Overview

In a ravaged land, can two wounded souls find love? The North-Eastern Highlands, 1747. In the weeks following Culloden, a victorious Hanoverian army rampages through the glens, committing atrocities, intent on crushing the rebellious Highland clans. In occupied Strathavon, persecuted families struggle under repressive new laws and rent rises. Five-year-old Rowena loses her mother, while Duncan witnesses the brutal events that make him an orphan. A sensitive child told she must harden herself, Rowena turns to Morna, the green woman, who takes her on a journey of discovery into the magic of the natural world, passing on her healing skills. But as she blossoms into a woman, Rowena catches the eye of Hugh McBeath, a ruthless exciseman sent to extinguish the scourge of whisky smuggling from the Duke of Gordon's lands. Beguiled, McBeath believes her a witch. Nevertheless, he must have her for his wife. Smuggling illicit whisky has long been a tradition in Strathavon; the fiery spirit brings coin for paying rents. Now smuggling is deemed a traitorous act that helped fund the Jacobite rising. Duncan is the best smuggler the glen has ever seen, but having hidden while his family burned, how can he ever be worthy of tender-hearted Rowena? Rich with the language and lore of the Highlands, Under A Gravid Sky is a powerful portrayal of a land and people in turmoil. First in The Strathavon Saga, this is a prequel to The Blood And The Barley.

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9781999962432

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Beautiful and breathtaking, this Scottish historical novel transports you to the sweeping beauty of the Highlands. The dialect is perfect for the period, and the lush descriptions of the scenery take the reader straight to the moss-covered mountains of Scotland. Full of deception, treachery, love, folklore, and kinship, Under A Gravid Sky is a heartrending but passionate saga set in a tough and sometimes heartless time. - Historical Novel Society

"""Beautiful and breathtaking, this Scottish historical novel transports you to the sweeping beauty of the Highlands. The dialect is perfect for the period, and the lush descriptions of the scenery take the reader straight to the moss-covered mountains of Scotland. Full of deception, treachery, love, folklore, and kinship, Under A Gravid Sky is a heartrending but passionate saga set in a tough and sometimes heartless time."" - Historical Novel Society"

Author Information

Angela MacRae Shanks was born in Garmouth, a village near the mouth of the River Spey in north-east Scotland, and still lives near here with her family. Her mother and grandmother were born in Strathavon, a real place, and this remote glen is very dear to her heart. Here she first heard tales of the dramatic history of the area, its people and their struggles, and became fascinated by it. Growing up in Moray, a beautiful part of Scotland known as 'Malt Whisky Country', an interest in the county's illicit past took hold, particularly the smuggling of whisky and the reasons behind it. This sparked off ideas for a series of novels. Her fascination with the natural world and the folklore of the Highlands, combined with her training in natural therapies, prompted a desire to weave herbal lore into her tales. Those who healed using plants and the wisdom of nature, usually women, were often branded witches, and she felt the need to explore this injustice. The Strathavon Saga is what grew from all this.

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