Margins
The Other Side of Stone book cover
The Other Side of Stone
2021
First Published
3.81
Average Rating
152
Number of Pages

A beautiful and haunting collection of stories centred on the history of a Perthshire woollen mill. At once a curse, a lament, a radical cry, each narrative thread weaves its magic to make a spellbinding whole. A beguiling and perfectly crafted novella coloured by the bracken and the bluebells of a Scottish autumn and spring.’ Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker ‘History and imagination embrace in ways that are both rewarding and informative. This collection is very simply extraordinary: beautiful and fun to read.’ Sara Maitland, author of A Book of Silence The latest work by Saltire-shortlisted Linda Cracknell, The Other Side of Stone centres around a Perthshire woollen mill, revisiting it over three centuries through characters as diverse as a 19th century stone mason and modern-day architect. The primary timeline follows Catharine, a cotton spinner from Paisley and fierce suffragette, who has followed her husband home to the village where he’s taken on a job at the local mill. Both militant members of the Labour Movement, it is through her developing connection to the mill that the intricate interweaving of the other stories is revealed. While fictional, the novella draws on many real histories of local mills, and offers a fascinating insight into the long-term impact of industrialisation upon rural Scotland, as well as the struggle for women’s rights.

Avg Rating
3.81
Number of Ratings
32
5 STARS
22%
4 STARS
47%
3 STARS
22%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Linda Cracknell
Linda Cracknell
Author · 5 books
Linda Cracknell writes short stories, novels, drama for BBC Radio Four, and creative non-fiction. She won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story competition, and was shortlisted for the Scottish First Book Award for her story collection Life Drawing (Neil Wilson Publishing, 2000) and the Robin Jenkins Literary Award for environmental writing. Her second story collection A Searching Glance was published by Salt in 2008. She was the recipient of a Creative Scotland Award in 2007 for a project linking walking and writing. Linda edited the anthology A Wilder Vein (Two Ravens, 2011) and has contributed wide range of other anthologies and magazines. She lives in highland Perthshire.
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