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The McDonnell Clan #1
Standing Stones
In 19th Century northern Scotland, Mac McDonnell’s traditional way of life is challenged when Lord Gordon lays claim to their island home and threatens to replace farmers and fishermen with sheep. Mac leads a protest, but when evictions turn violent, Mac must decide what he is willing to risk -- to protect his family, his sweetheart, Deidre, and his livelihood. Set in 19th Century northern Scotland during the time of the Clearances, Standing Stones won an award for historical fiction and was dubbed “a very promising work” by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association.
394 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 2014
528 people are currently reading
755 people want to read
About the author
Beth Camp
19 books49 followersWhen I was a kid, I prowled the library to check out the thickest, heaviest books I could find. Two Years Before the Mast. The Wandering Jew. Quo Vadis. Books I could fall into and pretend I lived in the past. Places I dreamed of visiting some day. As a teen, I discovered my grandmother's 5-volume sets of Hemingway, the short stories of Poe and de Maupassant. I began writing poetry and short stories then.
Sometimes it seemed that my family moved every time the rent was due. I attended some 13 high schools on the West coast of the US and daydreamed of attending college. I balanced working full time with taking classes; it took ten years to earn my degree, with odd jobs and careers in international banking and corporate consulting along the way before I became an English teacher at a community college where I taught for 26 years.
Today, I live in Spokane, in eastern Washington, with my husband, and close to our daughter, her husband, and two amazing granddaughters. Restless feet and writing projects keep us traveling. This winter, we'll head south to Tucson, taking laptop along to work on my latest project . . . a mystery about art crime in Egypt! Happy reading.
Sometimes it seemed that my family moved every time the rent was due. I attended some 13 high schools on the West coast of the US and daydreamed of attending college. I balanced working full time with taking classes; it took ten years to earn my degree, with odd jobs and careers in international banking and corporate consulting along the way before I became an English teacher at a community college where I taught for 26 years.
Today, I live in Spokane, in eastern Washington, with my husband, and close to our daughter, her husband, and two amazing granddaughters. Restless feet and writing projects keep us traveling. This winter, we'll head south to Tucson, taking laptop along to work on my latest project . . . a mystery about art crime in Egypt! Happy reading.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
October 26, 2019
How can I explain this book?
Sad, dull, too many things happened, but not enough detail and emotion. I can't even say how many times something would happen, and be disappointed that there was so little discussion between the characters. It was like throwing a critical moment into the book, then the author wanted to just move the story along without making the scene satisfying to the reader. What were the characters thinking? How did they feel about what happened? What were their true normal emotions and internal dialog?
I have no idea how I ended up with this book. I should have noticed the 4.0 average rating and disregarded it as I usually do. I got 70% through it and just couldn't take any more.
Story...such as it is...
Many on this Scottish isle, in the 1800s, are just making ends meet. Along comes a new laird and wants the property to be more profitable so he raises rents, makes fishers fix up their boats, then eventually brutally takes everything away from every farmer, and crofter. He throws them out of their houses, lights their homes on fire and tells them to go to another part of the country. Many starve, some try to fight for their homes and are killed or sent to prison. They've lost everything, and families are split apart. All this because the laird felt having sheep instead of people on his land would be more profitable.
The main family (young people whose parents both died) is split apart. One going to prison for having a meeting in their home, trying to figure out how to help the remaining starving families. Another, with his younger brother and new wife, head off to other parts to work, their pregnant sister and youngest brother head to Inverness to try for a job and maybe find her husband who had left to find work as well.
This book was so hard to get through and I just can't see finishing something that was making me so miserable. Absolutely no one in this book is happy.
Nope. I'm on to a book I can look forward to picking up rather than one I have to force myself to get through.
Sad, dull, too many things happened, but not enough detail and emotion. I can't even say how many times something would happen, and be disappointed that there was so little discussion between the characters. It was like throwing a critical moment into the book, then the author wanted to just move the story along without making the scene satisfying to the reader. What were the characters thinking? How did they feel about what happened? What were their true normal emotions and internal dialog?
I have no idea how I ended up with this book. I should have noticed the 4.0 average rating and disregarded it as I usually do. I got 70% through it and just couldn't take any more.
Story...such as it is...
Many on this Scottish isle, in the 1800s, are just making ends meet. Along comes a new laird and wants the property to be more profitable so he raises rents, makes fishers fix up their boats, then eventually brutally takes everything away from every farmer, and crofter. He throws them out of their houses, lights their homes on fire and tells them to go to another part of the country. Many starve, some try to fight for their homes and are killed or sent to prison. They've lost everything, and families are split apart. All this because the laird felt having sheep instead of people on his land would be more profitable.
The main family (young people whose parents both died) is split apart. One going to prison for having a meeting in their home, trying to figure out how to help the remaining starving families. Another, with his younger brother and new wife, head off to other parts to work, their pregnant sister and youngest brother head to Inverness to try for a job and maybe find her husband who had left to find work as well.
This book was so hard to get through and I just can't see finishing something that was making me so miserable. Absolutely no one in this book is happy.
Nope. I'm on to a book I can look forward to picking up rather than one I have to force myself to get through.
