With the aid of a brooch that allows him to see into the past, fourteen-year-old David sets out on a quest to find the long-lost Loch Arkaig treasure hidden in the Scottish Highlands. However, his adventure goes seriously wrong when he is accidentally transported back to the 18th century. Now trapped in this era, he joins a group of refugees hiding in the mountains from Redcoat soldiers. Gradually, David's memories of his own identity fade as he becomes integrated into the past. Will he find a way back to his own time before he loses all recollection of who he is or where he came from?
What begins as a search for treasure develops into a desperate test of survival, during which David and his newly found companions embark on an arduous journey through the Scottish mountains to evade a vengeful foe. Throughout this adventure, David grows to appreciate the value of friendship, loyalty and honour. While the story's climax reveals hidden truths behind the Loch Arkaig Treasure, David ultimately discovers other truths of even greater significance.
Although the story is fictional, many of the characters and historical events are authentic. The book features a foreword by Sir Donald H. Cameron of Lochiel (26th Clan Chief of the Camerons) whose ancestor-The Gentle Lochiel- features strongly in the storyline. Illustrations are included, as well as glossaries and detailed maps that provide historical context and track the characters' escape routes through the Badenoch and Lochaber regions of the Scottish Highlands.
About the Author :
Dr. Graham L Patrick (GLP) is from Greenock, Scotland and was educated at Greenock Academy. He studied at Glasgow University and the Open University, gaining a BSc Honours in Chemistry and a BA Honours in History. At Glasgow University, he won the Organon and Mackay Smith Prizes for chemistry, and a Carnegie Scholarship that funded research leading to a PhD in organic chemistry. He continued working in research with pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions such as Beecham's, Glaxo, the Australian National University, and the Universities of Leeds and Strathclyde before taking up a lecturing position at the University of West of Scotland. He is currently an Associate Lecturer with the Open University (OU).Since the 1990s, GLP has established an international reputation as a scientific author, having written successful academic textbooks covering organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. However, he has also written several fictional novels focusing on young people placed in adventurous and challenging situations. GLP is well qualified to write about such topics as he has extensive experience of outdoor pursuits involving mountaineering, sea kayaking, caving, skiing, hiking, and remote camping. He has also gained leadership awards in skiing and mountaineering and led groups of teenagers on adventurous activities within Britain, and to Australia, Canada, USA, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Other experience includes personal expeditions to Morocco, Nepal, France, Switzerland and New Zealand.GLPs novels were originally written as a hobby but are now being published to a wider audience. The storylines will appeal to anyone interested in adventure, challenge, and survival, but they will also appeal to readers that value 'old-fashioned' virtues, such as friendship, respect, loyalty, honour, duty, and trust. GLP currently lives in Greenock and has a spectacular view of the River Clyde and the Scottish Highlands - a view that provides ample inspiration for his writing. He is a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Authors.
Review :
Sir Donald Hamish Cameron of Lochiel, KT, CVO, KStJ, TD, JP, DL, FCA (1910-2004).
I commend this story most warmly and I am sure that all youngsters will find it of absorbing interest. The idea of a "time travel" story is most appropriate for a tale of this nature and is here used with great effect.
There is no doubt that Cameron of Lochiel and Cluny MacPherson were both outstanding leaders in the army that followed Prince Charles Edward in 1745, and both played prominent roles protecting the prince after the disaster of Culloden. Highly respected throughout the Highlands, loyal to the Jacobite cause despite all that this involved, and trusted by all who knew them, they were historical figures of great renown in their time.
The legend of Loch Arkaig treasure plays a prominent part in the story - the French Louis d'or, which arrived too late to be of help to Prince Charlie, but were invaluable in assisting the Highlanders who had suffered so much after Culloden. The history of this treasure is recorded faithfully and accurately, and the aspersions cast on those who were privy to its hiding place are exposed as worthless calumnies.
Donald Cameron of Lochiel was later called "The Gentle Lochiel" but he had a resolve of steel. He was a peace-loving man and one of the most progressive Highland reformers of his time, so it was with great reluctance that he joined the ill-fated "Forty-Five" campaign at Glenfinnan, but his loyal feelings triumphed over his misgivings.
Cluny MacPherson did not join the prince till much later in the campaign, but both endured much hardship with him in his flight after Culloden and remained loyal to the Stuart Kings to the end. Lochiel escaped with the prince to France and died in 1748, his heart broken by the knowledge that his clan had suffered so grievously through his actions. Cluny remained in Scotland, trying hard to keep the Jacobite cause alive and helping as much as possible the Highlanders who had lost all as a result of the '45 Rising.
Dr. Patrick has brought both these characters to light in a most imaginative way, and shown how much honour, loyalty and friendship meant to them. The story can only cover a brief episode in their lives but, nevertheless, it manages to show clearly the type of men they were and to suggest why they are both such respected characters in Highland history.
As President of the Lochaber Area Scout Council, I have met many youngsters of Scout age, and I am certain that this entertaining tale will be read by such youngsters with great enjoyment. At the same time, it illustrates those qualities that I have mentioned, that are still so important today, and which are demanded of all those who become Scouts. They were brave men who followed Prince Charles Edward, and guarded him in his flight after Culloden and, as Napoleon said, "Bravery is never out of fashion."
