The Spirit of Skye

A victorian novel set in Scotland in 1860, at the time of the Highland Clearances. The small island called Skye is thrown into turmoil as farmers are evicted from their homes, and Annie stands up for their rights. A story of love and hate, murder and superstition, as Annie falls in love with Lord Tummel, who has just returned from fighting in the Crimean wars. Annie is being forced to marry a man chosen for her by the Laird, and she flees from the man she truly loves, to free the tenant farmers from ruin. As the white ows scream out across the glens, death descends on Coill Mor, the prophecy of the Seer is fulfilled, the Laird is dead, but Annie struggles on alone. Still she loves Lord Tummel who is wrongly informed that Annie loves somebody else, and intends to marry for the good of her estate. As gossip and intrigue on the island drives them apart ,Annie turns to her staff on the estate for support. She believes that Lord Tummel has abandoned her, and after she makes a disasterous decision to marry for the estate he goes from the island. He returns when the summer is spent, and at the time that Annie feels that at eighteen years old, her youth, her hope has gone. His mother chooses a wife for him, from among her aristocratic friends, but after the great storm on the island, he returns there, and to Annie. As she sits on his horse, she rests back on his chest. He is her Highland man, and she is his woman.