In the early 1800s John Lacroix returns home from fighting in Spain. His injuries are not obvious, but injured he is and exhausted. His housemaid Nell nurses him back to some semblance of health although we feel a little on edge about how well he is. A fellow officer visits him at home and reminds him he is still in the army and must return. A date is set but Lacroix decides to run to the Scottish islands – we are still not entirely sure what he wants to escape.

Meanwhile in Spain, an interview takes place and Lacroix is accused of murdering a village of people, it reminded me of the Spanish Inquisition this part, and a man called Cally is sent off to find Lacroix and bring him to military justice (kill him). And so, the slow chase takes place with Lacroix travelling by sea and Cally and Spanish officer travelling overland on horse. Whilst they follow rivers, we also get to see the industrial cities, mills and small villages that they pass through.

The tension builds as Cally gets nearer to the islands where we find Lacroix living with a family who are trying an alternative lifestyle – being free, if that is what being a pregnant unmarried mother is called in those days! Not quite sure who is free at this point. Just as Cally gets to Glasgow, Lacroix and one of the sisters, Emily, sets off for the mainland for surgery on Emily’s eyes.

This is a good old adventure story with a cat and mouse chase through Britain at a certain point in history. There is a thrillerish feel to it with the use of Cally as the chaser, a villain if ever there was one even though we are given his backstory and childhood.

The losses

We have three characters in this story who have lost senses or body parts. Lacroix has partial hearing after the war, Emily is losing her sight and eventually has none after surgery and Randall has had both his hands cut off, again at war. These losses mean that for each character they have withdrawn slightly from society and find themselves on a small island where all seem to be accepted. However, Emily’s loss drives her forward to surgery whilst Lacroix’s loss seems to leave him confused at times but never in deep trouble. It is his loss of desire to go to war that drives, no longer to see the hideous sights that trouble him.

An ambiguous ending – spoiler alert

The ending, however, did not satisfy. It was a book that was quite clear about the past and how it catches up with you, literally, but the ending was very ambiguous. This is the point when they were entirely free but was it because they drowned, because they caught the ship to Canada or because they were in love? I tend to think that life had not let them be free so only death was left but that isn’t very uplifting. If you have read the book, let me know what you thought.