The Knights Came Riding

ISBN: 1475938020

Author: Nicolson, Jim

Condition: New

Product DescriptionSeumas McKinnon has just retired from an advertising job in Melbourne, Australia. He would be free to travel overseas, as a widower with no attachments--except for his son, Alasdair, a successful lawyer. Although they're grown men, Seumas and Alasdair share a strong dependency. And even though Seumas loves his son he decides it's time for some time apart.He heads to Scotland's legendary and bilingual Isle of Skye, where he hopes to embrace his familial roots and learn some Gaelic along the way. Initially, the separation is hard on both of them, but soon, Seumas meets Morag, a lovely, charming woman whom he immediately finds attractive. They strike up a relationship, even though both know he plans to return to Australia. Back home, Alasdair meets someone too--Annie O'Hare, a physiotherapist recently returned from Hong Kong. Initially, she refuses to take him seriously.Apart father and son seem to thrive. Eventually, Seumas returns home, happy to feel some distance from his clingy son. Then a tragic and nearly fatal accident occurs, which bonds the McKinnon boys more than ever before. Perhaps Seumas's trip to Scotland was in vain? Or perhaps his absence gave him a chance to appreciate the true importance of love and family?From the AuthorI enjoyed writingThe Knights Came Riding. It brought back many, happy memories of the two years that I spent on Scotland's legendary and bilingual Isle of Skye following my retirement. It was there that I, also, learnt enough Scottish Gaelic to enable me to converse with the locals in their own language--something that they appreciated.The Knights Came Riding is actually the sequel toA Very Different Girl, my second novel, though it's set about thirty-four years on, following the conclusion of that book.Apart from covering life on the Isle of Skye plus what it's like living on the Outer Hebridean island of Berneray, which is some 2 hours, by ferry, from Skye, The Knights Came Riding provides an accurate, and sometimes humorous description about raising beef cattle on a farm, that's just outside Melbourne, Australia.You see, before I retired, I spent many years working with cattle and horses. They were interesting and happy years and, when I had some spare time, I enjoyed teaching my kids how to ride, fish and shoot.From the Back Cover"Anyway you haven't told me what you're going to do in your retirement."He couldn't admit that a very important reason for going overseas was to put distance between himself and his son so that, emotionally, both of them would be forced to stand on their own two feet. And it had to be real distance. Otherwise, it'd be far too easy for one or the other to regress. And it was more than likely that he could be the one who regressed. Hell, he loved his son so very much. But, for chrissake, he thought, it just wasn't natural for a thirty-four-year-old son, who had his own flat, to have dinner at his father's place three times a week and then always sleep over in his unchanged boyhood bedroom.Or to hear him say that he'd had enough of female chitchat and wanted to spend a few days riding the High Plains with his dad, because his dad was the only person who truly understood him.Also for a long time he'd been determined to trace his roots, which meant that he'd be killing two birds with one stone."Well?" he heard Libby say."Sorry, Lib. I was daydreaming." He offered a slow smile. "I'm going to trace my roots."About the AuthorFollowing his retirement, Jim Nicolson spent two years on Scotland's legendary Isle of Skye in order to trace his roots and learn Scottish Gaelic. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He has spent many years working with cattle and horses and is the author ofLong Creek andA Very Different Girl.