Untying the Knot, Linda Gillard

Untying the Knot is a Kindle book, my first since I bought the Kindle, and though I'm not excited about the Kindle, I'm very excited about the book. Full disclosure here: although we have never met in person, I consider Linda Gillard a "virtual" friend and I have enjoyed all of her previous books set in Scotland, her home, so I bought this one fully expecting to be just as pleased with it. I was right.

Gillard has a talent for creating fully realized characters that the reader comes to care about very much. In this book the main characters are Fay and Magnus Gillivray. They have been divorced for five years but have never stopped loving each other. Now their daughter is engaged to a man who presents an awkward situation for Fay, and Fay and Magnus are united in their determination to make her wedding and marriage happy and fulfilling.

Another aspect of Gillard's books is that there is always a physical or mental handicap to muddy the waters so to speak. In this case, Fay is emotionally fragile and Magnus suffers from severe PTSD as a result of his service where his job was to disarm bombs. In Londonderry, in fact, he had been nearly blown to pieces by an IRA bomb. He occasionally becomes violent, other times frightened; he is startled into these mental lapses by loud noises, dreams, and other triggers.

As in her other books, Gillard lets us in on the inner turmoil of the characters and there is a fine plot to keep us turning pages. She understands the complex thinking and motivations of her characters. A very satisfying read in all, and I recommend it highly.

Death of a Chimney Sweep by M. C. Beaton

I've been reading reviews about Beaton's Hamish Macbeth for a long time, but just now got around to reading one of this amusing series myself. There's a long list of titles to choose from but this one happened to catch my eye first.

I'm of Scottish ancestry so anything set in Scotland is bound to please me but even more so if, like in this book, the characters are memorable. Macbeth, for instance, is a constable in a village. He has bright red hair, he's single, and he has a dog named Lugs and a wild cat named Sonsie. These two animals play together like two peas in a pod. The village and the police office are right on the ocean with high hills on the other side which is a beautiful setting for any type of novel.

This story begins with the murder of a rich man whose body is shoved up the chimney in his own house, and the subsequent death by accident or murder of the chimney sweep who had been there that very day. The sweep was a beloved character in the area, and the widow of the first victim is soon friends with everyone too. Her husband had kept her isolated before.

Hamish Macbeth is a sort of maverick when it comes to crime solving, so he's always in trouble with his superiors, but he solves the crimes which makes his bosses even more upset of course. He's sort of unlucky in love, but the people of his village appreciate him and his skills.

Beaton is a witty writer. The jacket tells us that the BBC did a series of her stories, which I'm determined to find. She also writes a series starring Agatha Raisin and I want to try one of those as well. The Hamish Macbeth series is just the ticket for a summer day, or actually any time you want a light, amusing mystery with a very likeable hero.

What is it with Mel Gibson?

I had recorded the movie "Braveheart" starring Mel Gibson when it was shown on television several months ago. Saturday evening we finally got around to watching it. Since I'm of Scottish descent and know the William Wallace story, I thought I would enjoy it. And perhaps I would have, had it not been for Mel Gibson's more recent history which made me watch the movie with a jaundiced eye. I know his stern version of Roman Catholicism and his respect for his father's anti-semitic views too well.

What I'll call, for lack of a better term, his Jesus delusion was very much in evidence in "Braveheart." After the English killed his wife, for instance, here comes Gibson riding into the village on a donkey, excuse me, horse with his arms extended out to his sides. Sacrificing himself for his people he was. Right? Of course, it was an act and he and the villagers proceeded to attack the English after he had mesmerized them into complacency. Too bad, up to then it was a reenactment of Palm Sunday.

He kept putting this saintly look on his face as he stood in front of his men ready to attack the English army. Then, in the chaos that was war then (and now for that matter), he manages to kill everyone in sight and survive, bloodied but unbeaten.

Finally, after he was captured he refused to take something to dull the pain and prayed to be able to die well without crying out. Jesus pleading with God? When two partial hangings didn't get him to confess, they laid him out on a cross, for Pete's sake, and though they didn't stick a sword in his side, they did castrate and disembowel him but all he cried out was "Freedom!"

This was just too much for me; I burst out, "Oh, give it a rest, Gibson!"

The story wasn't exactly the truth of course; movies never are. However, the real history wasn't too far from what the movie showed, with the exception of Wallace's (Gibson's) love affair with the princess and his superhuman exploits. Wallace was certainly a hero to the Scots, a man who never in his life pledged allegiance to or entered into any agreements with the English. Robert (the) Bruce, Scotland's other hero did consort with the English until finally becoming the man Scotland needed him to be.

I do wish someone with the motive of telling the real story, which is dramatic enough, would have made this movie. Instead it was made as a form of worship to Mel Gibson and his holier-than-thou attitude toward everyone else. Predicting that he would make "The Passion" after "Braveheart" would have been a piece of cake.

Star Gazing by Linda Gillard

I won this lovely little book from Margot at Joyfully Retired. Her review made it sound like a book I would like and, oh boy, was she right. I'm of Scottish descent and the book is set in Scotland, partly in Edinburgh and partly on the Isle of Skye where Gillard lives. That alone makes it irresistible to me.

There isn't much description of Edinburgh, but that city isn't the point really. Gillard's hero makes blind Marianne, the protagonist of the story, "see" the Isle of Skye and because of that the reader sees it too. At one point he gives Marianne a wooden three-dimensional map of Skye that his grandfather made. It's a stroke of genius, but then that genius for describing things we take for granted but the blind can have no concept of is what draws her and the reader to him. Think of it for a minute. How do you describe stars, your reflection in a mirror, the height of a great tree, how leaves look blowing in the wind?

Marianne has been blind from birth. She does very well in life, finding ways to cope and things to enjoy. She tends to be crabby when her skills fail her. However, she lives with her older sister, a famous author of what Marianne considers silly novels. They argue all the time but her sister is a godsend and Marianne loves her. Another wonderful character is her sister's Goth assistant, a young man with make-up, piercings, and odd clothing who is actually a tender, loving fellow. When Marianne meets a man from Skye named Keir, they worry about her. For one thing they think she has imagined him for quite a while until they actually meet him.

Keir is one of those too-good-to-be-true guys. He's strong, manly, sexy, caring, poetic, charming, witty, everything you'd want in a man. It's his job that causes a problem. He is a geologist working for an oil company (I know, very timely now) and is gone for months at a time. Since Marianne is a widow who lost her husband when an oil rig exploded and miscarried their child just after, she's afraid to fall in love with Keir.

Yesterday was hot and humid here, but I hardly noticed since I spent the afternoon finishing Star Gazing. I loved all four of these characters and I loved Skye. It has been a long time since I was sad when I finished a book because I wanted it to go on and on forever.