Chronicles of the Canongate

Chrystal Croftangry, a failed Edinburgh gentleman living in the Canongate, presents three stories gathered from the memories of friends. In “The Highland Widow”, a mother formed by the defeated Jacobite world destroys the son who chooses service in a government regiment. “The Two Drovers” follows a Highland cattleman and his English friend towards a fatal clash between different ideas of honour and lawful redress.

“The Surgeon’s Daughter” moves from Scotland to British India, where an ambitious young medical man betrays the woman promised to him in the hope of advancement at the court of Mysore. Hyder Ali intervenes against the plot involving his son Tipu Sultan, but rescue does not erase the human cost. Across the collection, migration, military service and commerce pull Scots away from local communities whose older codes cannot survive unchanged.