SCOTTISH BOOKS FOR A RAINY DAY

Dark The Night Wild the Sea

by Robert McAffee Brown
Reviewed by Sharma Krauskopf and rated

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Dark The Night Wild the Sea is a remarkable little book of 167 pages which tells the story of Jamie Stuart. Employed in Glasgow as an architect he has a love affair with Annie Cameron which ends in disaster and death. The guilt Jamie feels about what he has done destroys his self confidence and his productivity. His frustrated employer suggests he take a few weeks off to get himself back together or else look for another job. He arranges for Jamie to spend sometime with an old friend on the Hebridean Island of Erinsay. During his stay on Erinsay Jamie begins to heal and enjoy the local inhabitants. This begins to change after Jamie's visits someone with "second sight" and the mystical takes over. Through the magic of the bagpipes and a fairy ring Jamie discovers himself on the island 150 years before he was born. His voyage places him on the farm of Moragh McPherson, a widow and her sons. Living as a hired hand on the farm Jamie comes to learn the meaning of pride and true love. This novel has part of the same feel as Diana Gilbradon's Scottish time travel adventures. The difference is Robert McAffee Brown offers a tangled and often tortuous journey of human growth as Jamie discovers how to cope with his love for Moragh, the guilt over Annie Cameron, and the final twist the love of another Moragh in another time.

This is an exceptional book. The insight into Jamie's struggles along with the glimpse of the Hebridean Island life constructs a remarkable book. What makes Dark The Night Wild the Sea, a phenomenal book is the tragic and unexpected events which bring the novel to a close. Only 167 pages this novel's impact will last longer than most books of 300 pages. I have given it our highest ranking of four thistles but if Scottish Radiance had a category or six thistles I would have given the book that rating or more. There are very few novels which have so much compressed into so few pages.

Scottish Radiance is an Associate of Amazon.com Books and you can order this book from them by going to Dark The Night Wild the Sea .

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