blend of fact and fiction, that will likely appeal to those interested in Scottish history and the repercussions of the Battle of Culloden. The use of Gaelic in conversation and in names was an authentic touch as it would have been (and still is) in common usage in the Highlands and indeed is on the rise across Scotland - a current learner right here. But MacLean's Bookseller of Inverness has the right whiff of nostalgia, tragedy, and post war devastation. And I think I wanted more of the bookseller and less of the conspiracy which is idiotic of me, because that's another book.
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