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Glasgow & Clydebank Sagas #1
The River Flows on
Kate Cameron's mother never loved her and treats her like a skivvy and childminder. Kate's only friend is Robbie, whom she loves like a brother. Finding a job as a tracer allows Kate to enrol in evening art classes. But when she becomes pregnant by another man marrying Robbie is the only answer.
Audio Cassette
First published January 1, 1999
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About the author
Maggie Craig
27 books87 followersI'm a Scottish writer of fiction and non-fiction and love the beauty and the history of my native land. I've expressed my enthusiasm for the latter through non-fiction books. These include the definitive study of women's involvement in the 1745 Jacobite Rising, Damn' Rebel Bitches: The Women of the '45, described by one critic as a 'modern classic.' I later published its companion volume Bare-Arsed Banditti: The Men of the '45 . My most recent non-fiction book is One Week in April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820.
My novels split into two genres. The first six are family sagas set in my native Glasgow from the 1920s to the 1940s. I prefer to describe them as love stories crossed with social history.
I'm now writing historical novels. I call them Romance Noir, very romantic but gritty too. The first of these is a tale of young love and old Edinburgh, One Sweet Moment, set in the 1820s. One reviewer described it as 'Romance with a capital R', which it most certainly is, although I've also been told that it's not for the faint-hearted. Life wasn't easy if you were a poor young woman back then and I felt the book had to reflect that. One Sweet Moment is also about Edinburgh and its Jekyll and Hyde nature, the parlours of the New Town and the underground vaults and oyster cellars of the Old Town, the visit of King George IV to the city in 1822 and the dramatic Great Fire of Edinburgh of 1824.
My second historical novel is Gathering Storm, a novel of Jacobite intrigue and romance, the first of a suite of novels featuring the same intertwining cast of characters finding their way through the moral dilemmas, drama and battles of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion.
It's sequel is Dance to the Storm, published in 2020.
As a reader, I love to read novels which might be described as intelligent escapism. I also love romantic suspense, the sort of books where you wonder how on earth the hero and heroine are going to make it through to a happy ending. Among my favourite authors are Georgette Heyer, Dorothy L Sayers, Elizabeth Peters and Nora Roberts. I also read a lot of non-fiction, particularly historical. Favourite periods include 18th century and World War 2 Britain and I love to read about the forgotten women of history.
My novels split into two genres. The first six are family sagas set in my native Glasgow from the 1920s to the 1940s. I prefer to describe them as love stories crossed with social history.
I'm now writing historical novels. I call them Romance Noir, very romantic but gritty too. The first of these is a tale of young love and old Edinburgh, One Sweet Moment, set in the 1820s. One reviewer described it as 'Romance with a capital R', which it most certainly is, although I've also been told that it's not for the faint-hearted. Life wasn't easy if you were a poor young woman back then and I felt the book had to reflect that. One Sweet Moment is also about Edinburgh and its Jekyll and Hyde nature, the parlours of the New Town and the underground vaults and oyster cellars of the Old Town, the visit of King George IV to the city in 1822 and the dramatic Great Fire of Edinburgh of 1824.
My second historical novel is Gathering Storm, a novel of Jacobite intrigue and romance, the first of a suite of novels featuring the same intertwining cast of characters finding their way through the moral dilemmas, drama and battles of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion.
It's sequel is Dance to the Storm, published in 2020.
As a reader, I love to read novels which might be described as intelligent escapism. I also love romantic suspense, the sort of books where you wonder how on earth the hero and heroine are going to make it through to a happy ending. Among my favourite authors are Georgette Heyer, Dorothy L Sayers, Elizabeth Peters and Nora Roberts. I also read a lot of non-fiction, particularly historical. Favourite periods include 18th century and World War 2 Britain and I love to read about the forgotten women of history.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 27, 2015
I have been so lucky recently to have had a variety of lovely books to devour not least of which was this delightfully real, sometimes poignantly sad, but ultimately beautiful, tale of Glasgow and its inhabitants. Set mainly during the Depression and WWII, it journeys through eight decades of the life and loves of Kathleen Cameron or Kate as she is mostly known. Her life is alternately joyous and heartbreaking yet still she triumphs.
The story begins in 1924 when Kate Cameron is 16, she lives in a Glasgow tenement with her Father Neil, Mother Lily, sisters Jessie and Pearl and little brother Davy. The family is poor but fiercely proud, amongst other families sharing the same house are the Baxters, Robbie being the most prominent as he has loved Kate and will continue to love her through many trials and tribulations. The two families share everything, their happiness, sorrows, even their baking and crockery when needs must. Ms. Craig describes how they prepare for Hogmanay, the scrubbing and cleaning, the first footing of a tall dark man with a lump of coal and black bun and then the hooting of the ships on The Clyde. All of this I have heard from my own Mother, a Glaswegian by birth, therefore close to my heart.
