Corrag

by Susan Fletcher

In 'Corrag', Susan Fletcher tells us the story of an epic historic event, of the difference a single heart can make - and how deep and lasting relationships can come from the most unlikely places.

Other titles:
The Highland Witch
Witch Light

Genres: Historical Fiction, Scotland, Fiction, Witches, Historical, Fantasy, 17th Century

368 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Fletcher is a British novelist. She was born in Birmingham and studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Her first novel, Eve Green, won the 2004 Whitbread First Novel Award, the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, and the Society of Authors Betty Trask Prize; it was also picked for Channel 4's (UK) Richard and Judy Summer reading list. Subsequent novels have been shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Writers’ Guild fiction award, and longlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year award. Her novel Witch Light won France’s 2013 Saint-Maur en Poche award. Fletcher is a former Fellow at the University of Worcester, as part of the Royal Literary Fund's fellowship program, and is the author of The Night in Question.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Jaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corrag is in a dark cell with shackles on her wrists, chained to the wall. It is winter, but as soon as the Spring thaw arrives, she will be burned at the stake as a witch.

Reverend Charles Leslie, adopting his wife’s maiden name for a disguise, arrives in the town to find out information about the Glencoe massacre of the MacDonald clan in Scotland. He is hoping to utilize this information to help restore James Stuart to the throne. He has heard of the witch in her cell and that she knew what had happened in the Highlands, so as much as it appalled him as a man of God to speak with a witch, speak with her he must.

What follows is a story that is amazing, mesmerizing, filled with many burdens and hardships, yet also filled with incredible light and beauty. For Corrag wants to tell this man her own story and how it entwined with the story of the MacDonalds.

Each day, in prose that initially repulsed the Reverend, she told her tale. She could neither read nor write, but her words are filled with the splendor of nature and creatures of the earth, sky, and water. Each evening, the Reverend would write letters to his wife – about how much he missed her and their sons, but also small bits about the imprisoned witch. Those small bits began to take up more of his writing space as Corrag’s story progressed.

What an incredible journey this novel is. I was grateful for each new day of her story, both for the glorious prose and for her perceptions of her own care-worn life. Also, because it meant that her gruesome death had not yet come for her. I was conscious of the underlying darkness of her imminent death throughout the story, yet it only served to enhance further the magnificence and joys she came across.

Corrag’s life changed others’ lives - even that of the Reverend who heard her tale and jotted it down with his ink and quill. Her story touched my own life, resonated with me, and changed my life, too.

Thank you to Candi for recommending this book as we exchanged comments on another review she had written. You were so right: I loved this novel!!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m going to use this review as a rant at generic romance fiction. The kind that has an uncritical view of romantic love, deploys a formulaic structure of expectation and reimbursement, like readily assembled furniture, and at no point is self-aware of the smoke screens it’s pedalling. Probably the best novel about romantic love of the 20th century was The Great Gatsby because it exposed the emptiness that often lies at the heart of romantic aspiration. In the 19th century Emily Bronte depicted romantic love as infernally destructive and Jane Austen as something that had to be managed with a good deal of sense. So why, in the 21st century, are writers still willing to view romantic love as some kind of holy transfiguration?

When we meet Corrag, who narrates her own story, she is imprisoned and will be burnt as a witch once the snows of winter thaw. And for the first 200 pages I loved it. Her life as an outcast, her relationship with the natural world was movingly portrayed. Then she meets a kilted hunky highlander with sensibility to spare. In other words she meets a cliché. Here, the novel died for me. I completely lost interest.

Corrag is portrayed as wise. But how wise is she? Her Wordsworthian worship of nature eventually reveals itself as humbug, the emotions of the tourist. She tells us she’s happy in her mud hut in the highlands even though she doesn’t have a change of clothes or any change in the relentless limitations of her diet. But she’s fibbing to us. That’s not what she wants. Like the rest of us she wants a home and a family. And not only she does she want a home and a family, she wants the home and family of the son of the clan leader. In other words, like all us gals, she wants the prince. There’s no irony, no humour in the text. And the author indulges her. What had been a moving portrait of a muted and independent female in a brutal masculine world became the same old fairy story.

The shame is the romance in this novel was wholly unnecessary. Everything would have worked so much better had it not been there. Was it inserted for commercial reasons? Quite possibly. But for me it ruined what had been a compelling and beautifully written book. Once the author’s lyricism turns to romantic love I began to feel the absence of a rigorous intelligence informing the text. The lyricism began reading like flowery whimsy.

Rant over.

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on Scottish folklore and real historical figures and events , this novel is historical fiction at its best bringing history to life through characters who move the reader to experience the time and place. Susan Fletcher does more than take the reader to Scotland in 1692, but intimately takes us into the mind and heart of an unforgettable character who left an indelible mark on my literary heart.

The story unfolds as a blend of two narratives, one an intimate first person and detailed account of a young woman’s life, accused of being a witch who witnesses The Glencoe Massacre 1692. The second, equally as intimate told in epistolary format in letters to his wife, by a minister Charles Leslie , who goes to the prison where she is being kept before she is to be burned alive, to hear her story . We learn about Corrag through his letters as well, the impact she has on him and how he begins to see her for who she is . The perception of otherness, the fear of those who are different which names them as evil is how Corrag is seen as was her mother and grandmother. Corrag, this lovely and lovely girl, is far from evil, but is filled with goodness and I couldn’t help but want so much more for her as she dreams of, but believes she’ll never have.

And the writing ! Oh my heart - I loved it. The first paragraph was so beautiful. I read it a second time . I found myself doing that a number of times to feel and see the beauty of the nature that Corrag is so bonded with, to feel what she feels. The descriptions of the Scottish Highlands are stunningly beautiful.

I’m not going to reiterate the plot . There are a number of reviews that will give more about it. I’ll just say, in conclusion that this has been on my tbr for almost 10 years and I wish I had read it sooner . Surely, will be a favorite of 2025.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a little while to warm up to this book, but when I got into it, I was all in! It took my breath away - a remarkable work of historical fiction that reminded me very much of Mary Stewart's Arthurian saga. Fletcher is a gifted storyteller - the characters and seventeenth century Scotland spring to life in this wonderful tale.

The story is based on a true historical event, the massacre of Glencoe in 1692, in which supporters of King William brutally murdered members of the MacDonald clan because they were six days late in pledging their support to the new monarch. Charles Leslie, a supporter of the former King James, makes his way from Ireland in the dead of winter to a prison in Inverary Scotland where a witness to the massacre is housed. He is hoping to gain proof that King William ordered the murders, so King James might be restored to the throne. What he finds is Corrag - a young woman who has been condemned as a witch and is awaiting death by burning as soon as winter thaws. Leslie is a God-fearing man and feels contempt and disgust for this evil creature, but he agrees to visit her and listen to the story of her life in return for her recounting of the events in Glencoe.

The story is alternately narrated by Corrag in her prison cell and by Charles Leslie, in the form of letters home to his wife in Ireland. At first, I wasn't fond of the letter device or of the sanctimonious Mr. Leslie, but it turned out to be a very clever way to tell the story and to track the dawning realization of Charles Leslie that Corrag is much more than an object of pity or scorn.

Really beautifully written - this is a story and character I won't soon forget.

