Out in the Forty-Five, or Duncan Keith's Vow, by Emily Sarah Holt.
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This book is written in the style of a diary written by the youngest of
four sisters. She is a very sensitive young girl, and her observations
are very acute. Most of them are of a religious nature, and the
description of the work of a preacher called Whitefield is very well
worth reading. I felt quite emotional while reading it.
As you may gather from the title the book is set in the time of 1745, at
the time the Bonny Prince Charlie landed in an attempt to claim his
title to the throne, currently held by the Elector of Hanover, who was
not very popular among the people we meet in this book, most of whom
would be called Jacobites. It is interesting to see that Jacobite
families like this one were more or less left alone, except when they
actually took up arms.
The book takes about 10 hours to read aloud. Some of the speech is in
broad lowland Scots, but you will probably have little difficulty in
understanding it.
You will probably come away from reading this book resolved upon an
amendment of life. If so then the book has done its work. This is the
first book by this author that we have come across (lent to us for the
occasion) and I am sure we shall add a few more by her in due course.
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OUT IN THE FORTY-FIVE, OR DUNCAN KEITH'S VOW, BY EMILY SARAH HOLT.