Campbell Reivers

Campbell Reivers
Grant Neil
Lulu Press
ISBN: 1847539157
Fiction, Historical Fiction
Reviewed by Eugen M. Bacon

This superbly crafted novel embodies a vivid sense of place that is just as powerful as the book’s potent message. When Alexander Campbell of Backhills stands on his favorite spot at the zenith of Ben Cleuch, little does he know of the exploits and grave undertakings that are to come his way. In the aftermath of certain amorous exploits and the seeding of a few babies, Alex is out of favor with his kindred. He is banished to Linlithgow with dashed honor to salvage. Good uncle Iain, his new guardian, knows well to draw a line on a matter. Shona and Mhairi, Alex’s twin Gaelic cousins, know well to stride out of that line. It is not long before, full of impishness and much equipped with womanhood, Shona makes her private claim of Alex - to uncle Iain's immense ire. Now an officer in pursuit of plundering Spaniards and their murderous ways, Alex Campbell finds plentiful battle action with and away from his brand new wife, Shona, and her impetuous ways.

Campbell Reivers is bold, pert, outrageously funny. Characters are most likable or easy to identify with. Not only does the manner of their speech furnish charming dialogue, Neil Grant writes a most convincing Scottish accent that proves equally hilarious as a parallel romance begins to emerge in the face of Jens and young Mhairi. A sequel to this historical novel is well in order.