The Girl with the Creel (64 page)

She was grateful that he had refused to accept the picture as a gift; she hadn't wanted to lose it again. ‘Yes, I'm quite agreeable to that.'

‘I promise to bring it back when the exhibition closes, for I don't need a reminder of your mother. For one thing, every time I look at you I'll see her.' His eyes twinkled now. ‘If Fate hadn't decreed otherwise, my dear, you might have been my daughter.'

Noticing the tray which Alice had taken in some time ago, and glad to change the subject, she said, ‘I'll make some fresh tea.'

Over the refreshment, Robbie did some more explaining. ‘When Jenny came to tell us you'd come back, I couldn't wait to meet you. So I hired a van for the afternoon, and … we'd better be going, Jenny, or the bairns'll be home from school.' He had left his sister at the Yardie to be there for the children, but he was eager to tell her the miraculous result of his mission.

Dan having wrapped the picture in sacking and placed it on Jenny's knee in the van, he stood with his arm round Lizann, waving until their visitors were out of sight. He said nothing as they went through the kitchen – Alice was a bit of a gossip – but back in the sitting-room he asked, ‘How do you feel after all that?'

She snuggled up to him. ‘Still hardly able to believe what he said. I'm glad you were with me … but how did you know they were here?'

‘Alice came and told me, and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.' He eyed her anxiously now. ‘Are you sure you want to go to Buckie again this Saturday? You likely hadn't wanted to refuse when Jenny asked, but isn't it a bit soon?'

Lizann gave a trilling laugh. ‘If you think I'll feel jealous because Peter married Jenny, I won't! I could see yesterday they were absolutely right for each other. But so are we, Dan my darling. Not just right, perfect! Don't you think so?'

His answer was to kiss her, so passionately that neither of them saw Alice when she looked round the door to ask when they wanted to eat, and she withdrew without a sound.

Back in the kitchen, a broad grin spread across her face. All the folk round about said it was a marriage of convenience, a lonely old bachelor needing company and an ex-fishwife looking for security, but it hadn't looked like that from where their maid had been standing. It was a real love match, no doubt about it, and she'd be as well turning off the oven and going home.

That two wouldn't be needing any supper tonight!

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BY DORIS DAVIDSON

The Back of Beyond

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Two young men from a remote Scottish village decide to make their fortunes in London, but can't escape their close ties to home or the girl they leave behind…

Alistair Ritchie and Dougal Finnie have grown up in one of the most scenic villages in Scotland, but as they now have a desire to see the world, there is nothing to keep them there – not even Lexie Fraser, who's been chasing Ally since they were fourteen. Lexie has troubles of her own: a sick mother and a missing father, his disappearance a complete mystery. She'd like nothing better than to cling to Ally, which just makes him more determined to break free.

But the lads aren't destined to stay away forever. Marriage and babies follow – and so does war. London is no place for young wives and children, and where could be safer than the north of Scotland, the Back of Beyond? But what will their city-raised families make of it – and the folks they left behind?

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'Absorbing and fascinating' - Christine Marion Fraser

'It's a dismal day that doesn't include a dose of Doris' -
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The brow of the Gallowgate is where Albert Ogilvie buys his property in 1890 - the shop he has dreamed of for years, and above it, a house with nine rooms to accommodate the large family he and his beloved wife, Bathie, desire. As their babies are born - there will be eight in all - Albert employs three sisters, one after another, as nursemaids. Bathie finds Mary and Jeannie Wyness more than satisfactory, but Bella, the youngest, is troublesome and sly, and creates a set of distressing circumstances resulting in her dismissal. The years go by, with their joys and sorrows, and war splits up the close-knit Ogilvies, some of whem eventually emigrate to New Zealand. And it is there that Bella Wyness, her resentment of the family grown to black hatred, will wreak her terrible revenge...

Cousins at War

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The sequel to her novel 'Brow of the Gallowgate', Doris Davidson's latest novel follows the fortunes of the Ogilvie family through the World War II.