[Zoeytron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something comes . . .  As a full moon glows under a rumbling sky, ill omens are making themselves known.  It is the late 1600's in the highlands of Scotland, and you are there.  There is a woman in chains, destined to burn at the stake.  Is she a witch?  A faery?  Mayhap she is simply a healer, an apothecary of sorts with her myriad uses of herbs.  Or maybe the gaolers have it right and she is right where she should be.    

The smallest gift can have untold value, a single egg, a handful of peat, or the leaves of a healing herb.  Sometimes only a facial expression, or a small wave.  Be aware of a blood-red skirt, a man "brimming with words", a look that is "owl-wise and cat-sly", second-sight.  A heart that is tired and lonesome, a wounded soul.

I do not have the words to express how much I loved this book.  It just may give you pause the next time you rush to judgement.  Pure magick in every way.  My heartfelt thanks to Diane Barnes for her review which drove me to read this.  Read her review, and then read the reviews by Candi and Sara.  They will all do justice to this book. 

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review dedicated to Candi and Sara, both of whom finally bullied me into reading this.

It's hard to review a book that 2 trusted friends love and revere, because, even though you may like the book, maybe there is something missing for you. Or maybe you might not like it at all. But reviews need to be honest, or what's the point? I'm not sure if that's why I waited so long to read this, or if I just wasn't ever in the mood at any given point, but I finally decided to take the plunge and let the chips fall where they may. The beginning worried me a little bit. Corrag was a nasty, dirty creature in chains in a dark and dank prison cell, and Reverend Leslie was a pious, self satisfied jerk. Not sure I wanted to spend a lot of time with either of them.

But then, like the witch everyone thought Corrag to be, she bewitched me. As she opened up and told her story, she cast her spell over myself and Mr. Leslie as well. She made us see, in her simple language, what a good heart she had. How brave she had to be. How easy it is to see the good in everything, even when she was scared.

"It is evening. The moon is small, and new. There are stars, and a stream's sound, and I can hear the wings of insects, in the dark. I think, what gifts we are given. Such gifts, every day."

And these little gems: "The eggshell he gave me, and pressed into my hand? I think a death's like that--a broken body with the best part out, and free."

"I've heard fate talked of. It's not a word I use. I think we make our own choices. I think how we live our lives is our own doing, and we cannot fully hope on dreams and stars."

As you can see, the writing is lyrical. Nature itself is a main character, especially the Scottish Highlands, where Corrag decides to make her home. I could see each gust of wind and flake of snow and blade of grass. I'm still reeling over the death of the white mare, peaceful and honorable as it was. The hens, the goats, the white stag, all major characters over and above the human ones. Did I mention the magnificent story? This novel had everything I could wish for in between the pages of a book. Not to mention an unexpected ending that was perfect in its own way.

So thank you, Candi and Sara, for the bullying (really just "strongly suggesting"). You finally wore me down, and I am richer for it.

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a stillness and beauty to Susan Fletcher's writing that will enchant the reader and take your breath away with beautiful vivid descriptions of the Scottish Highlands and a tale that will transport you to another time and place. Prepare to be bewitched

Corrag is the story of a young woman who has witnessed the horrific massacare of Glencoe on a winters dawn in 1692, where William IIIs redcoats brutally slaughtered 32 of the McDonald's Men Women and Children Clan. The reason for the massacre was their loyalty to the exiled Catholic James II, however sadly for the McDonalds a signed oath of their allegiance to William the III has been signed six days too late and the punishment is devastating.

The story is passionately and beautifully told by Corrag (who has been branded a witch and imprissioned ) to the visiting Irish Political Activist Charles Leslie who is secretely gathering evidence against King William of Orange.
The novel is full of lyrical and poetic prose and the descriptions of Scottish Highlands will have you think you are right there among the mountains and glens and smelling the heather and herbs.
Corrag herself is a wonderful free spirited character who dwells in her world without Kings and religion to answer to and she lives her life doing good and carrying on the traditions of her mother and those that have gone before her.

I listened to this Book on audio and the narration was very good and very easy to follow.
A great read for anyone who enjoys novels set in Scotland or readers who enjoy historical fiction where a story is created around an epic event.

[Antoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corrag, the so called witch, put a spell on me while reading this book. The more I read, the less able was I to put it down. A powerful spell, indeed!

Corrag is a wise and gentle soul whose ability to know herbs and help people has branded her a witch. The more I got to know her, the more I realized what a special, unique person she was. She saw the good around her. She appreciated all that nature had to offer. Just in case you think I am glorifying her too much, this book is based on a true story.

When we first meet Corrag, she sits shackled in a jail cell, accused of being involved in the Glencoe massacre. She tells her story to Charles Leslie. A holy man. We learn of her beginnings, of her mother and grandmother, both also labelled witch, and how she ended up in the Highlands, befriending the MacDonalds’.

Susan Fletcher has a poetic, flowing quality to her writing. She certainly excels at describing nature and the surroundings and its wildlife. I can feel her love of the outdoors by the beauty she creates with her words.

Charles describing how Corrag’s words are affecting him:” I walk where she walks, and see what she sees. What a gift. But she speaks so richly of her wild life, of living in heather and moss and rocks, that I feel I am amongst it. Is it bewitching?”

When I first started this book, i was worried as so many of my GR friends had raved about it, and I didn’t connect with it right away. Once I fell into its flow, it was mesmerizing. I cannot recommend it enough.

My thanks to Candi, Sara and Diane, whose reviews made me add this book and move it way up my TBR.

PUB: 2010 ( A Century of Books Challenge)

UPDATE:

March 4, 2026. Just read that this is being made into a movie!! How exciting.

[Andy Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was, for the most part, a well-written and enjoyable piece of historical fiction, but it was overlong in parts and repetitive in others and contained an unnecessary love story that would have been better left on the cutting-room floor.

[Renata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may have finished reading Corrag weeks ago, I may have read five other very different types of stories since then, but I am still in the highlands and with Corrag and Charles. Susan Fletcher immediately transported me so thoroughly to a time and place, to ways of thinking and perceiving they are, for the time being, a part of me.

Fletcher sets up the novel with alternating chapters told by Corrag, a young woman accused of witchcraft: "I wait for it - death. My own, fiery one" and by Charles, a Reverend, who is on a mission both political and spiritual. Charles chapters take the form of letters he writes to his dearly beloved wife, in far off Ireland, at the close of each day, recounting events and, more importantly, his thoughts and feelings.

Both sections are equally powerful in the way they reveal the inner thoughts, values, and personal struggles of both Corrag and Charles. I might even argue that his wife, Jane, becomes a major character because she clearly is a strong filter for his own thinking. "Jane. My dearest. We have spoken of this in the past, you and I - ...Do you remember? You wore the blue shawl that makes your eyes bluer, and I spoke of enchantment - so we spoke of witchcraft by that tree. I know we disagreed." Whereas he believes along the established powers that witches "must be purged by fire or water, for their own sake" and must not be allowed to live, Jane does not believe in "witch, or rather you don't trust the men who call it out - I know. , You think such women are ill, perhaps. That they suffer delusions, or grief, or fear men"

Corrag's chapters are also narrated in the first person. They both tell her story - thus move the plot along more - but are also composed of inner thoughts and immensely rich in feeling and tone. Fletcher has an astonishing ability to create convincing voice and character within the first fifty pages.

