Chapters (76)
- Cover
- About the Author
- Also by Karen Brooks
- Title Page
- Dedication
- EXPLANATORY NOTE
- PART ONE
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- PART TWO
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- PART THREE
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- PART FOUR
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Epilogue: Autumn 1706
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- GLOSSARY
- LIST OF CHARACTERS
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Books on fishing and actually going fishing also helped. The Real Price of Fish: The story of Scotland’s fishing industry and communities by Linda Fitzpatrick, purchased at the Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, was so useful. Other books and many videos also helped set a context.
I burrowed into contemporary accounts of what happened — as I said above, mainly from the parish records, letters and pamphlets of the period. It shows that the conflict caused by the accusations of witchcraft against these women and Thomas Brown, the notion of possession and malfeasance, caused huge schisms in communities, even though they were very religious. Add to this the other political divisions between those who supported English rule and the Jacobites (who wanted a Scottish king and the return of the Stuart line), as well as famine and poverty, and the setting was ripe for fear, intimidation and scapegoating. Once again, the more I write about the past, the more I see frightening parallels in today’s society.
Of course, I also read some magnificent fiction, including Susanna Kearsley’s fabulous The Winter Sea and Susan Fraser King’s Lady Macbeth, the thrilling works of Diana Gabaldon and Dorothy Dunnett, and a raft of crime fiction from my favourites, Stuart MacBride and Anne Cleeves’ Shetland series, to Ian Rankin, Pete Brassett, MC Beaton and Keith Moray, among many others.
As I wrote, I listened to a range of fabulous Scottish and Celtic music, but have to give a special shout out to Emily Barker’s ‘The Witch of Pittenweem’ (which my husband discovered as I was in the middle of editing — it’s about what happened to Janet Cornfoot and is just amazing and I had to force myself to stop replaying it over and over) as well as the rousing Bareknuckle Pipes and Drums of the Albannach band.
Likewise, the beautiful, moving art of Davy Macdonald — I am fortunate to have two prints of the fishwives hanging on my walls (a beautiful gift from hubby) — inspired and deeply affected me.
I hope that this book, while dark and harrowing in parts, is understood as I intend it — not only to showcase female friendship, the great bonds and love that can exist between good and decent men and women, even when all about them is unravelling, but also to honour the community of Pittenweem and especially those who fell during these bleak and terrible times. I love Scotland, from whence my father’s family and thus part of my bloodline came. It’s a magnificent country with a rich and enthralling history and present, made all the more remarkable by its wonderful, resilient people.
Above all, The Darkest Shore is a love-letter to the fishwives and all the other ‘wicked women’ out here; a tribute to strong, resourceful women whose boldness and courage, and that of their families and the men who stand by them, is cause for wonder, celebration and commemoration.