Olive is determined to have her cousin Neil as her husband and won't allow anything or anyone to get in her way. So when her younger cousin Queenie is evacuated from London and begins to attract Neil's attention, Olive does all she can to avert the relationship. When warnings and threats fail, Olive concocts a web of lies to blacken Queenie's character and destroy her cousins' love. Despite Olive's success, her actions fail to secure Neil, who finds himself involved with other girls, finally meeting and falling for Freda. After this Olive will stop at nothing, no matter how despicable, to make sure Neil is hers forever. The consequences of her actions shock everyone and send the extended Potter and Ogilvie families into turmoil.

Duplicity and Other Stories

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A novella and collection of short stories by Scotland's favourite novelist.

Two men sit petrified on Christmas Eve at the thought of spending it in supernatural company; a young family makes a tense Cross-channel trip in fear of some unspecified threat; an old man contemplates jumping to his death at the thought of being evicted from the house in which he has lived all his life. In this book, Doris Davidson looks back over an immensely successful writing career in a collection of twenty short stories, which also includes her eagerly awaited latest work, the novella "Duplicity". Covering a wide range of themes and moods, these stories are a wonderful tribute to the skill and imagination of one of Scotland's best-loved authors.

A Gift from the Gallowgate

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This is the extraordinary story of a remarkable woman. Doris Davidson was born in Aberdeen in 1922, the daughter of a master butcher and country lass. Her idyllic childhood was shattered in 1934 with the death of her father, after which, in order to make ends meet, her mother was forced to take in lodgers. In part due to her father's sudden death, Doris left school at fifteen and went to work in an office, gradually rising through the ranks until she became book-keeper. Marriage to an officer in the Merchant Navy followed in 1942, then divorce, then her second marriage. Her life took the first of two major changes in direction at the age of 41, when she went back to college to study for O and A levels, followed by three years at Teacher Training College. In 1967 she became a primary school teacher, and subsequently taught in schools in Aberdeen until she retired in 1982. Not content with a quiet retirement Doris embarked on a new 'career' and became a writer, publishing her first work in 1990. Eight books later (and another one nearly finished), she is one of the country's best-loved romantic novelists and has sold well in excess of 200,000 copies of her books. In this engaging and candid autobiography, Doris Davidson recounts her growing up in Aberdeen in the '20s and '30's, the war years, her marriage and the unexpected paths her career has followed. With her novelist's skill, she brings into vivid focus a life of rich experience in a book every bit as riveting as her works of fiction.

The Girl with the Creel

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VIGXQCY

'Compelling' –
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'Absorbing' –
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Lizann Jappy is the daughter of a fisherman from the close community of Buckie. Having led a sheltered girlhood, her life is turned upside-down when it is discovered that the man she loves is married – for divorce is an unthinkable disgrace and her family lives by the traditions that have guided the local folk for generations.

But Lizann finds that, when the need arises, she can be every bit as proud and resourceful as the people of her home town. Forced to flee by a series of misunderstandings and tragedies, she must leave behind almost everything. Yet as long as she can carry her creel on her back, she hopes she will not starve.

Against the background of the herring fleets, small-time farming and the bombing of Aberdeen in the Second World War, this heartwarming tale brims with adventure, humour and passion as Lizann searches for happiness.

The House of Lyall

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Marion Cheyne is young, poor and ambitious. Her humble village roots and poorly paid job offer few opportunities and Marion feels trapped in a dead-end existence. So when an unexpected chance to escape presents itself, Marion grabs it, ignoring the moral implications of her actions, and sets out on a new life far away in Aberdeen. Years later and the struggling servant girl Marion has been transformed into Marianne, wife of the heir to Castle Lyall, and every inch the lady of the glen. More a business arrangement than a love match, Marianne's commitment to her role and to the name of Lyall is total, and as family, friends and world wars come and go, she will stop at nothing to protect her hard-won position. But the many secrets of her past refuse to stay safely buried. Nothing in the small community of the glen can remain hidden forever...