One of the things I most loved about the book was that it was beautifully reflective. I was going to say it was not plot driven, but that is not true. We know Corrag is in jail, chained in irons so she does not escape, on charges of witchcraft. We know the Reverend is coming to interview her to learn more about a possible implication of King William of Orange in a clan massacre whereas Rev. Charles is a secret Jacobite. But that is merely the framework around which a thousand poignant, glorious, and tragic details are woven.

There is plenty of action, suspense, and tension. And then there is the poetry of her language. I felt I was there with her in the highlands and just may need to plan a trip to Scotland.

The story is rich in themes and big ideas to contemplate as one reads and months afterward.

One was how much fear was built around these around these women - often old, often widowed or alone, sometimes too intelligent for their own good. often small, poor and powerless. Throughout the story Corrag is seen as especially tiny, "I know I am tiny. Ive been called mouse and little bird, and bairn, though I am none of these." In her afterward Fletcher writes of how tens of thousands of women were put to death for witchcraft throughout Europe over a three hundred year period.

Themes of identity "what we believe is what shapes us", loss, loneliness, love - both the sharing of it and yearning for it, ever present death, belonging, betrayal, honor, the natural world vs manmade institutions. My favorite theme, however was "change" and Fletcher introduced it early on and referred back to it in many characters thoughts and actions. Pg 15, as Corrag, in jail, reflects on the momentous parts of her life, she thinks about the power of place, of how the highlands changed her and "how he said 'you've changed me', as he stood by me side. Most heartening of all was witnessing the changes in the character and voice of Charles - both through the voice of his wife Jane and Corrags stories. I smiled at his references to her powers as a story teller and thought of those Russian nesting dolls. Author Susan Fletcher was inspired by the historical stories of Charles Leslie and the struggle of the Highland clans to survive the political turmoil of late 1600's, so she wrote a story to ignite a spark of knowledge and understanding in the reader, and she has Corrags magical gift for storytelling ignite a spark of knowledge and understanding in Charles which he then pays forward as well.

"All I try to say is that we change - over and over. But I think our hearts are our hearts, and cannot be governed - not by kings, or oaths. Not by our own heads. They are too strong."

A book I will long remember and a story rich in treasures.

[Alice Poon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I hadn’t read this book, I would never have imagined that there was still persecution of witches in late 17th century Great Britain, the practice of which was only banned from 1735 with the introduction of the Witchcraft Act.

The story is a gripping one that recounts the political massacre of Glencoe in February 1692, told through an imprisoned woman who was condemned as a witch and was waiting to be burned, and who had earlier managed to save many lives in Glencoe. Her only audience was a reverend of Christian faith, whose motive was initially to obtain an eyewitness account for political purposes. During the course of listening to the “witch”, he was transformed from a disgusted bigot to a compassionate sympathizer.

The structure of the novel is such that the first-person narrator flips between the “witch” telling her story and the reverend writing to his wife. The themes that dapple the novel are love of nature, getting in touch with one’s heart, futility of hatred and violence, tolerance of others’ values and compassion for all living creatures.

The writing is deeply affecting, especially the description of Scottish scenery. In the end, I think it is the underlying themes that resonate viscerally with me.

These are passages that I love:-

But maybe the best thing I learnt was this: that we cannot know a person’s soul and nature until we’ve sat beside them, and talked.

When was I not a bit lonesome inside? I mostly was. Seeing true, natural beauty can lessen it, because sunsets and winter light can make you say inside you ‘I am not alone’ – you feel it, through such beauty. But it can worsen it, also. When you want a person with you it can be a sore thing. Sometimes you see this beauty and think it is not as lovely as them.

Your heart’s voice is your true voice. It is easy to ignore it, for sometimes it says what we’d rather it did not – and it is so hard to risk the things we have. But what life are we living, if we don’t live by our hearts? Not a true one. And the person living it is not the true you.

It is the small moments, sir, which change a world.

No war. Fight with your pen. Give your battle-cry in ink, and mark your dreams down on a page.

I’m giving this novel 4.5 stars.

[Doug Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

*SPOILERS*
A beautiful and poetic story that could be described in many ways:

1. It was historical fiction based on a true story of the slaughter of a Northern Scottish Village and almost all of its people ordered by a control hungry horrible king in the late 1600's

2. It is the conversion story of a preacher who based his world around the law, the scriptures, the biases of his people at the time. The conversion takes place while he is interviewing a witch in prison who is about to be burned for her crimes. Within a period of a few days, the preacher's whole life's philosophy is turned upside down and he becomes a saint, a man who follows his heart and is able to do the right thing, regardless of his religious beliefs and the law of the land. We all need to go through this conversion.

3. It is the story of a young tiny female fairy, a witch, a healer, a lover of nature, an angel, so pure, so sweet, so giving, so loving, so unentitled that even a tiny wave of the hand, any small token of thanks, any crumb of affection is greatly appreciated. She talks to the rocks, the sun, the fish that she eats. She sleeps with her few hens and goats in her little hut. She remembers and feels her dead mother's spirit when she needs strength. She walks and rides hundreds of miles to be where her heart tells her she will fit in. She is alone in a harsh world where healers like herself are feared and branded as witches. And as the story unfolds, we can see clearly the errors of the past, the religious dogmatic thinking and we can see what a true angel feels like and acts like as she heals and helps the tough yet accepting people of the village she loves. And although she never had a full relationship with a male, there are two men who end up loving her and embracing her ways and this love of these two good men gives her all of the hope and affection she needs.

4. It is a story designed to help us humans to be cautious in our judgment of others. To take time to understand people before condemning them. It is a story of love for nature and for animals and how precious each of them are, how beautiful life's little things are and that a real life of richness revolves around love of these things and our relationship with others.


Here's one of the many quotes from our little witch which I loved while reading this book:

“What was dark will always be dark, I know that. Death is still death. Hatred will never be far, in this life. also, there is light. It is everywhere. It floods this world--the world brims with it.

Once, I sat by the Coe and watched a shaft of light come down through the trees, through leaves, and wondered if there was a greater beauty, or a simpler one. There are many great beauties. but all of them--from the snow, to his fern-red hair, to my mare's eye reflecting the sky as she smelt the air of Rannoch Moor--have light in them, and are worth it. They are worth the darker parts.”

Great book. Thanks for the recommendation from Candi.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

Basada en los hechos reales de la masacre de Glencoe en 1692 en Escocia, donde los miembros del clan McDonald fueron asesinados por haber firmado seis días tarde el tratado para jurar lealtad a Guillermo de Orange.

La historia empieza cuando un reverendo Jacobita va a ver a la encarcelada Corrag, llamada bruja de las Highlands, que está condenada a morir en la hoguera. A cambio de información, ella le relatará su vida.
Corrag es un libro descriptivo, introspectivo, de lectura pausada en el mejor de los sentidos. Te hace absorber el paisaje de las Highlands hasta sentir que puedes olerlo y respirarlo.

La prosa es sencilla pero cuidada, y la protagonista me ha gustado muchísimo. Me ha recordado un poco en algunos aspectos a Ritos Funerarios, de Hannah Kent, así que si os gustó esa novela, creo que Corrag también puede encantaros.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Update: I’ve just finished reading this for a third time, via audiobook. It was excellent yet again. Maybe even better this way, if that is possible!]

