1) You graduated in Scottish History, was this a great help when researching your book?
Invaluable. After graduating, I worked for Tom Devine on ‘The Great Highland Famine.’ In the course of the research in the Duke of Argyll’s archive, I discovered the letters and petition of the Shiaba people. This inspired a play written for Argyll Youth Theatre about Shiaba and that led to the book. It is a challenge to loosen the rigorous discipline of history and launch into creative writing.
2) Are any of the locations in the book based on your time as a shepherd in the West Highlands?
Yes. When I worked as a shepherd on Mull, I gathered sheep through the ruins of Shiaba and had my own croft at Saorphin just across from the township. Had I not known Shiaba, the letters in the Duke’s archive would not have meant so much. I know the Ross of Mull and Iona well. having lived and worked in both.
3) When you discovered the documents on Shiaba, while working on Sir Tom Devine’s “The Great Highland Famine”, was this the point when you decided to write about the Scottish potato famine or had it been a subject you had been interested in for some time? The discovery of the documents was moving experience, particularly the petition signed by old Neil MacDonald with his mark, and this inspired the play.
4) You have had a varied career e.g. a shepherd, graduating from university and also teaching History at Oban High School, when did you decide to become an author?
After graduating, I published my Masters as ‘Deer Forests, Landlords and Crofters’ but found I was drawn to creative writing and, while teaching, started writing short stories, several of which were published. At the same time I was writing a column in the Scotsman and published a few review articles with the paper. Although I was writing, I never considered myself to be an author. It was not till I retired that I found time to embark on a novel. The first one, a novel on slavery, is still imprisoned in a memory stick, but the second was published as ‘Mick’, the story of a cruelly fostered boy, and Birlinn published ‘The Shepherd and the Morning Star’, a biography/autobiography.
5) Will you be writing any more books on Scottish history, or will you be trying something new?
I have just completed a novel set in Jamaica and London in the 18th century and am punting it round agents and publishers.
6) Who are some of your favourite authors?
Usually the ones I have just read. Colm McCann, Sara Collins, Delia Owens, Andrei Makine, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, Lisa McInerney.
7) Do you plan each step of the writing process before you start or do you let the story “take control” and follow its own path?
I start with a vague plan but often the plot alters radically as I proceed and often descends into complete anarchy.
8) What is the best part about being an author?
I don’t think of myself as an author – a story teller, perhaps. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to create a character, to see them in your head, to hear them speak, to mourn when they die. I was moved when Catherine was left alone above the ruins of Shiaba but the words to express her grief (and mine) were never perfect. Maybe that’s the best part – searching for the words to express the emotions, chasing after an elusive perfection, a phantasm.
9) What important advice would you give to other authors?
Never give up !
10) What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
An insight into the lives of the people of the Ross during the Great Famine, the injustice of the system that favoured the rich above the poor and the strength and resilience of the women.