Clan-Albin: A National Tale

by Christian Isobel Johnstone

Christian Isobel Johnstone, dubbed 'the brave-hearted lady' by Thomas Carlyle, wrote one of the most extraordinary tales of the romantic era: Clan-Albin. It tells the story of the childhood and adolescence of its orphan hero, Norman MacAlbin, who leaves the poverty of the Highlands, volunteers for the army, journeys through Ireland and fights against Napoleon in Spain; but throughout the novel it is the voices of strong female characters - Lady Augusta, Monimia, Flora and others - that we hear most clearly. Johnstone laments the loss of the Highland culture she so lovingly describes, and pours scorn on the emergent southern mercantile classes. Although Clan-Albin was written in the year of Waterloo, Johnstone's spokeswomen know that war is a terrible tragedy and condemn its glorification.

Genres: Classics

598 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1815

About the author

Christian Isobel Johnstone (1781 - 1857) was a prolific journalist and author in Scotland in the nineteenth century. She was a significant early feminist and an advocate of other liberal causes in her era. She wrote anonymously, and under the pseudonym Margaret Dods.

Johnstone wrote a number of popular fiction works in three and four volumes, for adults and juvenile readers. Her novel Clan-Albin: A National Tale (1815) was perhaps her best-known work; she also wrote The Saxon and the Gaël (1814), and "her best novel," Elizabeth de Bruce (1827), among other titles. Johnstone also wrote non-fiction books on a range of subjects, like Scenes of Industry Displayed in the Beehive and the Anthill (1827) and Lives and Voyages of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier (1831). These books, like most of Johnstone's volumes, were printed anonymously. Her The Cook and Housewife's Manual (1826) was issued under the pseudonym Margaret Dods. This use of Margaret Dods mirrored the character name of Margaret Dods, the hostess of the Cleikum Inn in Walter Scott's novel Saint Ronan's Well (1823). The cookbook is written from the perspective of Scott's character, and includes an introduction written by Scott that mentions other characters from the novel. It was only late in her life, as with The Edinburgh Tales (1846), that she was identified by name on her title pages.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting to me because of my mother's Scottish ancestry. It was sometimes a slog, but I'm glad I finished it and learned the fate of Norman and Monimia.