Uncertain Times — Ethyl Smith

Scotland, 1685Part 6 in Ethyl Smith's Times series that eloquently portrays the lives of ordinary men and women in 17th century Scotland as they fought to survive in extraordinary times. Billy Kay, author of Scots: The Mither TongueAs an Ayrshire man whose home town of Galston has a kirkyaird with a 17th century gravestone depicting a local man being killed by the troops of Bluidy Claverhoose, the stories of the Covenanters have always been deeply embedded in my sense of local history, identity and culture. One of my all time favourite books therefore is Sir Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality, set during those Killing Times and spanning the country between Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. What a thrill and a pleasure it is then to revisit those stirring times once again in these fine novels by Ethyl Smith. Because of her brilliance in recreating the Scots language culture of the place and time, her writing has a visceral quality about it which you know instinctively is based on profound personal knowledge. This is Scots writing to savour and enjoy.