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Perseverance Place
A wealthy brewer and his wife lose everything but find a wealth of friendship when forced to start anew in this nineteenth-century Scottish family saga. When Brabazon Nairn’s family make their home in one of the tiny flats of Perseverance Place it is because her husband has been forced into bankruptcy. They must relinquish their fine brewer’s mansion, although they vow to recover it. Brabazon and Duncan find, to their relief, that the Place soon numbers them amongst their own. Apart from their former employee, Tom Lambert, a man who will stop at nothing to take revenge on those he is convinced did him wrong . . . Perfect for fans of Tessa Barclay and Val Wood.
590 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1992
10 people want to read
About the author
Elisabeth McNeill
30 books13 followersA pseudonym of Liz Taylor.
Elisabeth McNeill is a long-established freelance journalist and broadcaster who has written five non-fiction books and thirteen novels. She now lives with a miniature dachshund, who thinks he is a Great Dane, in the oldest inhabited village on the Scottish borders, where she spent most of her shcooldays.
Elisabeth McNeill is a long-established freelance journalist and broadcaster who has written five non-fiction books and thirteen novels. She now lives with a miniature dachshund, who thinks he is a Great Dane, in the oldest inhabited village on the Scottish borders, where she spent most of her shcooldays.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 16, 2023
A truly wonderful read
August 16, 2025
1890 Edinburgh. When Brabazon Nairn’s husband Duncan is bankrupted, they and their two teenage sons, Henry and Laurence, must start over, taking up residence in Perseverance Place.
They sell the mansion house, and the creditors agree to let Brabazon take over the management of the brewery.
First to call upon the new neighbours is Nellie Warre, wife of head brewer Alex.
Brabazon’s first brew they christen ‘Mrs Nairn’s Number One’. Duncan is ill, and it’s serious, Parkinson’s. Someone is in the brewery, late at night, and she discovers Alex dead. Someone had pushed him down the ladder.
Mhairi in the Outer Hebrides is raped by Dugald Stewart, and she has a son, but her mother says either she or the bairn has to go. She goes to work in the kitchen of a convent but finds it hellish, so, she runs away.
Mhairi takes a room in the Place and soon endears herself to the Nairns, nursing Duncan in his final days while Brabazon runs the brewery. Her family have emigrated to New York, her baby Calum with them. The elder Nairn brother Henry is interested in her. But there is long-standing resentment and rivalry between Henry and his brother Laurence.
This Scottish family saga is a beautiful novel. We get to know all the tenants in the Place, and they feel very real. The writing is wonderful. There are beautiful phrases like ‘ships’ masts leaning confidingly together’ in the harbour and gorgeous words like ‘debouched’.
I got a bit exhausted reading about suffering and then more suffering. Then, when the family is prosperous again, it’s good news and then more good news. It could have continued forever, taking up the children, then the grandchildren.
If there is an overlying theme, I suppose it’s—perseverance—starting anew and keeping at it.
This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.
They sell the mansion house, and the creditors agree to let Brabazon take over the management of the brewery.
First to call upon the new neighbours is Nellie Warre, wife of head brewer Alex.
Brabazon’s first brew they christen ‘Mrs Nairn’s Number One’. Duncan is ill, and it’s serious, Parkinson’s. Someone is in the brewery, late at night, and she discovers Alex dead. Someone had pushed him down the ladder.
Mhairi in the Outer Hebrides is raped by Dugald Stewart, and she has a son, but her mother says either she or the bairn has to go. She goes to work in the kitchen of a convent but finds it hellish, so, she runs away.
Mhairi takes a room in the Place and soon endears herself to the Nairns, nursing Duncan in his final days while Brabazon runs the brewery. Her family have emigrated to New York, her baby Calum with them. The elder Nairn brother Henry is interested in her. But there is long-standing resentment and rivalry between Henry and his brother Laurence.
This Scottish family saga is a beautiful novel. We get to know all the tenants in the Place, and they feel very real. The writing is wonderful. There are beautiful phrases like ‘ships’ masts leaning confidingly together’ in the harbour and gorgeous words like ‘debouched’.
I got a bit exhausted reading about suffering and then more suffering. Then, when the family is prosperous again, it’s good news and then more good news. It could have continued forever, taking up the children, then the grandchildren.
If there is an overlying theme, I suppose it’s—perseverance—starting anew and keeping at it.
This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews