A Game of Sorrows
Author(s): Shona Maclean
It is 1628, and Alexander Seaton's happily settled life as a university teacher in Aberdeen is shattered by the arrival in town of a stranger who looks like his twin and who carries a plea for help from Alexander's dead mother's family in Ireland. The family has been placed under a poet's curse, threatening death to various members. Elements of the curse have already begun to play out. Reluctantly answering the call, Alexander leaves his home and his beloved Sarah and travels to Ulster, to find himself among a family torn apart by secrets and long-buried resentments. In the course of seeking out the author of the curse, Alexander becomes deeply entangled in a conflict that involves fugitive priests, displaced poets, rebellious plotters and agents of the king. Confronted by murder within his family, he finds the lines between superstition and faith, duty and loyalty are becoming increasingly blurred, while his Scottish homeland grows ever more remote.
General Information
- :
- : Quercus
- : Quercus
- : 0.290299
- : 01 September 2010
- : 198mm X 132mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Shona Maclean
- : Paperback
- : 1
- : English
- : 823.92
- : 352
More About The Product
'A fine, rich, beautiful historical thriller - literate, engaging and moving' Manda Scott. 'MacLean has the first-rate historical novelist's gift... communicates her passion for the period without downplaying its brutishness' Daily Telegraph. 'A substantial story, well researched, never slackening pace' Scotsman. 'Combines the ironclad plotting of Sansom with the artful recreation of Mantel' Independent.
Shona MacLean has a PhD in history from Aberdeen University, specialising in 16th and 17th Scottish history. She was encouraged to write by her late uncle, Alistair MacLean. She lives in Banff, Scotland, with her husband and four children. This is her second novel.