July 6, 2014
Standing Stones begins on the fictional island of Foulksay in Orkney and is told from several points of view. One is of the cash-strapped heir who wants to get out of debt by modernizing his holdings and trying new income-generation ideas. Sadly for the local population, he follows the lead of largely absentee landholders in the Highlands to evict crofting families to replace croplands with sheep. His new wife, an educated reformer from a progressive family in Edinburgh, is initially supportive of his ideas for improvements, but is ambivalent about his methods. She becomes even more so after the local clergyman – who must balance patronage of the gentry with the needs of his parishioners – convinces her to accompany him on a visit to displaced and starving families.
It is the perspective of the families themselves that is the primary focus of the narrative. Ms. Camp excels at descriptive writing. While reading, I could almost smell the salt air and feel the numbing cold in the fingers of the women as they gutted and salted the fish on the beach. Her portrayal of the grim challenges they faced was well-balanced between a sympathetic portrait of individuals and a broader scope of the socio-economic conditions. Consequences for actions are also broadly explored, including those who are beaten and tried for resisting. There is a very detailed focus for those sentenced to exile and transport to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania/Australia).
Ms. Camp does a good job of portraying the challenges and stakes, but she seems to take the admonition to “show, not tell” very much to heart. I will concede here, as I have in other reviews, that I may be unusual in needing a bit more of the "tell". In Standing Stones, we often find out the decisions that major characters have made by their actions or from a dialog with characters who don’t ask the questions I might have if I were in their place. Those who prefer a story that moves along should have no problem with this book; those who like a little more interior reflection will have to use their imaginations.
Another caveat has to do with geographical places and names. For those who are familiar with the city of Selkirk, let me just tell you upfront that the name has been borrowed for the imaginary village on Foulksay. It is not the one you’re thinking of, so you don’t have to do as I did and run to the map and say, “Right, I knew it was down south; how the hell did they get there so fast? And why go?”.
Also, if you are from Orkney, or have strong opinions that it should be referred to either as Orkney or the Orkney Islands, but never “The Orkneys”, pour yourself a neat glass of Highland Park or Scapa and sigh affectionately, “Ah Americans and their sense of cultural geography!” And then take the book for the homage that it was intended to be. (And if I’ve been misinformed and you’re quite happy with “The Orkneys”, so much the better. The glass and the affectionate sigh work for my errors too, I hope.)
And finally, those of you descended from the victims of the Highland Clearances, who feel slighted because it was your ancestors and not the Orcadians who suffered more because of that ill-fated “reform” policy disaster, I understand and you’re right. Let’s raise a glass of Dalwhinnie or Talisker, assuming we can afford either, and drink a toast to your forebears’ grit and survival and the human will to carry on. Even better, go home to the Highlands in their memory, if you can arrange it, for this year’s celebration. But if not, just know that there really was one incidence of Clearances in Orkney, according to the author. So read Standing Stones for solidarity with all those who suffer from the stupidity of others. It really is a good read for making sense of all that.
It is the perspective of the families themselves that is the primary focus of the narrative. Ms. Camp excels at descriptive writing. While reading, I could almost smell the salt air and feel the numbing cold in the fingers of the women as they gutted and salted the fish on the beach. Her portrayal of the grim challenges they faced was well-balanced between a sympathetic portrait of individuals and a broader scope of the socio-economic conditions. Consequences for actions are also broadly explored, including those who are beaten and tried for resisting. There is a very detailed focus for those sentenced to exile and transport to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania/Australia).
Ms. Camp does a good job of portraying the challenges and stakes, but she seems to take the admonition to “show, not tell” very much to heart. I will concede here, as I have in other reviews, that I may be unusual in needing a bit more of the "tell". In Standing Stones, we often find out the decisions that major characters have made by their actions or from a dialog with characters who don’t ask the questions I might have if I were in their place. Those who prefer a story that moves along should have no problem with this book; those who like a little more interior reflection will have to use their imaginations.
Another caveat has to do with geographical places and names. For those who are familiar with the city of Selkirk, let me just tell you upfront that the name has been borrowed for the imaginary village on Foulksay. It is not the one you’re thinking of, so you don’t have to do as I did and run to the map and say, “Right, I knew it was down south; how the hell did they get there so fast? And why go?”.
Also, if you are from Orkney, or have strong opinions that it should be referred to either as Orkney or the Orkney Islands, but never “The Orkneys”, pour yourself a neat glass of Highland Park or Scapa and sigh affectionately, “Ah Americans and their sense of cultural geography!” And then take the book for the homage that it was intended to be. (And if I’ve been misinformed and you’re quite happy with “The Orkneys”, so much the better. The glass and the affectionate sigh work for my errors too, I hope.)
And finally, those of you descended from the victims of the Highland Clearances, who feel slighted because it was your ancestors and not the Orcadians who suffered more because of that ill-fated “reform” policy disaster, I understand and you’re right. Let’s raise a glass of Dalwhinnie or Talisker, assuming we can afford either, and drink a toast to your forebears’ grit and survival and the human will to carry on. Even better, go home to the Highlands in their memory, if you can arrange it, for this year’s celebration. But if not, just know that there really was one incidence of Clearances in Orkney, according to the author. So read Standing Stones for solidarity with all those who suffer from the stupidity of others. It really is a good read for making sense of all that.
