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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

Staring into the smoke and the burning centre of gold as the peat sparked and crackled, she thought back on her family — her brothers, her mor, Dagny, but mostly her father.

She settled back into the armchair that she still considered his and ran her palms along the arms, allowing the action to conjure thoughts of him. Her father was a rare man and not just because he wed outside the Weem. As the owner of a fishing boat, it was unusual for him to also crew. Most owners paid others to do the dangerous work — a pittance at that, the men would grumble. Not her da. Ever since the wars against France and Holland in his father’s time had reduced the population of men in Pittenweem to a mere few hundred, never mind the losses sustained during the civil war when entire crews were killed, leaving fishing boats devoid of anyone to work them, he’d known how important it was to keep the fleet going. The days when a dozen vessels would leave the harbour sailing to different parts of Scotland and the northern isles of Europe were long gone, but as far as Charlie McIntyre was concerned, that didn’t give him permission to wait safe at home while others risked their lives. Loved by his men but not the town council — two of the bailies owned the town’s remaining ships and were shamed by his courage — when he and his son Erik drowned at sea, there were those who attributed it to the bad luck his incomer wife brought him. The other boat owners took it as a sign to keep their feet dry.

By then, famine, the scourge of the countryside, had swept the coast. It was as if the sea was in sympathy with the land and as the staple crops that sustained the locals died in the ground, so too the sea failed to offer its rich harvest.

Unable to feed what was left of the family — Dagny having long since wed and left — Sorcha’s remaining brother, Robbie, knowing how much his mother feared him going to sea, leased their father’s boat to a man in Anster Easter and joined the army. Shipped to France, where England had joined her Dutch allies to fight the French, he had written as often as he was able.

When news came that Robbie had been taken prisoner and was most likely dead, her mother completely unravelled. Ignoring her youngest daughter, she took to her bed and never rose again.