The Island Harp (the highland series #1)
General fiction
Synthetic audio, Automated braille
Summary
For seventeen-year-old Mairi MacLeod, life on nineteenth-century Scotland's beautiful but harsh moors is one of constant struggle: not only against the elements, but against a greedy landlord eager to force tenant farmers off his land. It is a life of… hunger and poverty, but also one of love and fellowship, demonstrated each evening as Mairi's clanna gathers around the hearthstone to hear the songs of their ancestors played on the harp that accompanied their emigration from Ireland long ago. All this must change when the head of the clan, Mairi's beloved grandfather, is killed in a fire set by their landlord's cruel factor and the family is driven from the crofts they have inhabited for centuries. With no one else to guide them, it is up to Mairi to lead the MacLeod clan to a new home and a new livelihood. Assistance comes from the handsome seafarer Magnus Ericson-- who offers Mairi his strength and support, and a marriage proposal--and from the mysterious and brooding military captain Iain MacDonald--who offers Mairi passion but little hope for a life together. Ultimately, however, Mairi must rely on her own courage and hard work to build the satisfying future she has long sought for her clan and herself.