Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Sight Unseen" by Sandra Ireland is a great weekend read. It's one of those books that you can't put down once you have picked it up, so you should just make the time to settle back, relax and enjoy it.

Sarah Sutherland is feeling her age. A single mum, whose daughter has headed off on a gap year, Sarah is struggling to cope with the demands of work and caring for her ageing father. Her job leaves her feeling unfulfilled and she yearns for the opportunities she missed out on, when she had to give up her dream of becoming an archeologist because she fell pregnant. Yet Sarah remains fascinating by the past and is drawn in by it.

She lives in a cottage in Kilgour, a small Scottish town, famous for its witch trials. In fact, Sarah's cottage was once home to a witch, Alie Gowrie, who was put to death for sorcery during the Civil War. Alie's story has piqued Sarah’s interest and she has researched her life history, concluding that Alie's execution was unjust.

Sarah spends her evenings escorting groups of visitors to Kilgour on ghost tours. She throws herself into the role and shares her knowledge of Alie and the witch burnings with them. When the opportunity arises to view new evidence contemporary to the witch trials, Sarah seizes the chance to try to uncover the truth behind what, up to now, have been little more than local folk tales.

"Sight Unseen" has a varied cast of characters, all of whom are either known to Sarah, or cross her path in the telling of this story. The reader is drawn into her life and joins those cheering Sarah on to succeed: not just in her quest for justice for Alie Gowrie, but also as she fights to find her own place in the world as a single woman on the cusp between youth and approaching middle age. Fast-paced and with hooks to keep the reader enthralled, "Sight Unseen" provides just the right amount of escapism to keep you turning the page all the way to the very end and is a very satisfying read.