Jam and Jeopardy

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'It's a dismal day that doesn't include a dose of Doris' - Press and Journal

89-year-old spinster, Janet Stouter, takes pleasure in raking up scandals, old and new, about her neighbours. She also relishes refusing her two nephews the money they seek to bolster their businesses. When a retired glass worker gives her some arsenic to kill the rats in her garden, she hatches a plan to test them. She tells them about the arsenic and waits for them to prove themselves worthy of inheriting when she dies. Whoever attempts to kill her will be her sole heir; if both do, of course, they will each get half share of her substantial amount of savings. She does, however, make sure that her life will be in no danger. Unfortunately, the old lady spreads word of her newly acquired poison around the village, thus laying the seeds of murderous intent in several people. She had not foreseen that several other would-be assassins will come into the frame or that one will succeed in silencing her vicious tongue forever. This is a whodunnit in the classic style of Agatha Chrisite.

Monday Girl

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After the death of her father, 10-year-old Renee and her mother are forced to open up their Aberdeen home to two lodgers. An impressionable and romantic child, Renee grows up weaving romantic fantasies around both men, firstly the dependable Jack and later the charming Fergus, who cements her obsession with him by seducing her, then breaking her heart. With the advent of the Second World War, Renee is thrown into further turmoil as the two men of her life are sent into action, leaving her to a whirlwind of RAF sergeants stationed in the area. It is during this period that she meets and falls in love with Glynn, and the pair decide to marry. However, something remains wrong in Renee's world... could her secret fear of Mondays be the reason for her inability to find lasting happiness?

The Nickum

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'It's a dismal day that doesn't include a dose of Doris' - Press and Journal

Willie Fowlie's grandmother calls him a 'nickum' - he is a mischievous Aberdeenshire boy who often acts instinctively, bearing little or no consideration for the consequences of his actions. When he is eleven, his playful antics lead to a full-blown murder enquiry, but it is soon recognised that the hunt is based on nothing more material than Willie's imagination. Four years later, however, Willie witnesses a real murder, but believing that his eye-witness testimony is simply another fabrication, the police wind down the investigation. It is not until five years later, during World War II, that Willie is able to prove the sincerity of his account and the murderer is apprehended. Despite his errant ways, Willie's headmaster recognises his potential and finances his matriculation at University along with his own daughter, Millie, in late September 1939. Free from the constraints of their childhood, the blossoming of their love begins to unfold. However, within weeks of the outbreak of war, Willie's best friend from childhood enlists in the army, but Willie feels duty-bound to his sponsor to obtain his degree. Two years later, however, in 1941, Willie is confronted with the news that his friend has been killed in action. Racked with guilt, blaming himself for not being there to protect him, Willie abandons his education and volunteers for the Gordon Highlanders. The course of his life is now completely changed, the troubled boy that he was now a distant memory, but can the 'nickum' ever atone for the decisions that he has made?

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A tender, uplifting family story set in Aberdeenshire, sweeping from the early years of this century to the present day. Mysie Lonie was only sixteen when her drunken father sold her for thirty pounds as wife to ugly, middle aged Jeems Duncan. Taken to live on his croft, Rowanbrae, she tried hard to make the best of her lot and, in time, bore Jeems two sons – Jamie, the light of her life, and unhappy, difficult Sandy. In 1913, as the storm clouds of war gather, love comes with unexpected force and brightness into Mysie's life. But the conflict of loyalties it brings sets off a chain of terrible events that eventually leaves her bereaved, homeless and marked by a secret she can never betray. Nearly destitute, Mysie is forced out into the world to scrape a living for herself and Sandy. Her path will bring her further trials – also many joys – but finally she is given the chance to leave her tragic past behind and enjoy true happiness ...