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GROWING UP WITH THE PAGAN BRUNIE & THE ARCHBISHOP, BROUGHT UP IN A CASTLE AND THOUGH A SECOND SON, SET TO INHERIT ANOTHER CONVEYING THE TITLE OF LAIRD, INFLUENCED BY HIS CRABBE & LOCKHART MILITARY ANCESTORS, TRAINED TO BE AN EFFECTIVE AGENT OF EMPIRE THROUGH HIS CLASSIC & SPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION AS WELL AS AT OXFORD AS A ROWER, FLYER, AND STUDENT OF HISTORY, ANGUS MACDONALD LOOKED FORWARD TO A BRIGHT FUTURE. HE JOINED THE ARGYLLS AND EMBARKED ON A MILITARY CAREER THAT PUT HIM ON THE FRONT LINE IN MALAYA, IN WW2 AS CHIEF OF STAFF TO VARIOUS COMMANDERS, WHERE HE LIVED IN TENTS, OUT-RAN TANKS IN HIS BABY FIAT, AND ESCAPED, ONLY TO DIE AT SEA IN UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES. FIFTY YEARS LATER, HIS NIECE MARY GLADSTONE SETS OUT TO RETRACE HIS LIFE TO FIND OUT WHY HER UNCLE'S DEATH HAD SO AFFECTED HER MOTHER & THE ENTIRE FAMILY. WITH SCANT EVIDENCE DUE TO ANGUS'S RESTRAINT & LOVE OF SOLITUDE, MARY SUCCEEDS IN THIS TOUR DE FORCE, OF GIVING HER UNCLE A LIVING PLACE IN THE BRITISH NARRATIVE...BY RECREATING HER UNCLE'S LIFE, MARY GLADSTONE CONFRONTS THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING HIS DEATH. SHE SEARCHES THE RECORD, CORRECTING A WRONG, A CODE OF HONOR BETRAYED BY A JACKEL, A SLANDER THAT BROUGHT DEATH IN ANOTHER FORM. HER QUEST IS LIKE THAT OF HER LOCKHART ANCESTOR WHO RODE TO THE CRUSADES WITH THE HEART OF KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. IN THE YEARS AFTER WW2, LARGIE CASTLE, ROOFLESS IN NEGLECT, WAS REDUCED TO A RUBBLE OF STONES & WITH IT THE AUTHOR'S OWN SENSE OF SELF & FAMILY. GAINING FULL UNDERSTANDING, SHE ENDS WITH AN INSPIRED DISQUISITION ON THE BRITISH EMPIRE, THAT NICELY DEFINES ITS CHARACTER.

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9781939434302

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Poignant with many amusing anecdotes - Malcolm MacVitie, retired Argylls colonel, previewing the book in The Thin Red Line, the magazine of the Argylls.

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