This book has practically left me speechless, but I'll do my best: luminous, poetic, profound, lush, divinely crafted sentences that left me in awe, a heroine so lovely and courageous that she lingers on in my imagination. Simply the best book I've read in recent memory, and I have read some terrific books.

The novel is based on a real character and real events: the Glencoe massacre in the Scottish Highlands in the late 1600s. The novel's structure alternates between Corrag telling her story to a minister over a series of days before she is to be executed and his letters home to his wife. Thus both characters' evolution is revealed.

If you love nature, Scotland, wise women (aka witches), and suspense, this is the tale for you. Or even if you don't love these things, but love writing that sings off the page, this is for you.

[Lori Keeton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the small moments, sir, which change a world.

This is my introduction to the poetic and beautiful prose from Susan Fletcher and now I want more and more of it. Corrag simply stole my mystified heart with her simple, yet misunderstood story. Despised and condemned all of her life for her adoration and understanding of the natural world and all of its beauty, Corrag doesn’t understand how she can be so mistreated. A small, scraggly, feral-like girl, Corrag and her mother, Cora, are labeled “witch” and “hag” and are never really able to live among people easily - Cora warning Corrag that love can never be with their kind.

They hissed, we know what you are…And did they? They thought they did. In my English life, they took old truths - my snowy birth, how I liked marshy places - and pressed them into proper lies, like how they saw me lift up a shoulder and turn into a crow. I never did that.

As the story begins, Corrag is chained to a cell in Inverary awaiting her death at the stake while being treated worse than an animal. She has just witnessed the 1692 massacre of the MacDonald clan of Glencoe. After a life spent wandering and being feared by others, she has finally found a place and a people that accept her and to which she grows deeply attached. She is visited in her cell by an Irish Jacobite, Charles Leslie, and agrees to talk with him as long as he will listen to her story from its beginning. He is merely wanting evidence that will prove the Protestant King William was at fault in the slayings in order to reinstate his Catholic King James. Corrag lays her heart out on the table as she slowly and purposely tells him everything about her lonesome life. She is detailed and descriptive in her telling. Leslie is judgmental and critical of Corrag when he first meets her, just like everyone else, he saw a witch.

She may have been pretty, once. But the Devil takes hold of a face as much as he does the soul, and she is filthy now. Woe is on her features…Inverary tollbooth is a very foul place. Foul, too, is its inmate whose high, girlish voice spoke of kindness and good deeds - but I am not tricked by that. The Devil was speaking. He hides his nature in lies…I heard his voice very clearly. I thought, I will not be fooled by you. I know who you are…it is better for her that she is burnt, and soon…The fire will clean her of wickedness, and to be purified in death is far better than to live in this manner - unChristian, defiled.

As Leslie listens and absorbs Corrag’s thoughts and beliefs about the heart and the beauty in the small moments and nature, he begins a transformation into a man who can only believe that this kind and good-natured girl has only ever been so to the world and those she has encountered. She says When was I not a bit lonesome inside? I mostly was. Seeing true, natural beauty can lessen it, because sunsets and winter light can make you say inside you I am not alone-you feel it, through such beauty.

He is altered by her lonely life in such a way that he has difficulty describing it to his wife in the letters he writes. She spoke very tenderly - her sight is very tender, in that she sees and feels what we have mostly forgotten to see. Corrag delights in the tiny parts of life we mostly do not see, for hurrying-a bee in a bloom, the sound a fish makes with its mouth.

The descriptions of the Scottish highlands are so vivid and memorable they mark your mind with beauty and life-giving presence. The reader then must determine to look at the natural world with a fresh, new perspective to see its masterpiece. If you are not left spell-bound by the end of this hauntingly gorgeous story, I'm not sure what will.

Can you see it? In your mind’s eye, which is our sharpest eye? A valley of such narrowness, and with such steep sides that it is like walking into a hand, half-closed. Some would say this frightened them-that it was a fist of rocks. Some said the mountains were so high they might fall down, crush a man. But I never felt that. I felt Glencoe was kind. It was an open hand that I could lie inside, and it would keep me safe

I could go on with such beautiful, poetic prose:
Gormshuil said you want the second sight? To be taught it? Half-mad thing…You have always had it. And she was right. I had. I knew it, as I knelt there. I had always had it, for we all do-all people born with a heart have it, for it is the heart’s voice. It is the soul’s song. I have had it with every starry sky, with each bee that knocked against me as it rose up from a bloom. I’ve had it with kindness-mine and others’. I’ve had it with the hairs on my arms standing up, at the sound of a clan singing a fireside song, or with my eyes filling with tears at a simple, lovely sight. For it is in these moments that the heart speaks up.

We all have it. But I think it is people like us-lonesome, in love with the blustery world-who hear the heart most clearly. We hear its breath, feel its turns. We see what it half-sees. It is not what the eyes see-no.

[Melissa Crytzer Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book! All the emotions… Heartbreaking, breathtaking, hopeful… I needed this novel right now: a book with lush natural landscape descriptions and a character whose heart beats in tandem with the seasons and with abounding hope in an uncertain world. And the writing… like poetry!

I’m not afraid to admit that this book moved me so greatly that I cried. Multiple times. I cared about Corrag and Charles Leslie. When I finished, I went up to my roof deck to look at the rolling desert hills behind my house. In a way, it was to give thanks to Corrag for reminding me of the beautiful world in which we live. I am keenly aware of this gift every day and never take it for granted, especially living in a remote area. But the character of Corrag – the book – moved me to look even more closely at what surrounds me in the natural world. To appreciate it even more. I also went to my deck to consider the complex and fascinating character of Corrag (a true-to-life historical figure), about her heart and love of natural things and her ability to see goodness in a sinister world, even after so much mistreatment. And her desire to love.

I knew very little about Jacobites and the fierce loyalty to kings that reached even the remotest of villages and seeped into daily breath. And the Glencoe Massacre. This is a story of Catholic vs. Protestant, truth vs. falsehood, wild vs. ‘tame.’ It’s a love story in many forms: between nature and humans, between husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and an unspoken but real love between two very different people. It’s about finding one’s place and about two people’s journeys – one physical, one of the conscience. The historical details of this book are woven into the story like a delicate and beautiful spider web, soft and seemingly fragile – not overbearing – but with strength and grace and functionality.

I enjoyed the structure of this novel as well: told as a conversation between Corrag and Charles – a man of faith – a reciting of her life’s history as she faces one of her biggest challenges. And Charles’s experiences of hearing Corrag’s story, shared in letters to his wife. Excellent first-person storytelling and epistolary technique. So much deep, emotional ‘showing’ versus telling.

The language is poetic, breathtaking. I was transported to the lush green of the Scottish Highlands in summer, to its powdery white of winter. I could visualize, smell, taste and feel it all – the birds, the breath of the stag suspended in air, the feel of the tumbling waterfall. Some examples:

Her eyelashes brushed her cheekbones. Her laugh was many shrieks in a line, like how a bird does when a fox comes by it.

The wolf in her howled for night air, and so she took herself away into the unknown parts.

Her talking is like a river – running on and bursting into smaller rivers which lead nowhere, so she comes back to her starting place.

It was like my words were water and out they came, and now what? We all stood amongst my words like leggy birds in a stream.

