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A Story That Will Capture Your Heart and Transport You to a Fascinating Place in History
The Scottish Ruin Keeper is a love among the ruins tale guaranteed to capture your heart. Young Will Clachan, descended from generations of stonecutters, grew up playing in the ruins of Elgin Cathedral. Once the greatest medieval cathedral in all of Scotland, Elgin was burned to ruins in an act of revenge by Alexander Stewart, the notorious Wolf of Badenoch. The ruins languished for centuries. By the early 1800's many of the stones had been repurposed for new buildings in the town of Elgin.
John Shanks, a shoemaker appointed by the town as keeper of the ruin, is on a mission to protect the remains of the once magnificent cathedral. He hires Will Clachan as his assistant to help cart away tons of rubble surrounding what remains of the structure. Will leaves his home and family to live in a hut on the cathedral grounds. He spends his days carting away endless rubble, dumping it into the eerie Witches Pool nearby. But there is history buried in the ruins of Elgin Cathedral. Will and Shanks discover tombstones, relics, and monuments created by Pictish stonecutters of long ago.
Will not only falls in love with the ruins, but with Shank's beautiful granddaughter Alanna. When she leaves to study art in Florence, Will fears he has lost her forever. When her grandfather becomes gravely ill, Alanna returns home. Will is no longer a boy, and Alanna is now a sophisticated young woman of the world.
Readers who love historical fiction will be captivated by this story of dedication, love, and hope.
