Music in the Dark

Jamesina Ross is long finished with men. But one night a stranger seeking lodgings knocks on her door. He doesn't recognise her but she remembers him at once. Not that she plans to mention it. A lifetime ago Jamesina Ross was bent on becoming a writer. She made up songs about the Highland glen where she lived. When her community was threatened with eviction she gave voice to that too. The women stood together but Jamesina's music was no match for one of the most brutal confrontations of the Highland Clearances. Jamesina has borne the disfigurements of that day ever since on her face and inside her head. It marked the end of a life of promise and the beginning of a very different one. Her lodger thinks that if she would only dare to open the past she might have the chance of a future.