July 2, 2014
I love to read good historical fiction because I love to travel to other places and other times, but in so many books, if the setting is accurate the story falls flat or vice versa. In “Standing Stones”, author Beth Camp got every just right. She actually takes the reader to that time and place, where you feel the cold and the ache that the characters feel, where you smell the things they smell and taste the things they taste. For the price of book, I felt as if I got to not only travel around the world, but I did it in a time machine! Not only that, Beth tells the moving story of the McDonnell family with such skill that I feel as if I have met each and every one of them.
This saga is not an easy one to read. Set in Scotland during the mid-1800’s, Moira and her brothers are only one family affected by the new Lord, whose mission if pretty much to run off all of the locals so that he can raise sheep on the land where they have lived for hundreds of years.
I cannot wait to read the next in her series, “Years of Stone”.
This saga is not an easy one to read. Set in Scotland during the mid-1800’s, Moira and her brothers are only one family affected by the new Lord, whose mission if pretty much to run off all of the locals so that he can raise sheep on the land where they have lived for hundreds of years.
I cannot wait to read the next in her series, “Years of Stone”.
May 28, 2015
Although I don't know anything about Scottish history and culture, this seemed like a pretty realistic piece of historical fiction, set in the mid-1800s on a remote northern island, at a time when renters were being booted from their little cottages and farms by the minor nobility to make way for sheep ranching. I'm curious how the characters' lives will go, and hopefully intersect again, in the future. (At some point I'll definitely read the sequel which carries their stories forward; and eventually there will apparently be a third volume as well.)
The writing in here is good: clear, concise, and smooth. Ms Camp doesn't spend a lot of words on scenic descriptions, but somehow manages to paint the scenes and the action with vivacity.
Aside from a handful of punctuation nits involving upright versus curly quotes, I didn't stumble across a single typo in the whole book.
(Full disclosure: I'm somewhat acquainted with the author, which is how I found the book to start with, but I bought it through a retail channel to read for pleasure.)
The writing in here is good: clear, concise, and smooth. Ms Camp doesn't spend a lot of words on scenic descriptions, but somehow manages to paint the scenes and the action with vivacity.
Aside from a handful of punctuation nits involving upright versus curly quotes, I didn't stumble across a single typo in the whole book.
(Full disclosure: I'm somewhat acquainted with the author, which is how I found the book to start with, but I bought it through a retail channel to read for pleasure.)
February 16, 2014
Did I enjoy this book: Parts of it.
While it’s true, I did receive a copy of this book for reviewing purposes; I was very excited to read this book for personal reasons. My heritage is Scottish and this book explores my ancestral history. You really don’t find a lot of information on this particular topic. And the rest of my family is really into it. I’ve been the only one who’s been indifferent to the whole “mother country thing.”
And now I remember why. With my most sincere apologies to my mother’s side of the family, I find the Scottish heritage hopelessly boring. Before you start sending me ugly messages, hear me out.
The Italians conquer half the globe, paint the Sistine Chapel, and still have time to produce some of the most delectable recipes on the planet. The Spanish conquer the other half of the globe while dancing to the salsa and bringing new meaning to the word “passionate.” The French create memorable works of art, croissants, and boast a fiery romantic streak. The Scots are best known for . . . . (insert extremely long pause and cricket chirping here)
Tennis!!! That’s right the Scots boast of tennis. I love tennis but it’s not like priceless art, croissants, and discovering new continents.
That said; she does a phenomenal job of telling a boring story. It’s well-researched, well-edited, and well-written.
Would I recommend it: Actually I’m going to buy a print copy and send it to my Mom. Her birthday’s coming up and I think she’ll love this book. Just because I find the content tiresome doesn’t mean others will. The author really does do a good job with the writing, content, characters, etc.
Will I read it again: No.
As reviewed by Belinda at Every Free Chance Book Reviews.
(I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)
http://everyfreechance.com/2014/02/re...
While it’s true, I did receive a copy of this book for reviewing purposes; I was very excited to read this book for personal reasons. My heritage is Scottish and this book explores my ancestral history. You really don’t find a lot of information on this particular topic. And the rest of my family is really into it. I’ve been the only one who’s been indifferent to the whole “mother country thing.”
And now I remember why. With my most sincere apologies to my mother’s side of the family, I find the Scottish heritage hopelessly boring. Before you start sending me ugly messages, hear me out.
The Italians conquer half the globe, paint the Sistine Chapel, and still have time to produce some of the most delectable recipes on the planet. The Spanish conquer the other half of the globe while dancing to the salsa and bringing new meaning to the word “passionate.” The French create memorable works of art, croissants, and boast a fiery romantic streak. The Scots are best known for . . . . (insert extremely long pause and cricket chirping here)
Tennis!!! That’s right the Scots boast of tennis. I love tennis but it’s not like priceless art, croissants, and discovering new continents.
That said; she does a phenomenal job of telling a boring story. It’s well-researched, well-edited, and well-written.
Would I recommend it: Actually I’m going to buy a print copy and send it to my Mom. Her birthday’s coming up and I think she’ll love this book. Just because I find the content tiresome doesn’t mean others will. The author really does do a good job with the writing, content, characters, etc.
Will I read it again: No.
As reviewed by Belinda at Every Free Chance Book Reviews.
(I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)
http://everyfreechance.com/2014/02/re...
