BEHOLD THY DAUGHTER

Here is good honest storytelling, written by someone who apparently loves to write, in the tale of a Scottish fisher girl-Thirza Gare. Set in the town of Kaysie in Northern Scotland in the mid nineteenth century, it is concerned with the Scottish herring industry and with the maturation of Thirza, who proves herself to be independent, assiduous, wanton, merciless, but above all a bright-eyed vulture of a business woman. When her mother dies, Thirza's father remarries and moves away, and Thirza sets herself up as a lady's maid in the wealthy Carmichael home. Accused of having an affair with their son, she leaves and gets a job as a gutter and then as a clerk with the Skene curing firm. She marries elderly William Skene, runs the fish business within an inch of its life, has undercover dealings with buccaneer-like Captain Stullen, and eventually ends up rich, powerful but in very hot water. There's warmth, action and a variety of emotional shades to the writing to give this story a definite interest.