Author Angus MacDonald has always lived in the Highlands and now runs the Moidart Trust, a charitable organisation that helps people to develop companies in the west Highlands.
But for many years he also served with the regiment, The Queen’s Own Highlanders.
Service must run thick in the blood of the MacDonald family, for his great-grandfather commanded the Lovat Scouts at Gallipoli.
This novel is based on stories handed down through generations of the family.
It tells the story of young Donald Peter Gilles, a soldier with the Lovat Scouts. It’s 1915 and Donald is lying in a hospital in Gallipoli, having been blinded during a battle with the Turkish forces. There he falls in love with Louise, a nurse.
The book follows their adventures as they escape through Turkey to Greece, continually moving across hostile territory with another nurse.
In quieter moments he tells Louise all about life on his beloved west coast while she tells her own stories of growing up in the Welsh valleys.
By the time they reach Malta, their love is out in the open but there’s a tragic twist to their story waiting on the way back to Donald’s Highland home.
Praise for the book that is both a tragic tale, captivating and a good read, comes from author Rosamunde Pilcher who says: “A genuine portrait of a time gone forever… a very good read.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Published by Birlinn