Heartwarming story, highly recommend. There is a little bit of eerie foreboding and tension, fitting for a Halloween tale, but really the meat of the story is the growing friendship between 3 unlikely misfits. The writing pulled me in from the start and I found the story very engaging. There is a very nice balance between the action sequences and the fleshing out of the main characters. A memorable read to be savored.
There is not a definitive date for the story, but it feels old fashioned. The setting is a small, rural village (Menoock) in the Scottish borderlands. The villagers are quirky and sometimes quarrelsome. Depictions of their holiday traditions different from modern American ones - are woven into the story and are as interesting as they are entertaining. Included are hollowing out turnips (called neeps) & using them as jack o-lanterns; children dressing up in costumes that were mostly scary and always included masks; teens playing dastardly tricks on neighbors; and trick or treating that involves the children singing or presenting a riddle in order to get a treat, followed by the neighbors having to guess who the children are. Proffered treats included toffee apples, nuts, oranges, and tablet a type of fudge candy made with sugar, condensed milk and butter.
In addition to the Halloween story line, there are other major happenings that effect the main characters and the overall story takes place over a year or so. There is a farm accident, a political battle as the villagers get worked up regarding plans for a public community park, school yard bullying by children along with more subtle bullying by adults, seasonal chores and animal care on the farms, and sibling rivalry. The growth of the main characters and the contributions of the minor characters builds up to a satisfying and superb finale.
There is a generous sprinkling of Scots words (nicht - night, breeks - pants, bairns - children, ken - know, wouldnae wouldnt, och oh! and etc.) and some words are spelled out to mimic Scottish pronunciation (noo for now, yin for one, stane for stone, onybody for anybody, etc.) As a Scottish-American, this language is familiar to me and didnt slow me down. Uninitiated readers shouldnt have many problems as the words are pretty obvious due to their context in the sentences, but may want to look up a few words.
There is not a definitive date for the story, but it feels old fashioned. The setting is a small, rural village (Menoock) in the Scottish borderlands. The villagers are quirky and sometimes quarrelsome. Depictions of their holiday traditions different from modern American ones - are woven into the story and are as interesting as they are entertaining. Included are hollowing out turnips (called neeps) & using them as jack o-lanterns; children dressing up in costumes that were mostly scary and always included masks; teens playing dastardly tricks on neighbors; and trick or treating that involves the children singing or presenting a riddle in order to get a treat, followed by the neighbors having to guess who the children are. Proffered treats included toffee apples, nuts, oranges, and tablet a type of fudge candy made with sugar, condensed milk and butter.
In addition to the Halloween story line, there are other major happenings that effect the main characters and the overall story takes place over a year or so. There is a farm accident, a political battle as the villagers get worked up regarding plans for a public community park, school yard bullying by children along with more subtle bullying by adults, seasonal chores and animal care on the farms, and sibling rivalry. The growth of the main characters and the contributions of the minor characters builds up to a satisfying and superb finale.
There is a generous sprinkling of Scots words (nicht - night, breeks - pants, bairns - children, ken - know, wouldnae wouldnt, och oh! and etc.) and some words are spelled out to mimic Scottish pronunciation (noo for now, yin for one, stane for stone, onybody for anybody, etc.) As a Scottish-American, this language is familiar to me and didnt slow me down. Uninitiated readers shouldnt have many problems as the words are pretty obvious due to their context in the sentences, but may want to look up a few words.