February 11, 2014
Historical fiction helps us see how people lived in long ago, faraway places, but Beth Camp's brilliantly drawn images trick me into feeling they're memories of places I've actually visited but couldn't have, because they no longer exist. Her characters are so authentic, I can hardly believe she made them up. This is terrible, because I love them too much; their pain becomes my pain. My husband doesn't get it. It's not "just a book," because real people have suffered exactly the sort of oppression and injustice that Mac, all the McDonnells and their neighbors suffer in Standing Stones.
A young woman with blistered hands pushes a wheelbarrow full of fish across the sand in the opening scene. We smell the dried cod and feel the damp, salty breeze. Moira and her youngest brother, Jamie, do the drudge work while Mac, Dougall and Colin take to the sea, coming home with fish and stories of peril. Shipwrecks, storms and death are just a way of life; their father is a casualty of the sea, their mother too has died. Mac holds the family and a whole community together, commanding loyalty and obedience, earning love and respect from all who know him. With spare and poetic prose, Camp introduces each character and sets the scene. Along the beach, fishermen's shanties line the cove. High on a promontory, the laird's house overlooks the town and the sea. The sixth Earl of Selkirk has died, and the new laird arrives by boat with his wife and servant. Moira's tall, strong brothers wade into the water to carry the newcomers to shore. Sweaty and gritty and hard at work, Moira can't shake the image of the lady in a gray traveling suit, wearing a veiled hat and holding a pink handkerchief to her nose. Nor can we.
Lady Alice turns out to be a much more sympathetic character than expected, but Lord Gordon imposes "improvements" and demands higher rents of the working poor, thinking only of his own profits. Foulksey Island may be a fictional place, but the brutal Clearances of 19th Scotland are not. This dark period of history concerns a country so small, a people so few in number, it wasn't even mentioned in my high school and college textbooks. It's one thing to hear that a rising population put pressure on land and jobs, the Agricultural and Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century brought change to Europe, and aristocratic landowners imposed Clearances, expelling people from their ancestral homes to make way for more profitable sheep farming. A textbook account of the large-scale forced migration to North America, Australia and New Zealand doesn't cost us any sleep at night. Novelists like Beth Camp, however, get us deeply involved in the personal lives of the displaced people of history.
I wanted this book to close at a happy time, with Moira meeting Dylan at a dance, Dougall and Cat falling in love, Mac wooing Deirdre, Lady Alice taking an interest in young Jamie's education, and Colin joining the men at sea. No such luck. Lord Gordon expels old Granny Connor from her home and burns it to the ground. Other homes are evacuated and burned. Mac leads a protest, which turns violent, and he is arrested. By novel's end, everyone is separated from one another, but hope is in sight. A sequel, Years of Stone, is coming out soon. After that, Rivers of Stone will follow the McDonnells to their new home in the Pacific Northwest. Like the real-life people who inspired this epic saga, the McDonnells and their loved ones are survivors, regardless of the injustice and hardships they face. We know they're capable of transforming themselves and their world, and we're counting on Beth Camp to deliver the news of their triumph, no matter how many books it takes to get there.
P.S.
Standing Stones caused me to search online for more information. The aftermath of the Clearances was profound and far-reaching. Before the Clearances, most Highland families lived in townships of perhaps a hundred or so people. Homes made of clay and wattle, or thickly cut turf. Roofs were thatched in heather, broom, bracken, straw or rushes. Forcibly abandoned and burned, these structures quickly reverted to nature. Not just the people disappeared. The settlement pattern, the homes of the people for a thousand years or more, were erased, and few are the remnants. Occasional stone-built houses for the shepherds may stand today, but they too are now abandoned.
The lack of legal protection for tenants reminds me how much we Americans take for granted. Scotland's government not only did nothing for the people; they funded roads and bridges to assist the new sheep-based agriculture and trade.
The settlement pattern, the homes of the people for a thousand years or more, has virtually vanished from Scotland's landscape today. Even the sheep, which replaced the people, are mostly gone. The irony? Those sheep were supposed to be an economic miracle, providing meat for the growing cities of the south and wool to the factories, but by the last quarter of the 19th century, sheep were undercut by imports from Australia and New Zealand. The people who were cleared from Scotland provided cheaper goods, often at higher quality, than those of the landowners who'd displaced them.
The standing stones of the title are real, testaments to the inventiveness and skill of a long-ago Neolithic people. We know far less about them than we do about the evicted fishermen and crofters, but who knows, maybe Beth Camp--or an author equal to her--will bring them to life in a new historical novel.
A young woman with blistered hands pushes a wheelbarrow full of fish across the sand in the opening scene. We smell the dried cod and feel the damp, salty breeze. Moira and her youngest brother, Jamie, do the drudge work while Mac, Dougall and Colin take to the sea, coming home with fish and stories of peril. Shipwrecks, storms and death are just a way of life; their father is a casualty of the sea, their mother too has died. Mac holds the family and a whole community together, commanding loyalty and obedience, earning love and respect from all who know him. With spare and poetic prose, Camp introduces each character and sets the scene. Along the beach, fishermen's shanties line the cove. High on a promontory, the laird's house overlooks the town and the sea. The sixth Earl of Selkirk has died, and the new laird arrives by boat with his wife and servant. Moira's tall, strong brothers wade into the water to carry the newcomers to shore. Sweaty and gritty and hard at work, Moira can't shake the image of the lady in a gray traveling suit, wearing a veiled hat and holding a pink handkerchief to her nose. Nor can we.
