BooksBarbecue
Back The Darkest Shore
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

Then there’s my darling Kerry Doyle. Kerry, her husband Peter Goddard, my husband Stephen and I all travelled to the UK together in 2017, in particular to tour Scotland, though we also took in parts of Britain and fabulous Wales as well. Stephen and I dragged them in and out of breweries, distilleries and bookshops (yeah, we’re really crap friends) and occasionally I would peel away to do my own research. More often than not, they all accompanied me and became, particularly when we went to Fife, as transfixed and enchanted by the area and as captivated by the tale of witches in Pittenweem as I was. We spent hours together in the fantastic Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, walked miles along the coastal paths, explored the wynds of Pittenweem, the harbour, drank hot chocolate, ate seafood, were horrified by St Fillan’s Cave, quietly contemplated the Tolbooth and kirk (and back then I didn’t know a fraction of what had happened) and wandered through the graveyard. Everywhere we went in Fife and, indeed, throughout Scotland, we were greeted so warmly and with absolute generosity. It was a magic time that I hope to repeat very soon as more stories have taken root. But I digress… Kerry is one of my beta-readers and it takes a very special person to be willing to undertake such a task. They have to read a work-in-progress and feed back honestly to the writer what they think. Kerry is an experienced reader and a discerning one. I trust her both to be brutally frank yet kind when she reads — not an easy task — and she is all that and so much more. Thank you, Kerry, my lovely, my soul-sister.

Thanks to you, too, Peter, for your love, friendship and support and for being so much a part of this tale and its creation as well.

Then there are the marvellous friends who gave me the idea for this story in the first place: Mark Nicholson and Bill Lark. Both are fabulous people and great raconteurs and it didn’t take much for them to convince me to search out this story. I hope I have justified your faith in my ability to do it justice. Bill also happens to be married to another of my friends — the kind you call on for a hug, a laugh and a shoulder and to share a few drams with — the superbly talented Lyn Lark. I also want to thank Bill and Lyn for insisting I stay in their ‘shack’ in Orford, Tasmania, for as long as I wanted to finish the book. I had a week by the cold, wild sea, with my dogs, imagination, research and words, and it was simply magic. Thank you so much for your incredible generosity. I did complete the book there.