And I say this: what creatures we are. What powers are in us – in all of us. What we already know, if we choose to spend some time with ourselves. What a deep love we can feel.

I sleep in warm hollows. I sink my heels into bogs, and watch the tiny droplets on the tips of bright-green moss.

(In addition to what I've included above, I’ve also highlighted passages on my Kindle if you want to take a look. So many gorgeous sentences!)

Oh my! I am in awe of the writing and the story, and I just loved this book. Thank you, Candi, for the suggestion. Jaline, your review also enticed me to read this book, which deserves far more acclaim that it appears to have gotten. If you loved Burial Rites, you will adore this book. It's now among my all-time favorites, to be sure. I must read more work by this author!

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In chapter 2 of Book 2: I have been tempted by Corrag for years! I finally decided to take the plunge. I like the Scottish dialect. I like the feel of the highlands and nature as it is described by simple people. I like figuring out who are on each side - there is King William of Orange and King James and the Jacobites. And where is Corrag in the middle of all this? I am listening, as usual. The Scottish dialect of the narrator (Caroline Guthrie) further enhances the atmosphere....but you have to listen carefully to catch everything. I am liking this. It is both challenging and delightful.

A quote I like: "All bad things are man-made."

But there is this too:

"I see the goodness in most people, because most people are good."

which I also like.

*************************************

I REALLY did love this book, does that make it amazing? I can’t think of anything I would change. You will love this book if you see the beauty of nature, if you love walking under a starry night sky, if you have heard and seen and experienced the beauty of a cold winter night or a motionless stag or rabbits frolicking on a field in spring. The writing is both lyrical and yet simple all at the same time. What do you think of this line?

“I put thank you in the air and it hung there.”

Or this

“Speaking of the dead makes them less so.”

So simple but so true.

I learned about the Jacobites. They supported the exiled Catholic Stuart Kings, here King James II. I learned about the Massacre of Glencoe - on a frosty winter’s morning in 1692 King William III and his redcoats slaughtered men, women and children of the Scottish MacDonald Clan. Why? Although they had indeed signed an oath of allegiance to King William, it was done six days too late, six days after the deadline. Before they had been loyal to King James II.


Superstitions and witchcraft as it was viewed at the end of the 17th Century in Britain is vividly portrayed. I don’t believe in witches and I am sure you don’t either, but how did people of that time think? You see through their eyes and understand. Corrag and her mother and her mother’s mother were all witches. Healing, spiritualism, nature worship are intertwined with a magical world view. Is it second sight when you know in your heart what you must do? Is it witchcraft when you have learned which herbs heal particular ailments? If this was being a witch, well then both you and I could be labelled as witches too.

There is a love story here. It is beautifully done. Not exaggerated. Believable.

There is an excellent afterword which explains what is known about the central characters - Corrag, members of the MacDonald Clan and Charles Leslie, an Irish Jacobite. It is to Charles that Corrag tells her story from her prison cell in Inverary after the massacre.

I loved the audiobook narration by Caroline Guthrie. I recommend listening to this rather than reading it. By doing so you are totally immersed in the world of the northern Scottish Highlands. I must warn that Guthrie does not use different intonations for Corrag’s story as she tells it to Charles and Charles’s letters to his wife about Corrag. You switch between the two. It is through these letters that you understand Charles’ actions. Guthrie’s voice is feminine and has a Scottish lilt. It confused me at first that even Charles’ letters, i.e. a man’s letters to his wife, sounded feminine too. Not the words, just the sound of them. And he was Irish! Corrag was English, but I felt she had become Scottish from her time spent with the MacDonald Clan. I loved the narration, but I did have to pay close attention because of the Scottish dialect. I feel it was worth the effort.

Four stars? Five stars? I did love it! Immersion in another time and place, in a place I’d like to be. Beautiful lines, wise lines and I learned something. I am giving it five. So you ask why I would want to be there, there where a massacre took place? Read the book and you will understand.

[Connie G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Fletcher's poetic prose is such a joy to read as she brings Corrag, an accused witch, to life on the pages of this novel. Set in the beautiful Scottish Highlands in 1692, it tells the story of the Massacre of Glencoe by the soldiers loyal to William of Orange. The MacDonald clan of Glencoe had supported the return of King James, the Stuarts, and Catholicism. However, they reluctantly signed a loyalty oath to William to keep their clan safe--but signed six days late. After several weeks as the guests of the MacDonald clan, William's men rose up and slaughtered the MacDonalds. Corrag warned many of the Glencoe residents so they were able to escape. The British soldiers were angry that the whole clan was not killed so they arrested Corrag. The MacDonald clan was especially notorious for thieving cattle, hens, coins, and leather so the soldiers wished to destroy them.

The book opens with Corrag sitting in a squalid prison cell a few weeks before she is scheduled to burn as a witch. An Irish papist, Charles Leslie, interviews her to get material for his pamphlets. Corrag agrees to talk to him if he'll listen to the story of her life. In lyrical prose Corrag tells how she escaped from England on a fast horse after her mother was hung, and arrived at a place of incredible natural beauty--Glencoe. Corrag appreciates both the majestic mountains and the small wonders of nature. She found acceptance as a natural healer, a special relationship, and relative peace in her new surroundings.

The book alternates Corrag's story with Charles Leslie's letters home to his wife. Corrag yearns to be remembered through her words, and a remarkable friendship is formed. Readers who love literary fiction and the beauty of nature will appreciate this novel.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on a historical event, the 1692 massacre at Glencoe in Scotland, Corrag is a remarkable book, emotional and poetic and stirring. The breathtaking physical world of the Scottish highlands comes into sharp focus, as we travel with Corrag, a persecuted woman who flees the lowlands where she is labeled as a witch, as were her mother and grandmother before her. She takes up living in the wilds of Glencoe, and her life becomes entwined with the McDonald clan who live there.

We all have our stories, and we speak of them, and weave them into other people’s stories--that's how it goes, does it not?

Indeed, Corrag’s story becomes woven into the story of the McDonald clan, but also with the story of an Irish pastor who comes to visit her as she awaits execution. At the outset of the book, Charles Leslie comes to gather information about the massacre, and he meets with Corrag, hoping for her death as a witch and the destruction of her body and soul. How the telling of her story affects him is part of what makes this book so effective. For he is a religious man who does not expect to learn from a “witch”, but he does.

That we may fear the manner of death. We may fear the pain, and I do--so much. But the word death is like elsewhere--it is some other place, where others are.

I’ve heard fate talked of. It’s not a word I use. I think we make our own choices. I think how we live our lives is our own doing, and we cannot fully hope on dreams and stars. But dreams and stars can guide as well perhaps. And the heart’s voice is a strong one. Always is.

What we all learn from Corrag is that pre-judging people is a risky business. It might cause us to miss the most beautiful soul we could ever encounter, it might cheat us of the good things God has on offer. We might find not just how like us the different people are, but how superior to us they can be.

I would be remiss if I did not offer a special thanks to my friend, Candi, for pointing me toward this novel. She told me more than once to read it. I wish I had done it sooner. But, it is never too late to come to such a meaningful and beautifully written story.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the Highlands of Scotland, 1692, the title character Corrag has been branded a witch for warning the MacDonalds of Glencoe of an impending massacre. Most of the clan was able to escape, to the fury of William of Orange's agent who was behind the scheme. To prevent her from telling the tale, Corrag is jailed and sentenced to burn.

