The Winter Ground
2008
First Published
3.77
Average Rating
320
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Times are hard for a struggling family circus in the long, cold winter of 1925. Pa and Ma Cooke are more than happy to accept the offer of free winter standing on the remote Blackcraig estate in Perthshire in return for a few shows to the Wilson family around Christmastime. Wealthy but brash Albert Wilson is excited to find himself the center of a circle of bright young women who are agog for the circus and ready to endure his company to view a free show. With the threat of revolution blowing in from the east on the icy gales, Hugh Gilver is less pleased to see the troupe Prebrezhensky ensconced in the valley, but the Gilver boys cannot get enough of Tiny Truman the midget and Andrew Merryman the giant, not to mention the mysterious and beautiful barebacked rider Anastasia. When Ma Cooke asks for Dandy’s help to get to the bottom of a string of spiteful tricks at the winter ground, Hugh gives his approval. But the fun runs out when the silly tricks take a darker turn, leaving one of the performers dead and the Cooke, Wilson, and Gilver families fractured amid whispers of murder.
Avg Rating
3.77
Number of Ratings
312
5 STARS
23%
4 STARS
41%
3 STARS
27%
2 STARS
7%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
Catriona McPherson
Author · 33 books
aka Catriona McCloud Catriona McPherson was born in South Queensferry. After finishing school, she worked in a bank for a short time, before going to university. She studied for an MA in English Language and Linguistics at Edinburgh University, and then gained a job in the local studies department at Edinburgh City Libraries. She left this post after a couple of years, and went back to university to study for a PhD in semantics. During her final year she applied for an academic job, but left to begin a writing career. These days, McPherson lives with her husband on a farm in the Galloway countryside, where she spends her time writing, gardening, swimming and running.
