Elizabeth Sutherland (1) (1926–)

And so it happens I picked this one out of a box of donated books I was sorting for my local library and took it home to 'take a look'. For the life of me I can't explain why I read it end to end, except that it was well-written and had a certain serious-minded tone that kept me slogging onward. Sutherland examines the history of second sight in Scotland, placing it in context, describing the different ways it manifests, giving the history of some major seers and the like. From time to time her eagerness causes her to struggle to stay with her purpose, to tell the story of second sight in Scotland, and for the most part she succeeds. I can't say I learned anything I didn't know on the subject--although, of course, I read about a number of people I knew nothing about, I mean about the larger topic of psychic occurrences. As someone who has had a couple of unaccountable experiences, the book was affirming, even comforting, in a way. Sutherland's main point, with which I agree, is that the 'gift' if you can call it that, is spontaneous unpredictable and often uncomfortable, happening when it happens, and who can say why. If you are into reading about this sort of phenomenon, it's a serious enough attempt. ***1/2 (which may be a bit on the kindly side, maybe 3 1/4 is more accurate.… (mehr)

This book takes the lives of five real women, living during some of the most turbulent times in Scottish history, and through their surviving records gives us the experience of living at that time. This is always a difficult task as the written record is patchy, and women's lives in particular are not well recorded.However this does a good job of weaving a narrative from their specific records and more general historical sources. The women's positions range from the daughter of a minor lord to eventually a queen and a nun, poorer women are even less well recorded. The author does a good job in describing what their roles and responsibilities would be and how they were affected by political events.I would advise bookmarking the genealogical tables in the appendix, to follow the complex family interrealtions.

In the end I enjoyed this book more more than I expected to. As someone who has read a fair amount of 'straight' history, I wasn't sure of this framing device, but it does work quite well. For someone, perhaps, who has been reading historical fiction and wants something more 'academic', this would make a great introduction to the period.… (mehr)