Our main character, Alexander Seaton, has led a life with many difficulties. Author S.G. MacLean describes how Alexander wanted to be a minister, wanted his best friend’s sister for his wife, then fell from grace, lost it all, and after ending up with a serious mental health crisis, he settled to become an embittered teacher.
The beginning
We are in the Scottish town of Banff in the year 1626. MacLean sets the scene and transports us to a simpler yet also more complicated time. The town’s power struggles, the Holy Roman Empire itching to expand, and let’s not forget, the witch hunt that will take the lives of too many women.
In the pub, the Market Inn, Alexander Seaton meets his friends, James Jaffay, Banff’s doctor and Charles Thom, Master of the Banff Song (music) School.
Thom rents a room in the house of Banff’s apothecary Edward Arbuthnott and is in love with Arbuthnott’s daughter Marion. She, however, only seems to have eyes for her father’s apprentice, Patrick Davidson. A classic love triangle so when Patrick is murdered everyone is looking at Charles as the obvious suspect.
Murders
It becomes clear that there was more to Patrick than just being an apothecary’s apprentice. He studied and traveled in Europe and often goes hiking with Marion. After his death, it turns out he has been drawing maps. Why did he make maps indicating towns and roads? Was he making a map of herbs and flowers used in medicine or was he drawing a map that could help the Holy Roman Empire invade?
If this is not enough, together with Marion, he visited the wise woman of Darkwater. To many people, she is a witch. To others, she is a skilled midwife, a woman knowledgeable of natural medicines, and for some, the last hope to conceive or abort. She is feared for what she can do and for what she knows yet she is also badly needed to heal and cure. After Patrick is murdered, Marion goes back to see the wise woman one more time. But why?
To make sense of the maps found in Patrick’s belongings, Alexander is sent to consult with knowledgeable people around Aberdeen. If Patrick was a spy mapping the area for an invasion who else is in the plot? Had anyone heard about any plots or spies from the continent now residing in Scotland?
While he is on this journey, we learn everything that has gone wrong in Alexander’s life and how he reacted to these setbacks. MacLean does a wonderful job describing his sentiments, how he perceives himself, and how he checks his self-respect when he is at his worst moments. Luckily, we also hear what others think of him. We see how he can remedy bad situations and solve differences with a natural flair for mediation. Then Marion is found murdered too.
Redemption
Alexander starts to piece together parts of the puzzle but he knows that the only way to find the underlying cause of all this, is to talk to the wise woman in Darkwater. He eventually does and finds out more than he bargained for. But in the end, he also discovers who all along had faith in him to succeed.
Notes
I have read a few books by S. G. MacLean. The entire Seeker Series, the Bookseller of Inverness, and the Winter List. I did not know what to expect of this earlier series but as I found the whole series online at a great price, I took a chance. I do not regret it. There are four books in the Seaton Series: The Redemption of Alexander Seaton, A Game of Sorrows, Crucible of Secrets, and The Devil’s Recruit.
In the back of the book is a glossary of Scottish words and their modern-day translation. What I missed is a simple breakdown of government clarifying the power structures, titles and authorities, and the local town organization from that period with which many will be unfamiliar.
If you like historical fiction, Scotland, and like to explore how people get back up after they fall, this book is for you. Highly recommended reading!
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