The Bookseller of Inverness: a gripping historical thriller from the double prizewinning author

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Come the summer of 2020 however, conversations with my editor and others suggested that such an uncertain time was really not the right one to make such a significant shift of period or genre. The loss of family, friends, homes, and livelihoods is devastating, and even thirty years later people are still crushed by everything that has happened. There was a detailed sense of the time period, and the tension of living in a post civil war society was effectively portrayed. Her standalone Jacobite thriller, 'The Bookseller of Inverness' was voted Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2023.

Excellent historical fiction dealing with Bonnie Prince Charlie's attempts to retake the throne in 1745 and its years-long aftermath. If you’ve never read a SG Maclean novel; well, you should start with the Damien Seeker novels, but after that you should acquaint yourself with The Bookseller of Inverness. It is set in the years following Culloden as the surviving Jacobites try to go on with lives shattered by war, betrayal, and the occupation of their country. Set in Scotland in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, the ‘bookseller’ of the title is Iain MacGillivray, a survivor of the Battle of Culloden.I've never been to Inverness but this book was so well written I felt I could picture it really vividly. The strength of the book is in the characterisation, especially of Iain but of all the other main characters too, and in the portrayal of the town and the historical setting. and it’s tough starting again with a new cast, but I have to judge this novel on its merits, of which there are many, especially the depth of characterisation, historical detail and Literature quality of prose. The presence of many English soldiers is unnerving, some like Major Thornlie, polite and correct in his manner and others like Captain Dunne violent and uncouth.

I did read Alexander Seaton a few years ago, and although I don’t really remember much about the story now, I know I enjoyed it at the time.It is where Iain MacGillivray is left for dead on Drumossie Moor, next to the dead body of his beloved cousin, Laclan.

Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. As I was getting the porpy’s box ready for his hibernation, I inadvertently fell in, and have just woken up. I do like her writing and was glad to enjoy this one, since for some reason I just couldn’t get into her Seeker series. This was an amazing historical fiction that captivated me right from the start and was a superb well paced tale that also managed to keep me wanting to know more.Still traumatised by the death of his cousin Lachlan, Iain has been living quietly since the failed rising, selling books and running a small public library in Inverness.