Kirsty Howard, recently orphaned, leaves China where her father preached and travels to Scotland, to the house of her grandfather, Angus McDonald. The reason for this trip is she has received a letter from her dying brother, in which some words are penned in Mandarin: She has killed...
Nobody at Cluain seems to want Kirsty there. She gets a room, albeith reluctanly. And right from the first day, the housekeeper Mairi Sinclair, makes clear she doesn't want her presence. Also her grandfather deeply regrets the fact she is no younger brother of William who died in a tragic accident. Only the housemaid, Morag, is a little more welcoming.
But Kirsty get interested in the making of whisky and soon finds her place at Cluain. She meets the owner of the neighboring estate, Sir Gavin Campbell (soon to be Marquis of Rossmuir), his beautiful wife Margaret and their son Jamie, but also Callum Sinclair, Mari's son. And he too makes obvious he doesn't want her love.
This is a tale like they don't write them anymore. The characters are well-worked out and you get to really know them. It is fulll of underlying tensions and threats.
I was barely able to put the book down!