Kate is a talented young women, still at school at the age of 16, unusual for the time, but it is her Father's desire to see his favourite child continue with her schooling. Kate's ambition is to attend the Glasgow School of Art - designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - one of the many facts thrown in by Maggie Craig to set the scene and stimulate the senses. For anyone unfamiliar with Glasgow this is a beautiful iconic building in the Art Nouveau style. Then Kate's Father is laid off work at the shipyard Donaldson's along with a large proportion of the workforce of Glasgow. The Great Depression has begun, Kate is finally forced to leave school by her shrewish Mother and made to look for work to supplement the families meagre income. She is fortunate enough to have the support of two of her former school teachers who recommend her for an apprenticeship as a tracer at Donaldson's. Two years into this her fairy godmothers help further by pulling strings to obtain a bursary to the School of Art which she attends as a part time student and there becomes friends with Marjorie Donaldson, daughter of her employer. Fellow student Jack Drummond, upperclass, handsome, elegant, languid, idle, cynical, and friend of Marjorie, begins a charm offensive on Kate, his intentions are not honourable, unbeknown to Kate he has aspirations of marrying Marjorie for her money. Eventually after plying Kate with champagne at a lunch given at his home, he takes advantage of her infatuation but leaves her without a backward glance. Kate discovers that he has become engaged to Marjorie and then that she herself is pregnant. Faced with the choice of an abortion or tricking the honourable Robbie into marriage, she chooses the latter, and begins her deceitful secret life with an adoring Robbie. Grace is born, to all intents and purposes a premature baby, and Robbie is in raptures over his daughter.
Robbie Baxter is the epitome of the dark, brooding, honourable hero. He worships Kate and their child and although Kate is grateful to him she does not believe she loves him. It takes a visit a few years into their marriage, from Marjorie and Jack, to show her what a fool she has been, and it is then she realises how much she loves Robbie and he at last has the love and devotion of his 'nut-brown maiden' as he has always called her.
Maggie Craig has absolutely captured the poverty, lives and loves of the people of Glasgow, she has a rare talent for understanding, a real sense of place and time. The hopelessness of The Great Depression with the proud, brave men of Glasgow traipsing from one place to another in search of work. The horror of the war, both for the families and the men sent to fight, but also the utter devastation of the bombs being aimed at the shipyards, often missing and wiping out whole streets and families. I had a tear in my eye on more than one occasion during this beautiful, turbulent story. As usual, where possible with a Maggie Craig novel, I will listen to the audio version where one is available, as she always employs the talented, versatile Scottish narrator, Leslie Mackie who is so in tune with Ms. Craig's sensitive story telling. Ms. Mackie's beautifully modulated tones capture the feisty, fiercely independent Kate, the languid, slightly bored tones of Jack Drummond, the softly spoken Neil Cameron with his gentle highland lilt and then there is the darling Robbie Baxter, who couldn't love this wonderful, dignified man so perfectly characterised by the clever Maggie Craig? Ms. Mackie employs a slightly deeper melodious tone for him, the image of this darkly beautiful, decent man so expertly conjured up by this gifted actress. Even the excited childish voice of wee Grace when her Father comes home - perfect. The epilogue is enchanting too, a magnificent feast of a story with a fitting and moving ending. Maggie Craig's love for her City and people is apparent in the care and thought she has poured into this wonderful tale of triumph over adversity. I will definitely be reading/listening to the rest of this wonderful, compelling series.
The story begins in 1924 when Kate Cameron is 16, she lives in a Glasgow tenement with her Father Neil, Mother Lily, sisters Jessie and Pearl and little brother Davy. The family is poor but fiercely proud, amongst other families sharing the same house are the Baxters, Robbie being the most prominent as he has loved Kate and will continue to love her through many trials and tribulations. The two families share everything, their happiness, sorrows, even their baking and crockery when needs must. Ms. Craig describes how they prepare for Hogmanay, the scrubbing and cleaning, the first footing of a tall dark man with a lump of coal and black bun and then the hooting of the ships on The Clyde. All of this I have heard from my own Mother, a Glaswegian by birth, therefore close to my heart.
