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

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This is a standalone historical thriller set in Scotland during the 18th Century. It’s focus is upon the aftermath of the failed 1745 Jacobite Rising that sought to restore the House of Stuart. The start of a new series set in Inverness. The story is about the Jacobite movement and the 1746 Battle of Culloden. Someone is left for dead on Drumossie Moor, and that is the start of the adventure into this historical epic of a novel.

After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades. With his badly damaged face Iain found it difficult to court women and had given up any thought of a family of his own in the future. His grandmother Mairi Farquharson brought him up when his mother ran away to France when he was a child and he still lived in her house. A staunch Jacobite, Mairi was known in Inverness as one of the Grande Dames, three elderly women and inveterate Jacobite rebels, who seemed to know everything that was going on in their town.And, through the web of allegiances the family owes to other supporters of the Stuart cause, we swiftly develop an empathy with the sacrifices, the commitment, and the almost religious devotion of three generations of Jacobites to their King and Prince. Most of the characters in the book are fictional, although many of them, as I discovered from the author’s note, are based on the lives and experiences of real people. One historical figure who plays an important part in the story without actually appearing in it is Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat – known as the ‘Old Fox’ – who readers of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series will remember as Jamie Fraser’s grandfather. Iain MacGillivray himself is an engaging character with an interesting past; I enjoyed getting to know him and reading about the work he and his assistants put into collecting, restoring and selling – or lending – books to the people of Inverness. Alis Hawkins is the author of the Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series and of medieval mysteries.

Shona went to Aberdeen University to study history and lived in Aberdeenshire for the next quarter of a century.And loss. The loss of many men, young and old, on the battlefield or afterwards in merciless manhunts. It’s a departure from her previous Alexander Seaton and Damian Seeker series, and the first time she’s written a novel so close to home. S.G MacLean writing paints to life the story in front of you and does an exceptional job with weaving facts and fiction together creating a truly memorable story. Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

I wasn’t at all familiar with London, I’d hardly ever been there, I didn’t know the layout, the topography, there was a huge amount of work to be done. Own historyExcellent historical fiction dealing with Bonnie Prince Charlie's attempts to retake the throne in 1745 and its years-long aftermath. The story has all the elements - intrigue, twists and a touch of romance - and MacLean weaves fact and fiction together wonderfully to produce a highly enjoyable read.

After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades. Luath Press takes its name from Robert Burns, whose little collie Luath (Gael., swift or nimble) tripped up Jean Armour at a wedding and gave him the chance to speak to the woman who was to be his wife and the abiding love of his life. Burns called one … The reading around the Jacobite cause and history has been very intense and there isn’t a happy ending to it. 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. Very much enjoyed the character of Donald Mòr the grumpy book binder who speaks almost exclusively in Gaelic and has time for nobody but a soft spot for the young Tormod. This story is set in 18th century Inverness and explores the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. The main story is about solving politically motivated murders.Not One Of Us, her latest Teifi Valley Coroner book, was published on 9 September, 2021. It was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger Award in 2022. There’s something afoot you see. Talk about atmosphere and compelling foreshadowing. I knew something was up – someone is lurking in his bookshop and he confronts Iain, saying he will not leave until he’s found it. It’;s only when the shop shuts that he eventually leaves. Howver, the next morning, when Iain comes to open the door, he finds the stranger dead, his throat cut and a sword lying beside the body. The sword wuth the emblem of the Jacobites on it….. 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. She takes the Jacobite side, as is de rigueur in modern Scotland – a bit like the Spanish Civil War, this period of history has been written mostly by the losers, and we all now like to pretend we’d have been Jacobites for the romance of it, however ahistorical that might be. But MacLean shows that there were good people and bad on both sides of the divide, and that honour wasn’t the sole preserve of the Jacobites. In this sense, it reminded me rather of DK Broster’s wonderful The Flight of the Heron trilogy, also seen from the Jacobite side but which also recognises that there were honourable people on the Hanoverian side. This is not, however, as romanticised as The Flight of the Heron – MacLean’s characters ring truer and this makes the book feel more modern, not in an anachronistic sense but in that they think and act as normal flawed humans, rather than as the impossibly virtuous Highlanders of Broster’s creation.