A Charmed Life tells the story of Liza Campbell, the last child to be born at the impressive and renowned Cawdor Castle, the same locale featured in Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was at the historical ancestral home that Liza's seemingly idyllic fairytale childhood began to resemble a nightmare.
Increasingly overwhelmed by his enormous responsibilities, Liza's father Hugh, the twenty-fifth Thane of Cawdor, tipped into madness fueled by drink, drugs, and extramarital affairs. Over the years, the castle was transformed into an arena of reckless extravagance and terrifying domestic violence, as Liza and her siblings watched their father destroy himself, his family, and their centuries-old legacy.
Painstakingly honest, thoroughly entertaining, and sharply written, Campbell's contemporary fairytale tells of growing up as a maiden in a castle where ancient curses and grisly events from centuries ago live on between its stone walls.
" A] courageous memoir . . . a page turner set among moats, drawbridges, and portcullises both real and metaphorical." --Vogue
"Superbly written." --Harper's Bazaar
"Poignant . . . lovely." --Entertainment Weekly
"Edged with relentless wit . . . A Charmed Life is a] nightmarish memoir that gives fiction a run for its money." --Kirkus Reviews
"Intriguing... a] highly readable story...extraordinary." --Tucson Citizen
When John McPhee returned to the island of his ancestors--Colonsay, twenty-five miles west of the Scottish mainland--a hundred and thirty-eight people were living there. About eighty of these, crofters and farmers, had familial histories of unbroken residence on the island for two or three hundred years; the rest, including the English laird who owned Colonsay, were "incomers." Donald McNeill, the crofter of the title, was working out his existence in this last domain of the feudal system; the laird, the fourth Baron Strathcona, lived in Bath, appeared on Colonsay mainly in the summer, and accepted with nonchalance the fact that he was the least popular man on the island he owned. While comparing crofter and laird, McPhee gives readers a deep and rich portrait of the terrain, the history, the legends, and the people of this fragment of the Hebrides.
Alistair Moffat traces the history of the clans from their Celtic origins to the coming of the Romans; from Somerled the Viking to Robert the Bruce; from the great battles of Bannockburn and Flodden to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite Risings; and from the Clearances to the present day.
Moffat is an adept guide to the world of the clans, a world dominated by lineage, land, and community. These are stories of great leaders and famous battles, and of an extraordinary people, shaped by the unique traditions and landscape of the Scottish Highlands. It's a story too about the pain of leaving, with the great emigrations to the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand that began after Culloden.
Complete with a clan map and an alphabetical list of the clans of the Scottish Highlands, this is a must for anyone interested in the history of Scotland.
As the oldest of the Highland Regiments, The Black Watch has an enviable roster of Battle Honours and a mystique born of repeated service on behalf of King, Queen and country.
On the strength of her acclaimed biography of Field Marshal Earl Wavell, the regimental trustees commissioned Victoria Schofield to write this, the first volume of her magisterial history of the The Black Watch, and have fully cooperated with her as she traces the story of the Regiment from its early 18th-century beginnings through to the eve of the South African War at the end of the 19th-century. Originating as companies of highland men raised to keep a 'watch' over the Highlands of Scotland, they were formed into a regiment in 1739. Its soldiers would go on to fight with extraordinary bravery and (c)lan in almost every major engagement fought by the British Army during this period, from the American War of Independence, the Peninsular Wars, Waterloo, the Crimea, Indian Mutiny to Egypt and the Sudan. Drawing on diaries, letters and memoirs, Victoria Schofield skilfully weaves the multiple strands of this story into an epic narrative of a valiant body of officers and men over one-and-a-half centuries. In her sure hands, the story of The Black Watch is no arid recitation of campaigns, dates and battle honours, but is instead a rich and compelling record of the soldier's experience under fire and on campaign. It is also a celebration of the deeds of a regiment that has played a unique role in British history and a vivid insight into the lives of the many remarkable figures who have marched and fought so proudly under its Colours.
At the end of the thirteenth century, the oppressed people of Scotland rebelled against their despised English ruler, Edward Longshanks. In Freedom's Cause recounts the Scots' desperate but ultimately triumphant struggle in the face of overwhelming odds -- a hard-fought series of battles conducted under the leadership of William Wallace and Robert Bruce.
Time has burnished the feats of these great heroes to mythic proportions, but Wallace and Bruce were real people. This gripping tale of courage, loyalty, and ingenuity recounts their deeds within an accurate historical context. Readers join their company alongside a fictional protagonist, young Archie Forbes, whose estates have been wrongfully confiscated. Archie forms a group of scouts to fight alongside the legendary Scottish chieftains (who were memorably portrayed in the film Braveheart) for their country's independence.
In Freedom's Cause is one among the many historical novels for young readers by George Alfred Henty. A storyteller who specialized in blending authentic historical facts with exciting fictional characters, Henty produced more than 140 books and achieved a reputation as "The Prince of Storytellers." Immensely popular and widely used in schools for many years, Henty's novels continue to fire young imaginations with their spirited tales of adventure amid exciting historical eras.
All the world lamented the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. "No man ever saw her without love or will read her history without pity." Whether it is this French Marie Stuart recorded by Brantome, the German Maria Stuart of Schiller's tragedy, the Italian Maria Stuarda of Donizetti's opera, or the more recent queen of film played by Katharine Hepburn or Vanessa Redgrave, her story resonates over four centuries. The tale of the free-spirited and beautiful Queen of Scots, who refused to accept the constraints of her birth and position, still appeals to us today. Mary's inheritance gave her both the Scottish throne in 1542, when she was only six days old, and a claim to the English throne that would lead to her death. It gave her an upbringing in France, cultural and intellectual center of Europe, where she witnessed the power play of her Guise relations, married the heir to the French throne, and became queen of France, only to be widowed at eighteen. There was a turbulent interlude as ruler of Scotland, made the more tumultuous by two disastrous marriages and rumors of adultery and murder. Finally, there was an eighteen-year exile as Elizabeth I's prisoner, passing the long days of captivity at her embroidery or her prayers, the center of a network of intrigue, double agents, coded dispatches, and mysterious couriers, which was to lead ineluctably to her trial and execution. Susan Watkins re-creates the world in which Mary livedthe landscapes, the palaces and the courtly culture, and the fine details of the domestic scene. The text gives life to the wealth of historical illustrations and specially taken photographs by Mark Fiennes, who accompanied Susan Watkins on her journey in search of Mary Queen of Scots. 194 color illustrations and photographs.
She was the quintessential queen: statuesque, regal, dazzlingly beautiful. Her royal birth gave her claim to the thrones of two nations; her marriage to the young French dauphin promised to place a third glorious crown on her noble head. Instead, Mary Stuart became the victim of her own impulsive heart, scandalizing her world with a foolish passion that would lead to abduction, rape and even murder. Betrayed by those she most trusted, she would be lured into a deadly game of power, only to lose to her envious and unforgiving cousin, Elizabeth I. Here is her story, a queen who lost a throne for love, a monarch pampered and adored even as she was led to her beheading, the unforgettable woman who became a legend for all time. Praise for Mary Queen of Scots "She was sometimes reviled as a scheming whore, sometimes revered as a misunderstood martyr. But she was invariably regarded as fascinating. Antonia Fraser's richly readable biography demonstrates that Mary's great fascination continues unabated."--Time "Compassionate, illuminating, rich in human interest."--The New York Times "One of the most fascinating figures in history." --The Columbus Dispatch "With grace, sensitivity, and a sharp eye for detail, lady Antonia Fraser has succeeded not only in recapturing the real Mary from the symbol but also in illuminating the chaotic age in which she lived."--Newsweek