Kate is a talented young women, still at school at the age of 16, unusual for the time, but it is her Father's desire to see his favourite child continue with her schooling. Kate's ambition is to attend the Glasgow School of Art - designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - one of the many facts thrown in by Maggie Craig to set the scene and stimulate the senses. For anyone unfamiliar with Glasgow this is a beautiful iconic building in the Art Nouveau style. Then Kate's Father is laid off work at the shipyard Donaldson's along with a large proportion of the workforce of Glasgow. The Great Depression has begun, Kate is finally forced to leave school by her shrewish Mother and made to look for work to supplement the families meagre income. She is fortunate enough to have the support of two of her former school teachers who recommend her for an apprenticeship as a tracer at Donaldson's. Two years into this her fairy godmothers help further by pulling strings to obtain a bursary to the School of Art which she attends as a part time student and there becomes friends with Marjorie Donaldson, daughter of her employer. Fellow student Jack Drummond, upperclass, handsome, elegant, languid, idle, cynical, and friend of Marjorie, begins a charm offensive on Kate, his intentions are not honourable, unbeknown to Kate he has aspirations of marrying Marjorie for her money. Eventually after plying Kate with champagne at a lunch given at his home, he takes advantage of her infatuation but leaves her without a backward glance. Kate discovers that he has become engaged to Marjorie and then that she herself is pregnant. Faced with the choice of an abortion or tricking the honourable Robbie into marriage, she chooses the latter, and begins her deceitful secret life with an adoring Robbie. Grace is born, to all intents and purposes a premature baby, and Robbie is in raptures over his daughter.
Robbie Baxter is the epitome of the dark, brooding, honourable hero. He worships Kate and their child and although Kate is grateful to him she does not believe she loves him. It takes a visit a few years into their marriage, from Marjorie and Jack, to show her what a fool she has been, and it is then she realises how much she loves Robbie and he at last has the love and devotion of his 'nut-brown maiden' as he has always called her.
Maggie Craig has absolutely captured the poverty, lives and loves of the people of Glasgow, she has a rare talent for understanding, a real sense of place and time. The hopelessness of The Great Depression with the proud, brave men of Glasgow traipsing from one place to another in search of work. The horror of the war, both for the families and the men sent to fight, but also the utter devastation of the bombs being aimed at the shipyards, often missing and wiping out whole streets and families. I had a tear in my eye on more than one occasion during this beautiful, turbulent story. As usual, where possible with a Maggie Craig novel, I will listen to the audio version where one is available, as she always employs the talented, versatile Scottish narrator, Leslie Mackie who is so in tune with Ms. Craig's sensitive story telling. Ms. Mackie's beautifully modulated tones capture the feisty, fiercely independent Kate, the languid, slightly bored tones of Jack Drummond, the softly spoken Neil Cameron with his gentle highland lilt and then there is the darling Robbie Baxter, who couldn't love this wonderful, dignified man so perfectly characterised by the clever Maggie Craig? Ms. Mackie employs a slightly deeper melodious tone for him, the image of this darkly beautiful, decent man so expertly conjured up by this gifted actress. Even the excited childish voice of wee Grace when her Father comes home - perfect. The epilogue is enchanting too, a magnificent feast of a story with a fitting and moving ending. Maggie Craig's love for her City and people is apparent in the care and thought she has poured into this wonderful tale of triumph over adversity. I will definitely be reading/listening to the rest of this wonderful, compelling series.
February 23, 2023
Excellent
I really enjoyed this book, and that was the second time around. I felt for Kate she had life so hard but in the end her true love was robbie.
I really enjoyed this book, and that was the second time around. I felt for Kate she had life so hard but in the end her true love was robbie.
May 10, 2016
A wonderful, heartwarming yet also heartbreaking saga that intertwines the lives of two families, the Cameron's and the Baxters of Clydebank from the 20s to the war years. Kate Cameron has an artistic bent and has always yearned to study art but when tines are hard her mother insists she gives up her studies and goes out to work to make ends meet. Her off drunk father and her best friend Robbie Baxter who has lived her from afar since a young child do their best to encourage her to take up a placement at the Glasgow school of art and when she finally does so, she falls for the dashing Jack Drummond and the course of her life is changed forever. Well written, evocative of the time and a wonderful introduction. to this author, being her first novel she is a name to watch out for, so emotional in parts I found it hard to keep reading, she even bought a tear to the eye of this cynical reader! An absolutely brilliant read and a must for historical fans everywhere.
January 25, 2008
Very enjoyable book set in the Depression era in Scotland. Great characterisation showing poverty and hardship without being sordid. Hard to put down once I had got into the first few chapters. Definitely recommended.
March 31, 2017
Gripping, gutsy and written straight from the heart, The River Flows On is stirring, involving and dazzling Scottish set saga from a very talented writer – Maggie Craig!
