The Black Douglas

Don’t be fooled into thinking The Black Douglas is another historical romance of the kind churned out by contemporary Scottish writers.  It couldn’t be further from that description.  Yes, a romantic thread runs through the novel, but so also do political intrigue, bloody executions, terrifying witchcraft and paedocide most heinous.  Set in fifteenth century Scotland, with a foray into the darkest corners of France, this is the Scottish version of “Game of Thrones”.  Without the gratuitous sex, of course – it was written in the late nineteenth century, after all.  But it does have its own larger-than-life villain who easily out-villains Ramsay Bolton!
 
And if all of that isn’t enough, there’s the writing – the beautiful descriptive writing of Samuel Rutherford Crockett, one of the best novelists ever produced by Scotland, but sadly much-neglected these days.  I’m off now to read Maid Margaret, his sequel to this wonderful novel.

Review by Brendan Gisby ​