Enter Charles Leslie, a man of God and Jacobite propagandist from Ireland. Despite his feeling that witches do the Devil's work and "must be purged by fire or water, for their own sake," he goes to Corrag's cell to question her about the murders. We see his tale unfold through letters he writes to his wife, safely back in Ireland. We come to know Jane, as well as Charles, through his letters.

Fletcher is artful in how she introduces Corrag. We, the readers, are given this insight into Corrag's character right at the beginning of the story.

"When they tie me to the wood, I will say I have saved lives, and it will be a comfort and I will not mind the flames. For what if that's the cost? My life for their lives? What if the world asks for that -- for my small life, with its lonely hours, in return for the lives of three hundred, or more? I will pay it. If it means they are living . . . ."

This passage leads me to be predisposed to like Corrag and believe she is good before I know any of her story.

The book alternates between Corrag's narration of her story from childhood to the present and Charles' letters. We see how they both change during this time together and a friendship forms.

Fletcher's writing is lyrical and her love of nature shines through. In fact, the Highlands can be considered a character in this book. One example:

"We moved through, the gloaming most of all--the times that are neither day nor night. Cora called them the betwixt-and-between times, when the world is stirring or it is setting down. When the light is strange, and your eye can think what is that? Moving? But nothing moves out there. Dawn and dusk are always softly lit. Their shadows are thin, and to ride through these shadows on my mare felt like breaking them--but they sealed themselves again, in our wake."

Fletcher frequently juxtaposes sadness and joy as she emphasizes her themes of kindness and tolerance, death and grief, and following one's heart. This book has provided me with some food for thought and a lot of good discussion. I have so many passages marked in this book; I can find a quote that speaks to me on almost every page.

"I've heard fate talked of. It's not a word I use. I think we make our own choices. I think how we live our lives is our own doing, and we cannot fully hope on dreams and stars. But dreams and stars can guide us, perhaps. And the heart's voice is a strong one. Always is.
Listen to it, is my advice. . . . Your heart's voice is your true voice. It is easy to ignore it, for sometimes it says what we'd rather it did not--and it is so hard to risk the things we have. But what life are we living, if we don't live by our hearts? Not a true one. And the person living it is not the true you."

"I don't think to talk of how people died makes them die twice over, though. I think it keeps them living."

Some of this book is a bit sentimental, which I can find off-putting. Yet Fletcher has weaved the sentiment into her story in a way (mostly) that endeared her characters to me.

Thank you, Jenn, for being my reading buddy for this work. Discussing this book with you made my reading experience so much richer. And thank you, Candi, for putting this book on my radar to begin with.

[The Book Whisperer (aka Boof) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely does a book bewitch (pardon the pun) and mesmorise me quite so much as this one. It is truly one of the most beautiful and lyrical books I have ever read.

The story is narrated by Corrag, a 16 year old girl who is awaiting being burned at the stake for being a witch in 17th century Scotland. Corrag is visited in jail by Charles Leslie, an Irish Jacobite who wants to prove that the recent massacre in Glencoe was the work of the soldiers under William of Orange. Corrag is English and has run away “north and west” at the command of her mother who is about to be hung for also being a witch. Corrag takes the old and beaten horse of a cruel neighbour, a grey mare who becomes her best and only friend, and spends the next year living off the land and making her way north-west where she arrives in Glencoe. At first the clan is wary of her, but over time they welcome her into the fold although she still lives in her self-made little hut on the moor.

What is magical about this book is Corrage’s voice. She lives, breathes and dreams nature and the land around her. Every tiny thing is spoken of with such love and passion and she notices everything – a dew drop on a leaf, the changing colours of the rocks through the day, the silver sand as the grey mare gallops over beaches in the moonlight. The way she narrates is lyrical and equistite and the world she inhabits makes you feel like you can breathe again. Despite her life so far and her hardships, she has such a capacity for love and kindness for eveyone she meets.

Through her visits from Charles Leslie, Corrag tells her life story from her birth through to the night her friends were slain in a Scottish valley during a blizzard. Each person is wary of the other at the beginning – Leslie returns daily as he is waiting for details on who was behind the massacre (believing it to be the new King) and Corrag is determined that her life will not be forgotten. After several weeks they find a strange comfort in each other and a friendship is born. Corrag has found companionship in her final days and Leslie learns to see whe world through fresh eyes.

I honestly just loved this book. It has now become a firm favourite and I am sorry it has ended. I have never read any of Susan Fletchers other two books but I will now be seeking them out.

Highly, highly recommended!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witch Light
“The only evil in the world is the one that lies in people—in their pride, and greed, and duty. Remember that.”

This is a fictionalised account of the massacre at Glencoe in 1692, one of those landmark moments in Scottish history. The Revolution of 1688 when James II was removed in favour of William of Orange led to a great deal of division, especially in Scotland. The politics are complex and speak to many divisions including Catholic/Protestant, nature of the monarchy, Parliament and the constitution, not to mention societal relations. The Macdonald clan who lived in Glencoe had been reluctant to swear allegiance to the new king and had done so late. A force led by a member of the Campbell clan went to Glencoe (most likely under orders) and killed about 38 men, women and children. That is a ridiculously brief account, but that’s the backdrop to this novel.
There is another aspect to the novel. The main character Corrag is an outsider. At the beginning of the novel she is in a cell waiting to be burnt as a witch. She was in Glencoe at the time of the massacre. She is a healer using herbs as was her mother before her. Her mother was executed as well and she has fled from England to Scotland to escape and ends up in Glencoe. What Fletcher has done is humanise the whole situation. The novel is a double hander. Corrag is visited daily in her cell by a cleric transcribing her story. He starts off hostile and gradually changes his views.
The characters are well drawn and appropriately contrasting. Fletcher has followed the historical facts pretty well (In the afterword she points out that there was an actual Corrag). The writing is lyrical and the descriptions of the natural world are excellent. The English don’t come out of it too well either!
“The Highland way says it's who you say you love and who you serve, which is of worth. Not some title that is passed down upon you by tradition. That's the English way, and the Lowland way--but who can be born a nobleman? Nobility is earned... 'Tis our choices that make us.”

[Misfit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic plot run down: after witnessing the events at the Massacre at Glencoe, Corrag is accused of witchcraft and imprisoned. Irish minister (and secret Jacobite) Charles Leslie comes to interview her in hopes of finding proof that King William was truly behind the massacre. The narrative is told mostly from Corrag's point of view as she recounts her life before and leading up to the events at Glencoe. This alternates with Leslie's point of view as he writes home to his wife in Ireland recounting his reactions to Corrag's tale.


I liked the idea of seeing Glencoe from Corrag's viewpoint (supposedly she did exist), but unfortunately the narrative just didn't work, at least for me. Much too much time is spent as Corrag recounts the times before she came to Glencoe, let alone her time assimilating into the community and the relationship with Alasdair. The massacre itself didn't even happen until well past page 300 and by then there were only another 50 or so pages left to tell the story. As for Leslie's letters home to his wife? Over and above the *yawn* factor, I was scratching my head at some of the information he was willing to put to paper in such dangerous times.

