Book 36 - Fascinating Sinner

Fascinating Sinner by Mary Mackie - first published 2007

This books seems to have only been published in large print but inside the book it says that the copyright belongs to a Cathy Charles and the date given is 1984.  I'm not sure what that means?  Perhaps Mary Mackie wrote a book based on a short story by Cathy Charles?

Helen Ashcroft is invited by her old friend Ros to help her out by taking over her role as a live-in housekeeper/childminder for her single parent employer James McLeod on the island of Harris for a few weeks while she is away exhibiting her artwork in Edinburgh.  Helen works as a secretary for a celebrity magazine and her boss encourages her to go and gives her the time off because she wants her to spy on James MacLeod and write an article about him on her return.  James is an author but Helen soon realises that he used to be an actor known as Breck James.  She falls in love with him and is then torn between her agreement with her employer and her love for James.  After a few misunderstandings they all live happily ever after.  The story is predictable but the landscape of Harris is described quite well and the books is a quick and easy read.  6/10

Islands covered - Harris

 Ruined Chapel at Rubha an Teampaill, Northton, Harris

Rhenigidale, Harris

Drinishader, Harris

Book 35 - Mondays are Murder

Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman - first published in 2009

This is a short but action packed children's novel set on the fictional island of Murrag, which is supposed to be adjacent to Coll and Tiree.

Poppy Fields and 4 other teenagers accept a free holiday on Murrag in return for being guinea pigs for a new activity centre that Mike and Isabella are opening on the otherwise uninhabited island.  However there has already been one suspicious death before their arrival and within a few days 3 other members of staff have been killed.  A big storm means that the island is cut off from outside help.  Poppy turns detective to work out who the murderer is but in doing so she puts her own life in danger.  7/10

Book 34 - The Island Pilgrimage

The Island Pilgrimage by Fay Sampson - first published in 2004

Middle aged married university academic Margaret Jenkins is helping her close friend Methodist minister Brian to write and produce a play about the life of St Columba.  He organises a trip to Iona (referred to as Hy in the book) for the youth group at their church, who are going to perform the play.  He invites Margaret to accompany them.  While on Hy they both realise that they are strongly attracted to one another but Margaret manages to resist the temptation to take the relationship any further.  The rest of the book is about her emotional turmoil and the repercussions as their respective spouses become aware of their feelings for one another.  Initially I found Margaret rather irritating but as I read on I began to admire her for not giving in to temptation.   7/10

Islands covered - Iona

 Celtic Cross near Iona Abbey

 West coast of Iona

 St Columba's Bay, south coast of Iona

Book 33 - Emma's Island

Emma's Island by Honor Arundel - first published in 1968

One of my favourite books as a child was The High House - also by Honor Arundel.  I bought a copy at a library book sale while on a day trip to York for a few pence and read it many times.  Years later by chance I came across a second hand copy of Emma's Island, which is a sequel to The High House.

In The High House 13 year old Emma's parents are killed in a car accident and she moves to Edinburgh to live with her absent minded artist aunt Patsy.  Emma's Island starts 2 years later by which time Patsy has married fellow artist Stephen and the 3 of them move to the fictional island of Stranday, which is apparently located close to Coll and Tiree in the Inner Hebrides.  Patsy and Stephen open a gallery and Emma helps to run the house and quickly adapts to life on an island.  Patsy and Stephen have a baby daughter and Emma has her first romantic encounter when some archaeologists come to the island to do an excavation.  This is an old fashioned novel, which seems a bit tame today but it is still an engaging story.  7/10

Book 32 - The Man who gave away his Island: A Life of John Lorne Campbell of Canna

The Man who gave away his Island: A Life of John Lorne Campbell of Canna by Ray Perman - first published in 2010

I should read more biographies, as so often they are illuminating, informative and inspiring and this one is no exception.  John Lorne Campbell was born into a Scottish landowning family in 1906.  On the surface they were wealthy and John was educated at Rugby School and Oxford University.  However in John's lifetime his family's houses and estates in Scotland had to be sold off to repay the debts passed on by previous generations.   John developed an interest in Gaelic history, culture and language and in 1933 he travelled to Barra, where he became friends with the author Compton Mackenzie.  He met his future wife Margaret Fay Shaw on South Uist in 1934.  She was an American by birth but she was also interested in Gaelic culture and music.  They married in 1935 and in 1938 John borrowed heavily in order to buy the island of Canna.  He spent the next 43 years struggling to make an economic success of the island.  He persevered despite various setbacks, including a World War, various staffing problems and a mental breakdown.  He also found the time to write and collect numerous books about Gaelic culture, to make recordings of native Gaelic speakers in order to preserve a fast vanishing language and musical heritage and to campaign for better services for the people of the Hebrides e.g. improve ferries.

John and Margaret had no children and John decided the best way to secure Canna's long term future was to give it to the National Trust for Scotland, which he did in 1981.  He didn't always agree with the NTS about how to run the island but he and Margaret continued to live on Canna until their deaths in 1996 and 2004 respectively.  John died while on holiday in Italy and was initially buried there but 10 years later his remains were exhumed and he was re-interred on Canna in the small birch wood that he had planted behind the Catholic chapel.

This is a sympathetic portrait of a naturally shy man who cared passionately about improving the lives of the inhabitants of the Hebrides and in preserving their Gaelic cultural history and traditions.

Sadly Canna doesn't seem to have prospered in the last few years for various reasons and in 2012 the population fell to 8.  As Ray Perman says "When he gave Canna to the nation John Lorne Campbell was aware that he was passing on a burden, as well as a treasure.  He had devoted his life to it and the cost, both in the money he ploughed into it and the proceeds forgone, meant nothing to him."  He also quotes Winnie MacKinnon, a long term resident of Canna, referring to the high turnover rate of new residents on Canna "They come here to get away from everything, but what they need is to get away from themselves.  This happens time after time."   I also like the quote from The Gaelic Poems of Father Allan MacDonald (transcribed and published by John Lorne Campbell in 1965) given at the top of the chapter about John's death:  "The time or place of our death doesn't matter, Since happiness doesn't need a funeral."
9/10

Islands covered - Canna, Rum, Eigg, Muck, South Uist, Barra, Eriskay and Mingulay

 Canna - looking towards the Church and ferry terminal

 Canna House - John and Margaret's home

 Escallonia Tunnel at the entrance to Canna House
Looking south towards Rum

 John Lorne Campbell's grave on Canna

 North Coast of Canna from Compass Hill