Lady Alice turns out to be a much more sympathetic character than expected, but Lord Gordon imposes "improvements" and demands higher rents of the working poor, thinking only of his own profits. Foulksey Island may be a fictional place, but the brutal Clearances of 19th Scotland are not. This dark period of history concerns a country so small, a people so few in number, it wasn't even mentioned in my high school and college textbooks. It's one thing to hear that a rising population put pressure on land and jobs, the Agricultural and Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century brought change to Europe, and aristocratic landowners imposed Clearances, expelling people from their ancestral homes to make way for more profitable sheep farming. A textbook account of the large-scale forced migration to North America, Australia and New Zealand doesn't cost us any sleep at night. Novelists like Beth Camp, however, get us deeply involved in the personal lives of the displaced people of history.
I wanted this book to close at a happy time, with Moira meeting Dylan at a dance, Dougall and Cat falling in love, Mac wooing Deirdre, Lady Alice taking an interest in young Jamie's education, and Colin joining the men at sea. No such luck. Lord Gordon expels old Granny Connor from her home and burns it to the ground. Other homes are evacuated and burned. Mac leads a protest, which turns violent, and he is arrested. By novel's end, everyone is separated from one another, but hope is in sight. A sequel, Years of Stone, is coming out soon. After that, Rivers of Stone will follow the McDonnells to their new home in the Pacific Northwest. Like the real-life people who inspired this epic saga, the McDonnells and their loved ones are survivors, regardless of the injustice and hardships they face. We know they're capable of transforming themselves and their world, and we're counting on Beth Camp to deliver the news of their triumph, no matter how many books it takes to get there.
P.S.
Standing Stones caused me to search online for more information. The aftermath of the Clearances was profound and far-reaching. Before the Clearances, most Highland families lived in townships of perhaps a hundred or so people. Homes made of clay and wattle, or thickly cut turf. Roofs were thatched in heather, broom, bracken, straw or rushes. Forcibly abandoned and burned, these structures quickly reverted to nature. Not just the people disappeared. The settlement pattern, the homes of the people for a thousand years or more, were erased, and few are the remnants. Occasional stone-built houses for the shepherds may stand today, but they too are now abandoned.
The lack of legal protection for tenants reminds me how much we Americans take for granted. Scotland's government not only did nothing for the people; they funded roads and bridges to assist the new sheep-based agriculture and trade.
The settlement pattern, the homes of the people for a thousand years or more, has virtually vanished from Scotland's landscape today. Even the sheep, which replaced the people, are mostly gone. The irony? Those sheep were supposed to be an economic miracle, providing meat for the growing cities of the south and wool to the factories, but by the last quarter of the 19th century, sheep were undercut by imports from Australia and New Zealand. The people who were cleared from Scotland provided cheaper goods, often at higher quality, than those of the landowners who'd displaced them.
The standing stones of the title are real, testaments to the inventiveness and skill of a long-ago Neolithic people. We know far less about them than we do about the evicted fishermen and crofters, but who knows, maybe Beth Camp--or an author equal to her--will bring them to life in a new historical novel.
February 7, 2015
This story takes place in Scotland, in a fictional fishing town called Foulksey Island in 1842. The plot deals with the tragedy and suffering of displaced people, crofters and fishermen, and what happens to them. The title of {i}Standing Stones{/i} refers to the real stones from the older eras of history millenniums ago.
The story begins with Moira McDonnell cleaning and salting fish with her fishermen brothers when they watch the arrival of the new English laird Lord Gordon and his wife Alice. While Lord Gordon and his right-hand man Perkins force their ways on the lives of the island people, Lord Gordon comes up with the idea of changing the island’s living style of fishing into sheep farms, by forcing people out of their homes and turning the place into grazing fields for the sheep he wants to bring there. People are evicted, their houses burned, and when they rebel, are killed, shot at, and a child and women raped. The name given to this action is {i}Clearances.{/i}
When these fishermen and crofters are forced to go to another place where fishing or farming is next to impossible, a lot of them die of starvation.
McDonnell family members, however, do not give up but they face the future with some of them moving to America, others to other places, as they are survivors, and the sequels to this book will follow them, to show what happens to them.
{i}Standing Stones{/i} is a gloomy, depressing, but an important book. By bringing to light the injustices of about two centuries ago, the writer makes the reader think of our present day, its injustices, its displaced people, the poverty, and the strife, and I believe this needs to be the main function of any historical novel.
In addition, the storytelling is exquisite, the characters aptly drawn, and everything about the book shows the skill and eloquence of this author.
The story begins with Moira McDonnell cleaning and salting fish with her fishermen brothers when they watch the arrival of the new English laird Lord Gordon and his wife Alice. While Lord Gordon and his right-hand man Perkins force their ways on the lives of the island people, Lord Gordon comes up with the idea of changing the island’s living style of fishing into sheep farms, by forcing people out of their homes and turning the place into grazing fields for the sheep he wants to bring there. People are evicted, their houses burned, and when they rebel, are killed, shot at, and a child and women raped. The name given to this action is {i}Clearances.{/i}
When these fishermen and crofters are forced to go to another place where fishing or farming is next to impossible, a lot of them die of starvation.