Growing up in the backstreets of Glasgow, Kate Cameron is used to a life of penury and poverty. With her father constantly seeking solace in the bottle and her mother constantly haranguing her, Kate’s life is far from happy. Forever worrying about keeping the wolf from the door, Kate knows that the time has come from her to give up her schooling and to look for a job. Having to give up her dreams of continuing her education was another hardship which Kate had to endure, but with money being tight and plenty of mouths to feed, she knew that she had no other option but to sacrifice her future for the sake of her family. When she finds employment working at a shipyard on the Clyde, Kate finds herself desperate for an outlet that will stimulate her mind and enable her to use all her talent and creativity. When she hears about the possibility of going to art classes, she jumps at this chance unaware of the maelstrom of danger and desire that is about to be unleashed…
When Kate meets Jack Drummond, she is immediately bowled over by this charming, debonair and sophisticated man. Having spent most of her life surrounded by misery and drudgery, Jack has brought some much needed colour and excitement into her dreary existence. But little does Kate realise that Jack isn’t all that he seems and she is soon plunged into an unfamiliar and dangerous world where the unworldly and vulnerable are seen as easy pickings for evil and unscrupulous villains intent on causing as much damage and harm as they possibly can…
Kate is desperate for help and the only person she can turn to is her childhood friend, Robbie Baxter. Robbie has known Kate for most of her life and has been in love with her for years. Kate knows that there is nothing that Robbie would not do for her, but determined to keep her secret shame private, she vows never to divulge the shocking truths that could destroy everything which she holds dear to her heart.
With their entire future based on a lie, do Kate and Robbie stand a chance of triumphing over adversity? Or will shameful secrets and dangerous lies destroy any chance of happiness they might have?
Wonderfully vivid, beautifully written and richly evocative, The River Flows On is a captivating and compelling historical novel that effortlessly brings the past to life. Maggie Craig is a talented storyteller who whisks her readers back to the early years of the twentieth century and grabs their attention from the very first page with her intoxicating blend of meticulous research, superb gift for characterization and her talent for telling an addictive and irresistible story that makes her readers feel every single emotion her characters are going through in this outstanding tale of family secrets, forbidden passion and the ties that bind.
A first class historical saga that is perfect for losing oneself in, The River Flows On is a touching, tender and absorbing saga that should not be missed.
Growing up in the backstreets of Glasgow, Kate Cameron is used to a life of penury and poverty. With her father constantly seeking solace in the bottle and her mother constantly haranguing her, Kate’s life is far from happy. Forever worrying about keeping the wolf from the door, Kate knows that the time has come from her to give up her schooling and to look for a job. Having to give up her dreams of continuing her education was another hardship which Kate had to endure, but with money being tight and plenty of mouths to feed, she knew that she had no other option but to sacrifice her future for the sake of her family. When she finds employment working at a shipyard on the Clyde, Kate finds herself desperate for an outlet that will stimulate her mind and enable her to use all her talent and creativity. When she hears about the possibility of going to art classes, she jumps at this chance unaware of the maelstrom of danger and desire that is about to be unleashed…
When Kate meets Jack Drummond, she is immediately bowled over by this charming, debonair and sophisticated man. Having spent most of her life surrounded by misery and drudgery, Jack has brought some much needed colour and excitement into her dreary existence. But little does Kate realise that Jack isn’t all that he seems and she is soon plunged into an unfamiliar and dangerous world where the unworldly and vulnerable are seen as easy pickings for evil and unscrupulous villains intent on causing as much damage and harm as they possibly can…
Kate is desperate for help and the only person she can turn to is her childhood friend, Robbie Baxter. Robbie has known Kate for most of her life and has been in love with her for years. Kate knows that there is nothing that Robbie would not do for her, but determined to keep her secret shame private, she vows never to divulge the shocking truths that could destroy everything which she holds dear to her heart.
With their entire future based on a lie, do Kate and Robbie stand a chance of triumphing over adversity? Or will shameful secrets and dangerous lies destroy any chance of happiness they might have?
Wonderfully vivid, beautifully written and richly evocative, The River Flows On is a captivating and compelling historical novel that effortlessly brings the past to life. Maggie Craig is a talented storyteller who whisks her readers back to the early years of the twentieth century and grabs their attention from the very first page with her intoxicating blend of meticulous research, superb gift for characterization and her talent for telling an addictive and irresistible story that makes her readers feel every single emotion her characters are going through in this outstanding tale of family secrets, forbidden passion and the ties that bind.
A first class historical saga that is perfect for losing oneself in, The River Flows On is a touching, tender and absorbing saga that should not be missed.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews