News of the Dead

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These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community. But the story really starts with Lachie, the eight-year-old son of the present day laid telling Maya, the oldest inhabitant of the glen, that he has seen the ghost of the “dumb girl”. This ghost is a newcomer to the glen. She is not part of Conach’s story. Her tory is important and will be woven into the tale of Glen Conach, and will become part of its history. Jasami Publishing takes talented new writers on the journey to becoming published authors. By publishing a myriad of genres Jasami offers a stellar variety from contemporary writers; From Scotland these include a crime writer, poet, photographer, and c … This is also a book with a strong sense of place, in this case Glen Conach. Finding your place to belong is a key theme. As Maja says “everyone has a place, a real place or a memory of a place, or a dream of a place.” The use of dialect firmly rooted this book in the Scottish glens. I really enjoyed the use of dialect which appears in some parts of the book though it may pose a challenge to non-Scots. Even I had to look up some words! But don’t let that put you off, as it adds to the richness of the narrative. The only copy of this book is kept in the library of the laird of Glen Conach, until it is destroyed by fire centuries later. Excerpts from the translated version of the book are included within the novel.

News of the Dead by James Robertson - Fantastic Fiction News of the Dead by James Robertson - Fantastic Fiction

In ancient Pictland, the Christian hermit Conach contemplates God and nature, performs miracles and prepares himself for sacrifice. Long after his death, legends about him are set down by an unknown hand in the Book of Conach. These stories are gathered by an anonymous monk and written into a book which remains in the glen, first in the abbey and then, following the reformation, in the big house where it is kept in the library by the laird and his family. Of course, the monk wrote in Latin and this is the first translation because the stories would have been told in Gaelic. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Charles Gibb arrives at Glen Conach House to produce a copy of the Latin and to translate the book into English and to provide himself with free board and accommodation for as long as he can stretch it out. It is through Gibb that we meet the inhabitants of the Glen, the Laird and his wife, their daughter Jessamyne, the minister, the teacher, the Laird’s mother and many others. We do not meet Sandy, the laird’s son, because he is a captain in the army, involved in the Napoleonic War. He has just survived the Retreat to Corunna when this part of the story begins.There aren't enough stars for this book--it is beautiful, playful and profound. Historical fiction that plays with the idea of history itself. Sparsile Books is a small independent publisher, based in Glasgow, specializing in high quality fiction and non-fiction. We see publishing as an art in itself, and we work closely with our authors to ensure that the books we publish give readers a uniq … One day you will wake up and it will be the last day of your life. You may know this or you may not.’ In the present day, young Lachie whispers to Maja of a ghost he thinks he has seen. Reflecting on her long life, Maja believes him, for she is haunted by ghosts of her own.

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It's like some beautifully ornate kist or jewel-box that for most of the encounter you admire for its own sake, only to find a key, near the end, that opens onto even more treasure Gavin Francis Interestingly the book had me thinking about faith also and how it is important especially when faced with the prospect of death or loss. How someone dies two deaths; one when their soul leaves this earth and one when their name is said for the last time. The only way to preserve someone’s legacy is to write it down. To pass on long after even you have left this earth. To ensure you leave your mark in this world. What a marvellous novel this is. Three different time periods mostly presented to us though the Book of Conach, the journal of Gibb, and Maja’s letter. Each have found refuge in Glen Conach, each is known to us through stories presented. And each story is incomplete. What do we really know about Conach? How much can we rely on Gibb’s incomplete journal? And, while Maja is still alive, her own early childhood is lost to her. Details of that stay are filtered to us through Gibb’s warts-and-all journal. Two other main narrative threads are woven around it. One is Gibb’s translation of the Book of Conach. Originally written in Latin about 800 years ago, the book chronicles the life of the “blessed and venerable” Conach, who performed miracles for his fellow Picts in “the north country” before devoting himself completely to God by becoming a hermit.One of Robertson's skills as a novelist is to make both events real and imagined feel equally convincing. Prospect Such a lovely story , past and present merging and separating , the story of the little girl who arrived as a stowaway and was taken into the heart of a village is deftly unwound. I was fascinated by the force of the narrative and ( I won’t say literally) transported to a different life.