McDonnell family members, however, do not give up but they face the future with some of them moving to America, others to other places, as they are survivors, and the sequels to this book will follow them, to show what happens to them.
{i}Standing Stones{/i} is a gloomy, depressing, but an important book. By bringing to light the injustices of about two centuries ago, the writer makes the reader think of our present day, its injustices, its displaced people, the poverty, and the strife, and I believe this needs to be the main function of any historical novel.
In addition, the storytelling is exquisite, the characters aptly drawn, and everything about the book shows the skill and eloquence of this author.
March 28, 2016
My dad's family came from Orkney, and I've always wanted to see it. I saw a recent study that claimed people there are amongst the most satisfied with life (excepting a sad lack of broadband), which makes it even more appealing.
In trying to reconstruct my family's history, though, I've had a lot of questions. My great grandad came to America by way of Canada after signing on as a sailor. Most of his ten siblings wound up in Australia. I have no details of what they did, but clearly there was a serious incentive to leave everything behind. I figured it must be something worse than simply young boys looking for adventure.
Whilst I doubt the Clearances were a factor, this book gave a good feel for how hard it must have been.
I did wish there was more local flavor here, though. I know that Orkney has more Viking influence than Highland, and that superstition plays a big part in everything. There were little hints of that--trolls (which would be trows), the wedding rituals, and a couple mentions of place names--but far less than I'd expect in a place with the highest concentration of Viking blood in the UK.
I'm also not sure I like how there were so many characters to follow, and not a one has closure. It's like my damned family tree with all those branches ending in big question marks. Ah, well. At least the arsehole dies.
In trying to reconstruct my family's history, though, I've had a lot of questions. My great grandad came to America by way of Canada after signing on as a sailor. Most of his ten siblings wound up in Australia. I have no details of what they did, but clearly there was a serious incentive to leave everything behind. I figured it must be something worse than simply young boys looking for adventure.
Whilst I doubt the Clearances were a factor, this book gave a good feel for how hard it must have been.
I did wish there was more local flavor here, though. I know that Orkney has more Viking influence than Highland, and that superstition plays a big part in everything. There were little hints of that--trolls (which would be trows), the wedding rituals, and a couple mentions of place names--but far less than I'd expect in a place with the highest concentration of Viking blood in the UK.
I'm also not sure I like how there were so many characters to follow, and not a one has closure. It's like my damned family tree with all those branches ending in big question marks. Ah, well. At least the arsehole dies.
July 21, 2015
Hmmm, okay
The story was interesting from an historical standpoint, but for myself, it was a bit of a drier read than I am accustomed to. It follows the lives of assorted people on Foulksay Island and how some of them interact during tumultuous times in the nineteenth century. With so many characters introduced, it was a bit daunting to keep them all straight and a bit frustrating to not know what happens to many of the characters. Even the main characters' futures are an unknown at the end of the book. I understand that it is a series but I guess I like to have a finished plot line that doesn't leave everyone's lives up in in the air. There was also one aspect that I didn't quite grasp, Lord Gordon leaves the island and does some stuff and all the sudden he is in Inverness to get Alice and next scene she is pregnant. Okay, but what changed? Did he get the loan? Were the sheep just that profitable? And what of Dougal and Collin? Again I can only assume their lives are continued in further books, but I am not so sure I can get through the dryness to find out. Sorry.
The story was interesting from an historical standpoint, but for myself, it was a bit of a drier read than I am accustomed to. It follows the lives of assorted people on Foulksay Island and how some of them interact during tumultuous times in the nineteenth century. With so many characters introduced, it was a bit daunting to keep them all straight and a bit frustrating to not know what happens to many of the characters. Even the main characters' futures are an unknown at the end of the book. I understand that it is a series but I guess I like to have a finished plot line that doesn't leave everyone's lives up in in the air. There was also one aspect that I didn't quite grasp, Lord Gordon leaves the island and does some stuff and all the sudden he is in Inverness to get Alice and next scene she is pregnant. Okay, but what changed? Did he get the loan? Were the sheep just that profitable? And what of Dougal and Collin? Again I can only assume their lives are continued in further books, but I am not so sure I can get through the dryness to find out. Sorry.
April 24, 2015
I enjoyed reading Standing Stones by Beth Camp. This is the first book of a series based on the life of a Scottish family of fishermen during the 19th century. Life is extremely harsh for these people already, and it becomes a nightmare when landlord Lord Gordon decides to evict them from their homes so that he can realize his grand plan of establishing a sheep business. The book presents the realities of what the family had to endure and the everlasting tension between the rich and the poor. The story leverages the important historical framework surrounding those who were forced to leave their homes and strive to survive, even in far away lands as indentured servants. It is a sad story, but this history should not be forgotten. The author’s writing style is exquisite, and her attention to detail is superb. If you are a history buff, you will enjoy reading this book. I know I did.
August 20, 2014
Beth Camp really makes life in mid 19th century on the Orkney Islands come alive. Surviving all natural hardships is difficult enough, but then the biggest landowner starts thinking about how to make more profit... Engaging and vivid characters inhabit this story, and one thing really struck me as exceptional: the landlord isn't simply a greedy robber baron. He too is human enough that the reader can identify to some extent and sympathise with his wife. And no, not all is drab and dreary in this story. Even the most deprived characters experience wonderful moments.
