Shetland, 1773: a land of hand-to-mouth living and tight community ties over-shadowed by the ever-watchful eye of the kirk, an institution" run by auld men, for auld men".
In this fictionalised retelling of historical events, young Waas lass Mary Johnsdaughter stands accused of having sinned in the eyes of the church after the Batchelor, a ship bursting with emigrants seeking new lives in Carolina, is left stranded upon Shetland's shores.
Will she survive the humiliation? Will she become an outcast? Will one moment cost her everything?
A tale of Shetland folk, knit out of Shetlandic voices and parish records, The Trials of Mary Johnsdaughter pits the bonds of friends and family against the grip of the kirk.
Christine De Luca
Paperback
270 pages
