This year my husband and I celebrate our sixtieth wedding anniversary. Yes—that’s 60! We are observing this milestone with a family reunion in Scotland this summer. Our whole family romping for a week on the shores of the Firth of Forth. With such jolly times in the offing I have been thinking about how my Scottish heritage has influenced my writing.
Family Stories Used in Novels
I first used my family history as a framework for The Daughters of Courage Trilogy, with the Scots heritage running through all 3 stories, but most deeply in Kathryn where my maternal grandmother marries her incorrigible Scottish Merrick after a trip from the Idaho desert to the green hills of Selkirk—complete with the Common Riding that makes up one of our favorite family stories.
Love of Scottish History Influences Stories
I took a deep dive into Scottish history for my epic The Fields on Bannockburn, A Novel of Christian Scotland from its Origins to Independence. These stories now comprise the first 4 epochs in my Celtic Cross Series Part I, Scotland: The Struggle for a Nation.
For writing that I researched all the key locations of the stories:
The wonderful island of Iona where St. Columba first brought Christianity to his adopted land;
Historic Dunadd where Kenneth MacAlpin who forged a nation from scattered, warring tribes, was crowned;
Majestic Edinburgh Castle where Queen Margaret, the refiner of the realm, built her chapel;
By Kim Traynor – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20847059
Stirling, scene of the valiant William Wallace’s greatest victory;
By Kim Traynor – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17595787
And Bannockburn where Robert the Bruce finished the work with freedom for the nation.
Wigtown Martyrs Offer Inspiration
Years later I visited the site of the execution of the Wigtown martyrs—the two Margarets, 18-year-old Margaret Wilson of the flaxen hair and the grey-headed 63-year-old Margaret MacLachlan. Sentenced to death for their Scottish Covenanter faith, they stood together, tied to a pole in the mudflats of Wigtown Bay, while the tide rose over them.
This stirring story of faith found a home in Against All Fierce Hostility, book 6 of my Monastery Murders.
More Scottish History Planned for Future Book
On that same trip 22 years ago, I visited the Isles of Lewis and Harris to learn the story of the remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit that resulted in the miraculous Hebrides Revival of 1949-1953.
This story I have wanted to tell since I first heard of it some 30 years ago. Finally, the time has come. A Wind in the Hebrides will be the next installment in my Monastery Murders next year.
But first, time out for a great family occasion in the land that has endowed our family with so much of its rich heritage.
Oh Wow 60 years Congrats. I have mainly English with one great grandfather being German. Mums grand father was born in Scotland but they moved there from Ireland and were there about 5 years before coming to Australia. (I think 3 children were born in Scotland). Mum knew he was born in Scotland but couldn’t work out why he had the name of Patrick. (the last of Henry). I often wonder if we are somehow related to the Patrick Henry of America fame.
Thank you, Jenny. What fun to know that we have a shared Scottish heritage. Yes, it’s fun to guess at connections. Stan’s maternal grandfather was surnamed Downing–he always wonders if there is a connection to the street.