The sea journey to Van Dieman's Land almost made me feel like I was on board the ship, except my feet remained dry. Highly recommended.
The sea journey to Van Dieman's Land almost made me feel like I was on board the ship, except my feet remained dry. Highly recommended.
May 8, 2015
This story of the McConnell family of the Orkney Islands in 1841. It's both a depressing and uplifting story. The McConnells have been fisher folk for generations, even if their life is hand-to-mouth. A new laird inherits the land where the McConnells live and wants to "improve" his holdings. That means new taxes, raising the rents and evicting tenants who farm the land that he wants to use to raise sheep.
The book is the first in a series and, while I liked the characters, I found their circumstances too disturbing to think, "Oh, I have to read the next one." No, sorry.
The book is the first in a series and, while I liked the characters, I found their circumstances too disturbing to think, "Oh, I have to read the next one." No, sorry.
January 10, 2018
I must have missed the significance of the title. The standing stones did not play the role in the book that I had hoped it would. This was a very cheerless story. I finished it because I've only quit reading a book less than 10 times in my whole life.
If someone likes the constant struggling genre this is the one for you.
If someone likes the constant struggling genre this is the one for you.
February 24, 2015
Really enjoyed this book. My ancestors were kicked off Islay during the clearances so reading about this fictional family going through it gave me a glimpse of what my own ancestors might have suffered. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
December 23, 2018
Standing Stones
Well written and well told historical fiction. Enjoyed reading and will be sure to read other works by Beth Camp.
Well written and well told historical fiction. Enjoyed reading and will be sure to read other works by Beth Camp.
January 16, 2021
I enjoy historical fiction because it has a way of teaching us about events and locations in the past while pulling us into the story. We learn while being entertained. Standing Stones is no different and I enjoyed being immersed in Scottish history and getting acquainted with the multitude of characters the author developed. Several stories run alongside as members of the family get involved in different situations. Life in the 1800s was tough for fishermen and farmers, yet lavish for the rich and the ones in power.
The main characters, Mac and his family, as well as a few side characters experience life-changing events throughout the book, as we learn more and more about the harsh realities on Foulksay Island. As a reader, I was invested in everyone’s fate. There is a lot going on in Standing Stones to do every scene and personality justice. I would have enjoyed learning more details about characters who disappeared and of the ones who made up the bulk of the stories, their thoughts and interactions. I’m also curious about the path other main characters followed. But, that’s what the next books in the series are for. I’m looking forward to diving into those soon.
The main characters, Mac and his family, as well as a few side characters experience life-changing events throughout the book, as we learn more and more about the harsh realities on Foulksay Island. As a reader, I was invested in everyone’s fate. There is a lot going on in Standing Stones to do every scene and personality justice. I would have enjoyed learning more details about characters who disappeared and of the ones who made up the bulk of the stories, their thoughts and interactions. I’m also curious about the path other main characters followed. But, that’s what the next books in the series are for. I’m looking forward to diving into those soon.
December 14, 2020
STANDING STONES by Beth Camp is about the McDonnell Clan living on a fictitious island in the Orkneys, the extreme north portion of Scotland in the 1840s. The new laird arrives with the intention of changing, modernizing the island, and in the process, having to uproot and cause the long-time clan and neighbors to give up their centuries long practices of fishing. The laird commands measures to replace the fishing with farming and husbandry. Clan leader Mac MacDonnell struggles to keep the family together and their livelihood, only to be faced with violence, repression, and the laird's commands for change. The characters are strong and memorable. The plot is filled with wonderful historical details of culture and custom. The clan is forced to uproot and emigrate, some to America, some to Canada, and some to Australia. STANDING STONES is the first of a three-part trilogy but works well as a stand-alone work. Four stars reflective of my enjoyment of the bookhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
November 15, 2019
Nearly perfect, and quite epic
I wanted to give this a five star review, but a few technical flaws in her writing style made it a slight challenge to get through the first few chapters. It was mostly how sections would blend into each other, and I would suddenly not know who I was reading about or where. Also, she would shift point of views with out a clean transitions, and the hardest part was when the characters would have internal dialog with out any quotation, so it would be a confusing melding of the narrative. However, with these critiques aside, I loved the story, loved the characters and I'm so blown away by the ambition of the scope of this tale, as it was rather beautiful , tragic, and epic as far as historic fiction goes. You can tell she loved the subject and time period and I felt a complete immersion in the era. I can't wait to read the next two books, and I would love to see a TV or streaming series adaptation of this. It felt like a darker Poldark.
I wanted to give this a five star review, but a few technical flaws in her writing style made it a slight challenge to get through the first few chapters. It was mostly how sections would blend into each other, and I would suddenly not know who I was reading about or where. Also, she would shift point of views with out a clean transitions, and the hardest part was when the characters would have internal dialog with out any quotation, so it would be a confusing melding of the narrative. However, with these critiques aside, I loved the story, loved the characters and I'm so blown away by the ambition of the scope of this tale, as it was rather beautiful , tragic, and epic as far as historic fiction goes. You can tell she loved the subject and time period and I felt a complete immersion in the era. I can't wait to read the next two books, and I would love to see a TV or streaming series adaptation of this. It felt like a darker Poldark.
