The Crofter & The Laird by John McPhee

The Crofter & The Laird
by John McPhee
nonfiction 1969
print
finished 1/19/17

The Crofter and The Laird has been in our library for decades. I’ve often looked at it and wondered if I’d like to read it, but I’ve never actually picked it up. 

It was published in 1969, 1970. The reason for the two dates is that it was published in The New Yorker magazine first, and then was ‘developed with the editorial counsel of William Shawn, Robert Bingham, and C.P. Crow.’ 

The author begins the book with

The Scottish clan that I belong to - or would belong to if it were now anything more than a sentimental myth - was broken a great many generations ago by a party of MacDonalds, who hunted down the last chief of my clan, captured him, refused him mercy, saying that a man who had never shown mercy should not ask for it, tied him to a standing stone, and shot him.

That standing stone was on the Scottish island of Colonsay. McPhee brings his wife and four daughters over to live there for a time. He weaves together the past and the present, teaching us local history and showing us what life is like. At the time of the book there were 138 people on the island, and today there are 135 people. Amazing that fifty years later the population is the same especially because the crofters of the late sixties feared the young would leave and never come back. Some must have stayed, and perhaps others have moved there. There are a lot of activities that weren’t going on in the time of the book, for example festivals, and honey production. There is still a laird, and I found an article where he helped save the only pub five years ago.   

There is a tremendous amount of gossip that goes on. The author is told there is no mental illness on Colonsay, probably due to the degree of gossiping.

‘There is apparently a point at which gossip can become so intensely commonplace that it is not only beyond hurting anone but is, in fact, a release.' 

McPhee shares some of this gossip with the reader, using a great device whereby he notes the words of several people, listed one after another without mentioning anyone’s name. This particular topic went on for two pages.
“Donald Garvard is generous man. He would lend his last hundred pounds.”
“He comes in like a bit of a breeze.”
“He’s a hail fellow.”
“He has a strong, Highland sense of humor."

If you have an interest in Scottish island life from almost fifty years ago, this is your book. And if it isn’t a topic that you are particularly interested in, you may find yourself drawn into the book. I so enjoyed it. This is my second choice for 

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

The Franchise Affair - book 3 in the Alan Grant series (though he is barely in this one)

by Josephine Tey

mystery 1948

kindle

finished 1/21/17 

I have never read a book like The Franchise Affair. 

Here is the plot. A young teenage girl goes to the police and tells them that she has been kidnapped and beaten by two women, a woman in her forties and her mother. She describes their house and grounds in great and perfect detail. The women deny everything. Can you imagine if someone accused you of such a thing and ‘knew’ your home inside out? What a horror. The reader doesn't know who is telling the truth and who isn’t for a while. There is a wonderful small town lawyer who has lived a placid, easy life with a doting aunt. Suddenly he is swept up in the case and off on the adventure of his life. Alan Grant, the Scotland yard sleuth in the first two books in the series makes very few appearances. I guess that’s about all I’ll say except that this is one great story, and you don’t need to read the others in the series first.

I read it for the Birth Year Reading Challenge 2017

and the Read Scotland 2017 challenge

though I was going to read it anyway because I am planning to read all the books in the Alan Grant series, and Tey's non-series books as well. She was a very good writer who died too early. Her real name was Elizabeth MacKintosh. You may read more about her here and here. I've just bought a recent biography of her by Jennifer Morag Henderson. My thanks go out to my blogging friend Cath for introducing the author to me. 

Read Scotland 2017 Challenge

I have these five books about Scotland

on my shelves, and some of them have been there for a long time. Year after year goes by, and I don't read them. So I thought I'd sign up for Peggy Ann's Read Scotland 2017 Challenge.

All the books are set on the Hebrides, and all but the Ann Cleeves are nonfiction. I own one other book set in Scotland, written by the late Iain Banks,

and I just may read this one as well, even though I've read it twice already. I wrote a little bit about it in a book journal before I had a blog.

The book is subtitled In Search Of The Perfect Dram.This book will appeal to - the whisky fan, the fan of author Banks' fiction work, and then me, who is neither one. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was like sitting in the living room (or at a bar!) with him. The writing is rambling, his thoughts seem to be written as he thinks them. What I like especially is his passion- for life, for Scotland, for whisky, for cars, for music, for fun.

It is time I read these books, and this is the perfect way to get myself to do so. I am reading at the 1-5 level called Totie Wee. You may join here at her blog, or on her Goodreads page here.