Almost Then

by Margot McCuaig

This is Margot McCuaig's second novel. Her acclaimed debut, The Birds That Never Flew, was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize and longlisted for the Polari Prize.



This novel is set in Glasgow and Rathlin, and is about roots and belonging, about the importand of home and landscape and about the very close ties that bind and tear apart twins.



On their twelfth birthday, twins Rathlin and Breacán Doherty witness an accident that kills their parents in the forest behind their farm in Kintyre, Scotland. Despite their unique bond, sister and brother pull apart as they deal with their loss and grief. Physically separated in their teens, the emotional distance widens and is filled with secrets and lies. As they approach their twenty-seventh birthday, they come back together to fight to save their beloved Ballynoe, the house in which they grew up. Its landscape, rich in folklore, and the ghosts of their parents, binds them and tears them apart. Against the backdrop of vivid childhood memories, the twins eventually reveal their own secrets and uncover those of their family, revelations which are shocking, far-reaching and tragic in their consequences.

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2021

About the author

My debut novel The Birds That Never Flew was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize and published by Thunderpoint. It was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. My second novel, Almost Then, was published by Linen Press on 1st April 2021.

I am also an award-winning filmmaker, writing and directing documentaries, leading to three RTS awards for best film. My work has taken me to lots of amazing places and I've met loads of extraordinary people but I'm at my happiest at home on Rathlin Island.

Reviews

[Helen Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written novel about family and love, tragedy and lies. The setting, characters and story are compelling. There is a wonderful sense of suspense, with a masterful build up to finding out what really happened 'Then'. Yes, the themes are dark, but the author handles them with sensitivity, ensuring a gripping, moving tale that is hard to put down. Well done.

[Eliza Mood]

In @MargotMcCuaig's 'almost then' @LinenPressBooks
set on the Kintyre peninsula, elemental place intensifies those dark seconds then so they press on now. Does the way back to the raw thing compound wrongs done? Can outsiders lend insight, if not avert, if not repair? Highly recommended.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard this book was set on Rathlin Island, so I had to read it. The joke was on me, because 4 pages take place on Rathlin—the rest is set in Scotland. Much of the dialogue is written in the Scottish accent, so it could be hard to make sense of in many places. The story is dark and fairly “inter-married” and griping. But it pulled me in, and I couldn’t put it down, and I’m still thinking about the characters afterwards, so I’m giving it my elusive 5-star rating!
I don’t know if I’d read more by this author—I’d have to be really interested in the setting or the plot. I don’t actually think her writing style appealed to me tons (it was the location and the darkness of the characters in this story, but not the writing itself).

I think most Americans would have a really tough time reading the local accent.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I confess I bought this paperback direct from the Linen Press site on the strength of its cover; it being intriguingly different from so many which feel obliged to signal what to expect. Consequently I expected to be intrigued; expected something other than the norm, which is precisely what 'Almost then' delivers, with un-spelt-out relationships and difficulties. 'Inside' voices and 'outside' ones and past tragedies which have left an abiding mark on twins Rathlin and Breacan Doherty. Beautifully told, events play out and often-heartbreaking consequences, of 'Then' have to be faced and dealt with.

[Gemma Marren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, compelling read, that draws you inexorably to the heart breaking climax. A study in family bonds, trauma and suppressed memory, it kept me reading into the early hours as the past unravelled for Rathlin. It will linger long in the memory, due to the richly atmospheric prose.

[Ann Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is much darker than I anticipated. We learn the twins story from the point of view Rathlin and Ellen, their aunt - the latter being more a witness than an actor of the story, especially the trauma of the twins as she joined the family after. Even though portrayed at first as the evil aunt, she ended up being the most relatable character. Even though I wanted to like Rathlin, I just could not.
The writing is hard to grasp as it is done using the Scottish way of speaking. As a foreigner it asked me quite a lot of mental gymnastics to get through and, frankly, it was a hindrance to the reading.
I won’t comment much on the story as it would give spoilers, but it is dark and quite predictable. I find it hard to believe that everyone would have reacted that way in late 90s early 2000 - but maybe it is me being too idealistic. The characters felt like they were from the 1950s. Towards the ends, there are a couple of moments when Rathlin imagines a conversation with her brother, using information that she could not know (a.k.a the secret) - that truly doesn’t make sense and put me off for an, otherwise, realistic contemporary fiction.

I give it two stars as it is not bad but would have benefited from having as narrator one of the main victims, even just an odd chapter. I don’t mind a dark story but I always feel like when something is dark, there should be hope to balance it or, at least, an appropriate twenty first century response to one of the main challenges of our era and I didn’t find it here.