April 13, 2021
I enjoyed the story line of "Standing Stones" and the McDonnell Clan but would have enjoyed it more if the standing stones had a bigger part. The main story involves the fishermen of Foulksay Island and how Lord Gordon, who came from England to manage the finances of the Island, had his own ideas of how to increase profits from the island by changing the design of the boats and bringing in sheep and do away with agriculture. Mac McDonnell led the fishermen in opposing Lord Gordon. He was jailed and transported to Van Diemen's Land in Australia. The chapters in the book give the stories of the members of the McDonnell family.
The story telling seemed a little choppy to me and didn't "flow" as I would have liked. It wasn't the kind of writing that I have a hard time breaking myself away from. However, it is a good story and #1 in the series. Hopefully, the writing style will improve in books #2 and #3.
The story telling seemed a little choppy to me and didn't "flow" as I would have liked. It wasn't the kind of writing that I have a hard time breaking myself away from. However, it is a good story and #1 in the series. Hopefully, the writing style will improve in books #2 and #3.
February 4, 2019
Is there ever an instance where people conquered by the British don’t suffer? Standing Stones is the first in a 3 part series revolving around the MacDonnell clan. The book starts out slowly then ends too quickly, with some of the plot lines tied up neatly, which made me think the book could have been that much better if more attention had been paid to them. If I have any complaint it’s that there were too many characters, resulting in plot lines wrapped ended without a satisfying conclusion.
November 21, 2018
Fascinating and Heartrending
Endurance of a people, used to the vagaries of natural hardships in a harsh land, is ultimately put to the test by class and moral intolerance. Just enough Scots lingo gives the dialogue its special flavor. Some of the story lines are as yet unresolved by the end of this novel, leading readers to select the next installments in “Years of Stone”, then “Rivers of Stone.”
Endurance of a people, used to the vagaries of natural hardships in a harsh land, is ultimately put to the test by class and moral intolerance. Just enough Scots lingo gives the dialogue its special flavor. Some of the story lines are as yet unresolved by the end of this novel, leading readers to select the next installments in “Years of Stone”, then “Rivers of Stone.”
June 3, 2019
I really enjoy historical novels, and this one was set in an environment and time I'm fairly unfamiliar with. The characters at this point are a bit underdeveloped, so the star of the story is the place where the characters live rather than themselves. The ending was a bit abrupt and unsatisfying...felt as if the author was just trying to get it done. However, I liked it overall and will read the next book in the series to see if the characters develop more depth.
September 5, 2020
A good historical novel set in Scotland during the time when there where the privileged Lords who held the lands, and the poor tenants who were at the mercy of their greed or grace. You will meet the courageous and the vile and everything in between. I found myself amazed by the arrogance and blindness of mankind and the fact that this persists even to the present. I hope to read more by this author and to follow Mac and Deirdre in the next phase of their challenging journey.
April 26, 2023
This book missed the mark for me in so many ways. First off it is a serial, to get to the end you would have to read follow-on books. I hate books that leave you hanging and that is exactly what this book does. The writing was also not very good, and the book jumped around, all of a sudden the characters would be months ahead of where they had been. I will not be reading more books by this author.
August 27, 2025
Set during the Scottish Clearances, this historical fiction novel has received praise for its well-developed characters and immersive setting in the Orkney Islands. Reviewers found it to be a compelling saga about a family's struggles against powerful landlords. However, some felt it was a slow-burn narrative, and others were frustrated by the cliffhanger ending, which required reading subsequent books. Overall, it's recommended for those who enjoy Scottish history and family stories.
November 29, 2018
Good historical fiction
This is a good historical fiction story. The characters are interesting and well developed. The author was able to take me back to that point in history and help me understand what was happening at the time. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction.
This is a good historical fiction story. The characters are interesting and well developed. The author was able to take me back to that point in history and help me understand what was happening at the time. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction.
March 31, 2019
Takes place in the Orkney Islands (Scotland) in 1842 and centers around the McDonnell family. A new laird has come to the island and is evicting those who can't pay his newly raised rents. The five siblings of the McDonnell family are spread to over the globe as they struggle to survive. Interesting characters.
May 3, 2019
Mid 19th century life and hardships.
The story was an insight into the everyday lives of tenants in the 19th century. Complicated by failed crops, lack of work and an
Overbaring , greedy noncompassionate landowner.
If com pared to today not a lot has changed in some respects only now it's banks and governments . History repeating itself
The story was an insight into the everyday lives of tenants in the 19th century. Complicated by failed crops, lack of work and an
Overbaring , greedy noncompassionate landowner.
If com pared to today not a lot has changed in some respects only now it's banks and governments . History repeating itself
June 15, 2021
We have a very easy life compared to our ancestors; no wonder that they immigrated to other countries. You can see us Americans come from sturdy stock. All that aside, this was a wonderful book of love, life and terrible hardships; I can see this progressing to a series of these families. Love can overcome almost all.
November 27, 2018
Standing Stones.
So many story lines. Hope more books will explore what happened to each of the family members. Always enjoy reading about places in history of which I know little.
So many story lines. Hope more books will explore what happened to each of the family members. Always enjoy reading about places in history of which I know little.
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