It’s that time of year, folks. A new novel and a new book tour to promote it.
I will be reading, signing books, answering questions and partaking of the odd tipple at the following venues:
June 29th, The Blue Lamp, Aberdeen from 18.30.
July 8th, The Wash Bar, Edinburgh from 18.30
July 9th, Rio Cafe, Glasgow from 18.30
I’m hoping to add one or two more events, so keep checking back for updates. In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about Silma Hill.
“From the author of the Guardian Not The Booker Prize short-listed First Time Solo comes a fast-paced historical thriller.
Reverend Burnett, the unpopular minister at Abdale, lives with his sixteen year old daughter Fiona who he treats no better than a servant. Behind the manse lies Silma Hill, crowned with a circle of ancient standing stones.
Old Sangster unearths a pagan icon in the peat beneath Silma Hill and hands it over to Burnett, who plans to write a paper on it for the Historical Antiquities Society. Hours after finding the relic, Sangster is found dead. Fiona is drawn into accusations of witchcraft, fuelled by hatred of her father.
As hysteria in the village builds, will Fiona’s father be able to put aside his pride to save his daughter? Or will she be consumed by the fire of anger, fear and superstition that has enveloped Abdale?”
Award-winning novelist, short story writer and dramatist Ronald Frame (author of The Lantern Bearers and Havisham) had these kind words to say about Silma Hill:
‘An atmospheric evocation of an earlier age we might suppose lost if it didn’t feel so lived-in. The true terror of the tale lies in what it tells us of ourselves today – as morally equivocal as ever.’
Iain Maloney 