- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; First Edition, First Printing edition (4 Mar 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007321597
- ISBN-13: 978-0007321599
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.6 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
85,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Witchcraft
Corrag
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for Oystercatchers:
'Fletcher has a remarkable talent with words…her approach to the world is side-on, not direct; she is attuned to the ambiguities, the spaces, the gaps left in language, the things that are not spoken; she imbues inanimate objects with a life of their own, a history and a personality and a voice. Fletcher is the woman writer par excellence: intelligent, perceptive, intuitive…British readers looking for a local equivalent to Alice Munro won't have to look much further…She is a highly talented writer and fully deserves the acclaim she has received - and the popularity that goes with it.' The Scotsman
'Oystercatchers is a stunning novel…both emotionally discomfiting and romantic; at times puzzling, it is profound, beautiful and redemptive. Oystercatchers is the work of a seriously talented young author in possession of one of the most poetic and original voices working now.' Joanna Briscoe, Guardian
'Her prose is extraordinarily lyrical: haunted, dreamlike and precise, reminiscent at times of Sylvia Plath…Fletcher's words are undeniably beautiful and her themes are profound…a haunting novel.' Sunday Times
Product Description
The new novel from Susan Fletcher, author of the bestselling Eve Green and Oystercatchers.
The Massacre of Glencoe happened at 5am on 13th February 1692 when thirty-eight members of the Macdonald clan were killed by soldiers who had enjoyed the clan's hospitality for the previous ten days. Many more died from exposure in the mountains.
Fifty miles to the south Corrag is condemned for her involvement in the Massacre. She is imprisoned, accused of witchcraft and murder, and awaits her death. The era of witch-hunts is coming to an end - but Charles Leslie, an Irish propagandist and Jacobite, hears of the Massacre and, keen to publicise it, comes to the tollbooth to question her on the events of that night, and the weeks preceding it. Leslie seeks any information that will condemn the Protestant King William, rumoured to be involved in the massacre, and reinstate the Catholic James.
Corrag agrees to talk to him so that the truth may be known about her involvement, and so that she may be less alone, in her final days. As she tells her story, Leslie questions his own beliefs and purpose - and a friendship develops between them that alters both their lives.
In Corrag, Susan Fletcher tells us the story of an epic historic event, of the difference a single heart can make - and how deep and lasting relationships that can come from the most unlikely places.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As this book was recommended by the Saturday Guardian and sounded slightly different to the usual stuff I read, I was tempted to buy it on Amazon. It sat on my bedside table for several weeks as I had lots of other books to read and wasn't sure that I would be interested in the story. But once I started reading I was captured by the characters, the story, the setting and the wonderful writing. I haven't enjoyed a book so much in a long time. I have just finished the book today and had to keep stopping during the last few chapters as I couldn't see the page for tears-really heartrending. I don't understand how some reviewers could call it boring or not feel involved with poor Corrag. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story set in a different era and place.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"I was always for places. I was made for the places where people did not go - like forests, or the soft marshy ground where feet sank down and to walk there made a suck suck sound. Me as a child was often in bogs. I watched frogs, or listened to how rushes were in breezes and I like that - how they sounded. Which is how I knew what I was."
So speaks Corrag; a young woman in prison accused of witchcraft and aiding members of the MacDonald clan to escape the massacre at Glencoe in 1692. In shackles and awaiting her death at the stake, she tells her story to a visitor to her cell. How she grew up in Northumberland and had to flee into Scotland when her mother was accused of being a witch ...
"She shook her head. `You are going alone. You are leaving me now, and you must not come back. Be careful. Be brave. Never be sorry for what you are, Corrag - but do not love people. Love is too sore and makes life hard to bear ...'
I nodded. I heard her, and knew.
She fastened her cloak on me. She smoothed my hair, put up the cloak's hood.
`Be good to every living thing,' she whispered.
`Listen to the voice in you.
I will never be far away from you. And I will see you again - one day.'"
Corrag is Susan Fletcher's third novel, which ultimately tells the story of the mass murder of the Jacobite MacDonald clan by soldiers under orders from King William. Corrag herself was probably real, but her visitor, Charles Leslie certainly was. He was a Stuart supporter and came from Ireland to investigate the massacre. He urges Corrag to tell what happened, but first she wants to tell him how a Sassenach girl came to live in the Highlands. Every night after listening to Corrag, he writes home to his wife, telling her all about the witch, her odd lonesome ways, her expertise with herbs, her love of the winter. He starts to become entranced by the storytelling of this illiterate little woman.
