The Dark Ship

The remote community of Stornoway in the Hebrides is the setting for a striking first novel by Anne MacLeod. An ambitious and best-selling first novel, it centres on a group of friends whose lives are changed irrevocably by the First World War, Iain Murray is charismatic, selfish and charming, and his war poetry makes him a cult figure; Calum is the talented musician whose crippled leg keeps him out of the army; John-Angus is the innocent who becomes a war hero and Mairi, the pivotal character, and daughter of the island's draper who loves Calum, shocks the community when she becomes pregnant by Iain. But also pregnant by Iain is the girl Iain really loves - Dulcie. When a Channel 4 producer finds a copy of Iain's poems and learns he was the hero of a war film, The Dark Ship, she travels to Scotland to interview the only survivor, John-Angus, and learns the tangled story of their lives. The sinking of the lolaire is the powerful climax of this modern love saga.