Entertainment
West Coast Reads
R e v ie w s The Review looks at recent releases with a local
LOOKING BACK OVER
THE LAND
If you were ever in doubt
as to how much history
can be absorbed by encountering
a landscape
on foot, The Hidden
Ways might change
that.
Alistair Moffat’s book is
part history, part travel
journal. It describes the
writer’ experience of an
eclectic collection of forgotten
walks, presented
in chronological order of
the key events they represent.
It’s an unusual,
but effective approach.
Moffat’s travels take
him from the prehistoric
route-way of the River
Tay, via the 17th century
gallows on Edinburgh
High Street, to the Second
World War stop line
(built to halt invading
tanks) at Stonehaven.
His vivid descriptions of
past events bring locachanged
42 | JULY 2018
very little.
Adam Cromarty is a
young Shetlander who
forms a special bond
with newborn pony,
Haki. From the fi rst sugar
lump, to setting off
together for a mainland
adventure, the duo are
inseparable – and Adam’s
determination to
put his pony’s welfare
fi rst makes him especially
endearing.
While there are elements
of the book that
date it – descriptions
are more detailed and
the plot less fast-paced
than modern fare –
these are also part of
its charm. We really get
to know the characters
before they gallop into
the circus ring for the
action-packed second
act.
Fidler's human and
historical observations
remain enlightening, as
REVIEWS
tions to (often grisly) life,
but the drama is lightened
by observations
from today about the local
scones and passing
cyclists!
On the west coast,
Moffat walked from
Ballachulish to Connel,
following the route and
story of the railway line
which closed in 1966.
Focusing on the Appin
murder, he begins at
the knoll where James
Stewart was hanged,
walking to the Lettermore
cairn that marks
Colin Campbell’s shooting,
through Glen Duror
to James Stewart’s
farmhouse and onwards.
Wherever he treads,
Moffat connects today’s
landscape with yesterday’s
“To walk in the
footsteps of our ancestors
is to sense some
of that everyday experience
come alive under
our feet,” he writes. It is
enough to inspire even
the most reticent walker
to strap on their boots
and step back in time.
The Hidden Ways,
by Alistair Moffat,
Cannongate, £20
LITTLE PONY, BIG TOP
First published in 1968,
this Kathleen Fidler classic
shows that the ingredients
of a captivating
children’s story have
does her understanding
of the dilemmas faced
by young islanders.
Haki the Shetland
Pony, Kelpies, £6.99
HEBRIDEAN
HAPPINESS
Debi Gliori’s delightful
new offering captures
the sounds and sights
of a day in the Hebrides
through a child’s excited
eyes.
She ignores alphabet
book convention, instead
presenting island
words and sounds,
from the boggy burn, to
kayaks on the kyle, that
seem to just fl ow into
alphabetical order, and
are all the richer for it.
No-one who sees Gliori’s
illustrations could
doubt her affection for
this landscape – local
details from jumpers
and cottage walls, otters
and fl ag iris, are so
beautifully observed that
you really couldn’t be
anywhere else.
A Hebridean Alphabet
by Debi Gliori, Birlinn,
£6.99
connection.