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Back The Darkest Shore Save as PDF
Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Karen Brooks
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. EXPLANATORY NOTE
  7. PART ONE
  8. One
  9. Two
  10. Three
  11. Four
  12. Five
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Fifteen
  23. Sixteen
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. PART TWO
  37. Twenty-Nine
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. Thirty-Three
  42. Thirty-Four
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. PART THREE
  45. Thirty-Six
  46. Thirty-Seven
  47. Thirty-Eight
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Forty-Eight
  58. Forty-Nine
  59. Fifty
  60. Fifty-One
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. PART FOUR
  63. Fifty-Three
  64. Fifty-Four
  65. Fifty-Five
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Fifty-Seven
  68. Fifty-Eight
  69. Fifty-Nine
  70. Sixty
  71. Sixty-One
  72. Epilogue: Autumn 1706
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. GLOSSARY
  75. LIST OF CHARACTERS
  76. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It was still hard for Sorcha to get used to seeing her brother standing in the pulpit. The first time it happened, she thought she’d have to leave before he started the sermon as she kept overlaying his frame with that of his predecessor’s. But once Robbie commenced talking and his rich, melodic voice explained the word of God, calling for kindness, understanding and compassion instead of whipping up suspicion and fear, she was spellbound — as was the rest of the congregation.

When that word flew into her mind, she spluttered, covering her mouth before she released a volley of coughs. Beside her, Nettie shot her a concerned look, and touched her gently on the arm. Shaking her head, she reassured her with a smile that was starting to appear more frequently. She would explain later how, here she was sitting in the kirk, along with all her friends, absolved of witchcraft or any wrongdoing in the death of the reverend, and the word that jumped into her head to describe her brother’s preaching was ‘spellbound’. Really, it was almost funny.

It was eighteen months now since the death of Patrick Cowper, and there’d been a few objections when Robbie McIntyre was first put forward as his replacement — mainly from the older Cowper children, bailies Cook and Vernour, Peter Morton’s family and other staunch supporters of the reverend. But they’d quickly been overridden by the rest of the town. Not only had Robbie acquitted himself well in the wars in Bavaria and survived time in a French prison, but he was a Weem lad who understood the ways of the fisherfolk and the sea better than Cowper ever did. You wouldn’t catch him hovering by the harbour when the fishermen were casting out to sea, threatening ill-fortune just by his watchful presence. The last thing they needed was another incomer when they had their own reverend, born and bred.

Peter Morton himself could make no objections. In the immediate aftermath of the reverend’s death, his father awoke one morning to find his son gone. In the following months, rumours circulated that he’d gone to the city, fled north, even boarded a ship bound for the colonies in the New World. None were ever confirmed. Sorcha wondered if, once his mentor and friend the reverend was dead, Peter was unable to live with his part in it all, in the deaths of Thomas and Janet, in the persecution of innocent people. She wanted to believe he wasn’t a bad lad, but she could never reconcile why he manufactured his affliction and maintained it for so long, pretending to be affected by witchcraft. She could never forgive him for that either. In her soul, she felt God would understand.