The Secret of Ardnish

A novel by Angus MacDonald
Published by Birlinn

A small inheritance and a letter from his grandfather mark the beginnings of a journey that leads Peter Angus Gillies from his mundane job in Canada to the land of his ancestors on the rugged and beautiful peninsula of Ardnish on the west coast of Scotland.

As Peter Angus kayaks around exploring the long-abandoned places where his ancestors eked out a living and listens to stories about them, he learns of Jacobite treasure lost centuries before. Utterly bewitched by the spell of Ardnish and the ghosts of its past, he sets out to find the hidden gold. Together with the help of a local girl, Sarah, he embarks on a search that will test them to the limit.

Many of those who emigrated from the Arisaig area of Lochaber went to settle in Arisaig, Nova Scotia, and the folk from Brae Roy went to Inverness County, Cape Breton, taking their courteous ways, music and Gaelic language with them.

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Ardnish

A novel by Angus MacDonald
Published by Birlinn

Ardnish, the Highlands of Scotland, 1944. On his deathbed, Donald John Gillies sends for a priest to hear his last confession. During his 85 years he has witnessed much – world wars, the loss of family through death and emigration, and the daily struggles which face the small remote community.

Waiting anxiously for the priest, his mind travels back to the dusty plains of South Africa in 1901, where he fought as a Lovat Scout during the Boer War, and where he met the woman who was the love of his life. Forced to abandon her and her young daughter in a British concentration camp, DJ returns to Scotland and his old life after his camp is ambushed by Boers and many of his fellow soldiers are massacred.

As he lies dying, an unexpected visitor arrives at Ardnish, making it more imperative than ever for DJ to come to terms with the past and to make peace with himself – and his family – while there is still time.

Watch the book launch interview with Polly Pullar and Angus MacDonald

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We Fought For Ardnish

A novel by Angus MacDonald
Published by Birlinn

After joining the the Lovat Scouts at the outbreak of the Second World War Donald Angus Gillies is sent on a mission to the Alps, where he meets Francoise, a young French Canadian SOE agent. The pair immediately form a close bond, but when Francoise is injured and captured, DA realises his feelings for her are much, much stronger. After desperate attempts to find her, he has given up all hope. But a posting to Canada leads to some remarkable news, not just about Francoise but also about his own family.

Reunited once more, Donald Angus and Francoise plan to live together in his beloved Ardnish, but have one further mission to complete first – a mission more dangerous than anything they have ever faced before.

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Ardnish Was Home

A novel by Angus MacDonald
Published by Birlinn

Young Donald Peter Gillies, a Lovat scout soldier lies in hospital in Gallipoli in 1916, blinded by the Turks. There he falls in love with his Queen Alexandra Corps nurse, Louise, and she with him.

The story moves back and forth from their time at the field hospital to the west highlands of Scotland where Donald grew up. As they talk in the quiet hours he tells her the stories of the coast and glens, how his family lived and the fascinating life of a century ago: bagpiping, sheep shearing, celidhs, illegal distilling, his mother saving the life of the people of St Kilda, the navvies building the west highland railway and the relationship between the lairds and the people. Louise in turn tells her own story of growing up in the Welsh valley: coal mining, a harsh and unforgiving upbringing.

They get cut off from the allied troops and with another nurse are forced to make their escape through Turkey to Greece, getting rescued by a Coptic priest and ending up in Malta. By this time their love is out in the open, but there is still another tragic twist to their story waiting on the way back to Donald’s beloved highland home.

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Also widely available from good bookshops and Amazon