Minnie

by Sheena Blackhall

Sheena Blackhall’s novella Minnie is set in 1920s Aberdeenshire. It follows the story of a young girl’s passage through adolescence and her experiences of loss and recovery in a society where girls were regarded as second class citizens.

The 1920s was a time of great change in the farmlands of the North East. Even so, the church with it's code of behaviour was still a powerful force and superstition has almost as strong a hold in the popular imagination as religion. Blackhall explores the impact of mechanisation on the customs and beliefs of the North East farming folk. It is against this backdrop that Minnie, the novel's eponymous heroine, makes her emotional and psychological journey.


The Brotherhood of Horsemen enact their rituals within this book, there are tales of the Warlock o Leddrach, and a spirit visitor makes a ghostly appearance by the young girl's sick bed. It is a story that begins in a land of stone circles and earth houses, when the clank of the horse's harness was still a cheering sound, of a young girl's transition from farm to city life and the darkness she overcomes on her journey.

108 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2004

About the author

Sheena Blackhall, née Middleton, (b. 1947) is a Scottish poet, novelist, short story writer, illustrator, traditional story teller and singer. She was born and educated in Aberdeen.

Author of over 100 poetry pamphlets, 12 short story collections, 4 novels and two televised plays for children, The Nicht Bus and The Broken Hert. From 1998 - 2003 she was Creative Writing Fellow in Scots at the Elphinstone Institute. Along with Les Wheeler, she co-edits the Doric resource Elphinstone Kist, and currently works on the Aberdeen Reading Bus, as a storyteller and writer, also sitting on the editorial board for their children's publications in Doric, promoting Scots culture and language in the North East.