Yes, the writing was lovely, yes it was lyrical - but the repetition may drive you nuts (it did me). I'd have been better off dragging Jennifer Roberson's Lady of the Glen out for a reread (don't let that stupid WTF were they thinking cover from Kensington scare you). Library only, then buy it if you love it. That said, everyone else seems to love it to bits so it must be me again.

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like reading a book of poetry, the writing is so beautiful.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is based on a real historical event, the Glencoe massacre in 1692 combined with local folklore. I loved this aspect of the book. At the start of the book Corrag, a young woman, is being held in jail until she’s burned as a witch. She is visited by Charles Leslie, an Irish Jacobite who is investigating the massacre. Corrag then tells him her story, everything, not just the events leading up to the killings. She speaks in a very whimsical way, natural, all you’d expect from a ‘wise woman’ or herbalist etc. In between her narrative are letters from Charles to his wife and over time his views change from hating the witch, to sympathy. So why didn’t this work for me? There’s the character of Corrag, she’s so childlike and simple, I like my witches strong! Like she presents her mother Cora, now there’s a story I’d find interesting. And then I found the whole highlander attracted to the wispy Sassenach unbelievable (yes it’s probably Outlanders fault! Every time she was called Sassenach, I was like why would you do that again?).
So it’s probably just the wrong book for me at this time, if I’d been able to read it at 16 it’d probably be on my favourites shelf!

[dianne b. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Who we were is not who we are, these days. What was a lie, is no longer full of lies. We changed. Blood and love changed us. And words did...”

Can a story unshackle us?

I’ve been trying for weeks to put into words what this book, based on an event in Scottish history, did to me. How it, powerfully, yet gently, changed me, as it did a main character. Perhaps the soil needs to be ready for the seed. This man, Irishman Charles Leslie was ready, nourished by his love, respect and (his word): awe, for his wife. Because he was able to hear his wife's words, he could hear Corrag’s, too. And see through another’s eyes.

There are many men in this book who hate women, as most men do, who think of us as inferior, subservient, simple, virgins or whores. Or witches. But Charles needed to listen to Corrag - a wisp of a thing - filthy and shackled, labeled a witch and imprisoned until the weather warmed just enough from the cold north Scotland winter so the wood could burn her at the stake. He listened. And he changed. As do we.

It may be 1692, Long Ago, but this story has everything we need now, it is so juicy. So well told.
We need the knowledge that without a healthy natural world we die.
We all die.

The story unfolds with an intimacy of experience, and authenticity of transformation. I could hear the wind whistling through a cow’s skull on Rannoch Moor, see a majestic stag on a cliff. I could feel all of that on a cold winter’s night from 11,000 km away in my cozy home in Uruguay.
And these things, being described by a tiny accused "witch" were able to change others, too, and that was sweetly hopeful.

This book is about prejudice, war, about misogyny and xenophobia. Men and women who are capable of loving and the many who are not.
It’s about how sweet it is to be alone, in nature:

“...it came to feel like I had more than I needed - rich, in that way. I had two hens, three goats, and an owl that told its secrets to me on some moonless nights. I had spiders that weaved in the darkness. The stag, too, with the branches. He came back, and back.

The world breathed about me, folded in and out, and what more could be asked for? What is better? Than being this much in the world? I asked this, as I watched the frosts settle down, or the smoke curl up from my fire.

‘Nothing is better’ I told myself.
There were days when I saw no people - not even one - and I said ‘nothing is better. Nothing is better at all’.”

I had a rant here, about how we (homo sapiens sapiens - Derrick Jensen thinks the second “sapiens” is there to make sure we “get the joke”) are so addicted to our destruction (AI? Data Centers sucking up energy and water? Come on) but I cut it out. But life, you know? Life? Yeah - that.

“what would you give your life up for?...For the simple, daily moments that we stop seeing, but should not - a pan as it boils, or how a flower is more open than it was the day before…those moments.”

And you? What are yours? Is it someone’s smile? A dog’s welcome? A newly maroon Fall leaf? Biting into a perfect apple?
Sipping my hand pulled Pavoni cappuccino, lovingly made each morning, as I gaze out my window at the changing seasons. Laughter. Brushing my silky, old cat. Pulling a book off the shelf to remember a detail.
Today two orange, turquoise, and bright blue chestnut backed tanagers hopped around for half an hour eating the red berries in the Palo de Fiero trees in our front yard. Another name for them is Tangara preciosa. Precious tanagers.

“Me? I was mindful when I saw it. I was mindful of all my fortune, all my special days. I nestled there, and knew that to see such light, to see any strange and secret beauty, is a gift, softly given.”

Unfortunately:

“Folk need a foe.”
Cora muttered this. She also said, ‘I should have known… For did you see the bats? Did you, Corrag? All gone…’ They’d flown away the day before. They’d streamed out from beneath the bridge with their leathered wings, and not come back - and Cora said that creatures do this, before a death. Like weather, they feel it coming. They sense trouble in their wings, their paws, their hooves - and flee.”

Highest of recommendations. Can’t imagine why this book isn’t better known.

[Carmel Hanes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a risk on this one, knowing it was a bit different from what I normally choose. I was not disappointed.

This was a bit of (unknown to me) history, a trek through beautiful lands, a social expose of superstition and prejudice, and a coming of age journey, told beautifully with simple, yet evocative prose. These were rough times as kings dictated allegiance, clans fought for dominance, and gentle women with healing knowledge were accused of being witches.

But this was not so much about those divisions and warring factions as it was about how one lonely soul finds a way to exist and even flourish, to retain all the good in her heart amid all the ugly; and how that good creates change in others.

Based on an actual event--the Glencoe Massacre--we meet Corrag as she is chained in captivity, awaiting burning at the stake. She tells her story to Charles Leslie, an Irish "man of God" who is also a Jacobite who is looking for information on the murders. As the story unspools, we get to know what led Corrag to the Highlands and what she found there, and also become witness to Leslie's changing perception of this tiny woman he initially judges harshly.

While magic and witches are some of the descriptors for this story, I found those to be minimal elements in a story that was more about finding the beauty in nature and living at one with it, moving past our assumptions about others, creating love in unlikely places, and survival in the midst of ugliness (a lesson sorely needed right now in our world). This was a magical story and one that kept me appreciating this small human with a large and determined spirit.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

In exquisite and beautiful prose, this novel recounts the story of Corrag, a young woman who, when the reader meets her, is imprisoned, shackled and to be burned as a witch. In her prison cell she narrates her story to Charles Leslie, a minister who has come to Corrag in connection with his investigation into the Glencoe Massacre of 1692. She tells him of her early life in England, her flight to the Scottish Highlands and her life, loves and losses there. The story is also partially narrated through Charles’ letters to his wife in Ireland.
There are many wonderful reviews of this novel on GR, so I will not belabor the plot. That is primarily because I want to spend my words praising the writing contained in this novel. Fletcher writes outstandingly of every aspect of nature in the Scottish Highlands. The writing is gorgeous as well as highly descriptive, and nature is certainly a character in this novel. The author understands and writes lovely passages about human and animal relationships, whether the animals are domesticated (Corrag’s mare) or wild (the stag). But matters of the heart and contemplations of life are not left out in Fletcher’s scope of beautiful writing. There were many of Corrag’s (and Charles Leslie’s) contemplations that I would like to reread on a frequent basis.
The beauty – and tragedy – of this novel will remain with me for a very long time, and I will certainly read more Susan Fletcher.

[MaryG2E · Rating 5 out of 5]

No doubt some readers will be put off by the rather challenging style and language used by the author in this novel, Corrag. I myself have issues with some books because of it. For whatever reason, I found it easy to get into the story from the opening pages, and for my brain to adapt to the author’s prose style. The language has been cast in a somewhat antique style, with archaic words, stilted phrases and awkward sentence structures in some passages. Because I was captivated by the story I found the prose style appropriate and quite beautiful, almost poetic. It was entirely suitable as the speaking voice of the 17th century narrator of this tragic story, the waif-like Corrag. This passage relates to Corrag's mother Cora, who urged Corrag to flee their village:

I wore her herby purse about me. I wore her dark-blue cloak which dragged on the ground, and I hid crusts and a pear in its sleeve. Outside, in the cold night-time air, I found Mr Fothers' grey mare hock-high in the rushes. I mounted her, and looked to the cottage with the fish in the roof and the holly and my mother stood before it, red-skirted and black-haired, with a grey cat sitting by her, and that was my mother. That is Cora for always now.

The story of the massacre of the MacDonald clan at Glencoe in 1692 is told by Corrag, a real-life character who was an eyewitness. Chained in a filthy prison cell, she narrates her experiences to Reverend Charles Leslie, an Irish clergyman who in turn records his reactions to the tale and to the remarkable woman who tells it, in passionate letters to his wife, Jane. Over many days of testimony, Corrag gains trust in Rev Leslie, while he, initially horrified at the thought of speaking to a ‘witch’, is gradually transformed by her unique perspective on life.

In her earlier days, Corrag has had a seriously tough life. It is amazing that she has such a beautiful personality, given that she has been a social pariah for most of her young existence. The illegitimate child of an outcast woman, she was subjected to abominable treatment by the residents of her village, and vilified as ‘hag’, ‘whore’ and ‘witch’, which were dangerous words to use in an era when the killing of witches was commonplace. When her mother was arrested as a witch, Corrag fled ‘north-and-west’ to the Scottish Highlands. In a remote valley of the Glen of Coe she made a humble shelter, and gradually became accepted by the members of Clan MacDonald. Her skills as a herbalist and healer, a wise woman, were valued by her neighbours, and she found a kind of peace for the first time. Not for long, as politics and religion reared their ugly, violent heads, to disturb the tranquility of the glen.

Initially Rev Leslie’s motives for taking Corrag’s eyewitness account were purely political. In real life, a fervent supporter of the ousted King James II, Leslie wanted proof of the atrocity to help launch a political attack on the incumbent king, William of Orange. With typical English cynicism, the government in London curried support among the Scottish Lowland clans, in particular the Campbells, traditional rivals of the MacDonalds, always spoiling for a fight. As another source of conflict, the Highlanders, who wanted James II (a.k.a. King James IV of Scotland) back on the throne, were Catholic, whereas the Lowland supporters of William of Orange were ardent Protestants. All the elements were present in the area in the depths of a harsh highland winter for the escalation of tensions to a callous, brutal and bloody massacre.

For me, this book resonated on two levels. Firstly I have strong feelings about the systematic victimisation, brutalisation and murder of women labelled as witches by government and religious institutions in the 16th-18th centuries. Even now, hundreds of years after the terrors, I feel deeply angry and sad for so many innocent lives lost thanks to mindless prejudice. Secondly, the enormous volumes of blood spilled in the name of the Christian God, between the Catholic and Protestant denominations continues to appal me. A descendent of Irish Catholics cruelly treated in the harsh times of the 1840-50s in the west of that country, I am definitely no Anglophile. Nor am I religious. So Susan Fletcher's provocative novel really tapped into some deeply held beliefs of mine. The story touched my heart and made me cry in some places. So it would be true to say that my reactions, and my star rating, are profoundly personal, and other readers may not be so enthusiastic about it if they are not passionate about those issues. It took me quite a long time to read the book, as I took time out to reflect on what Corrag was really saying in her wide-reaching, remarkable account of her extraordinarily tough life, and her witness to the bloodshed on 13the February 1692.

I will find it difficult to forget this remarkable book. Although it has some faults and niggles (e.g. it is long-winded and repetitive in places, and sometimes Corrag's story gets tedious), I award it 5 stars for its brilliant illumination of a well-known historical event through the eyes of a truly unique and special character.

[Cher 'N Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - It was really good.

Based loosely on actual events and people surrounding the Massacre of the MacDonald clan of Glencoe in 1692, this beautifully written book also explores faith, love, and those small moments in life that change us irrevocably. The Glencoe Massacre involved a government ordered killing of the MacDonald clan, including the women and children, and was sprung into action while they stayed with the MacDonalds, who were hosting them as friends.

The author uses two narrators, each based on a real person, with alternating point of view chapters. Mr. Charles Leslie, an Irish Jacobite, is traveling to interview Corrag on what she witnessed the night of the attack, in hopes of finding damning evidence against King William to build support for the return of the exiled King James VII. His story unfolds through letters written to his wife back in Ireland, and it is easy to see his character develop as his previously held conceptions are challenged by his interactions with Corrag. The other narrator, Corrag, is a feral woman with a very unusual upbringing who ended up in the Scottish Highlands after running from men that wanted to kill her for being a witch. Her story unfolds through beautiful, lyrical, poetic writing that reads like a monologue.

An example of the writing style used with Corrag's narration:
"You want the second sight? To be taught it? Half-mad thing....You have always had it."
And she was right. I had. I knew it, as I knelt there. I had always had it, for we all do - all people born with a heart have it, for it is the heart's voice. It is the soul's song. I have had it with every starry sky, with each bee that knocked against me as it rose up from a bloom. I've had it with kindness - mine, and others'. I've had it with the hairs on my arms standing up, at the sound of a clan singing a fireside song, or with my eyes filling with tears at a simple, lovely sight. For it is in these moments that the heart speaks up. It says "yes!" Or "him!" Or "left" or "right". Or "run".
We all have it. But I think it is people like us - lonesome, in love with the blustery world - who hear the heart most clearly. We have its breath, feel its turns. We see what it half-sees.

At times the writing was brilliant, but at other times it felt grandiloquent and as if you were reading filler while waiting for the "real stuff" to unfold. The last 50 pages of the book were spectacular, but as a whole, for me the book felt too long. Not a good sign considering it's average page length. I would recommend this to those interested in historical fiction, lyrical writing, Scotland, mankind's devilish ways or witch trials, BUT, know that it is slow for much of the book. You will, however, be rewarded with beautiful literature while you wait for the good part.

Tidbit from the afterward: The last execution of a so-called witch in Britain was in 1727. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 put an end to the generations of fear and persecution. Over the previous three hundred years it is estimated that over 100,000 women - mostly knowledgeable, independent, old or outspoken women - stood trial, accused of witch-craft.


Glencoe Valley

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Favorite Quote: We are different, yes - but we both pray, or make wishes, and our prayers may drift in different ways, and roll out like cold breath, but I reckon they meet up in the same place, in the end.

First Sentence: When they come for me, I will think of the end of the northern ridge, for that's where I was happiest - with the skies and wind, and the mountains being dark with moss, or dark with the shadow of a cloud moving across them.