Having flown England, and survived encounters with reivers and soldiers in the border country, she discovers the glens of the Highlands, and in Glencoe Corrag finds `home'. She forages and filches the odd egg from the hamlets before she meets the scions of the MacIain, chief of the MacDonald clan, who give her permission to live there. Then one day she's taken to treat the wounded MacIain and she becomes almost an honorary member of the clan. She's attracted to the younger son Alasdair, but he's taken - however they do have an empathy for each other, and Corrag the loner feels love. We finally get to the awful night of the 13th February 1693, and Corrag has her part to play in saving the lives of many of the MacDonalds. Leslie gets not only what he came for, but realises that he is a changed man through listening to Corrag.
Susan Fletcher manages to convey the hard life of an outsider convincingly. Corrag is wise beyond her years, and totally in tune with nature - qualities which had she not found a haven with the MacDonalds would have seen her branded a witch instantly. The descriptions of the landscape are beautiful as Corrag gets to know every nook and cranny. The lyrical prose does make for a slow burning novel though, which takes its time to get to the main event. While I did enjoy the story, I was longing for a little bit more plot and history, some background to the clan wars, the Jacobite cause, and the other characters - not least her inquisitor turned entralled audience. It was not quite what I expected; it was also slightly long, but the author's turn of phrase was a pleasure to read.
So speaks Corrag; a young woman in prison accused of witchcraft and aiding members of the MacDonald clan to escape the massacre at Glencoe in 1692. In shackles and awaiting her death at the stake, she tells her story to a visitor to her cell. How she grew up in Northumberland and had to flee into Scotland when her mother was accused of being a witch ...
"She shook her head. `You are going alone. You are leaving me now, and you must not come back. Be careful. Be brave. Never be sorry for what you are, Corrag - but do not love people. Love is too sore and makes life hard to bear ...'
I nodded. I heard her, and knew.
She fastened her cloak on me. She smoothed my hair, put up the cloak's hood.
`Be good to every living thing,' she whispered.
`Listen to the voice in you.
I will never be far away from you. And I will see you again - one day.'"
Corrag is Susan Fletcher's third novel, which ultimately tells the story of the mass murder of the Jacobite MacDonald clan by soldiers under orders from King William. Corrag herself was probably real, but her visitor, Charles Leslie certainly was. He was a Stuart supporter and came from Ireland to investigate the massacre. He urges Corrag to tell what happened, but first she wants to tell him how a Sassenach girl came to live in the Highlands. Every night after listening to Corrag, he writes home to his wife, telling her all about the witch, her odd lonesome ways, her expertise with herbs, her love of the winter. He starts to become entranced by the storytelling of this illiterate little woman.
Having flown England, and survived encounters with reivers and soldiers in the border country, she discovers the glens of the Highlands, and in Glencoe Corrag finds `home'. She forages and filches the odd egg from the hamlets before she meets the scions of the MacIain, chief of the MacDonald clan, who give her permission to live there. Then one day she's taken to treat the wounded MacIain and she becomes almost an honorary member of the clan. She's attracted to the younger son Alasdair, but he's taken - however they do have an empathy for each other, and Corrag the loner feels love. We finally get to the awful night of the 13th February 1693, and Corrag has her part to play in saving the lives of many of the MacDonalds. Leslie gets not only what he came for, but realises that he is a changed man through listening to Corrag.
Susan Fletcher manages to convey the hard life of an outsider convincingly. Corrag is wise beyond her years, and totally in tune with nature - qualities which had she not found a haven with the MacDonalds would have seen her branded a witch instantly. The descriptions of the landscape are beautiful as Corrag gets to know every nook and cranny. The lyrical prose does make for a slow burning novel though, which takes its time to get to the main event. While I did enjoy the story, I was longing for a little bit more plot and history, some background to the clan wars, the Jacobite cause, and the other characters - not least her inquisitor turned entralled audience. It was not quite what I expected; it was also slightly long, but the author's turn of phrase was a pleasure to read.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I find this review troublesome and difficult to write. You see, I've just finished this book in under three days, which is Usain Bolt speed for me and incredibly rare. It was yesterday that I reached the final page, and in some ways I feel depressed writing about it today. Depressed that I'm stuck in front of a PC in a house when I want to be back in the Scottish Highlands that the book took me to all too briefly for my liking.
I spent my first and most cherished childhood holiday in a caravan at the parks of Appin. I remember the day my family drove to Glencoe. I was mesmerised by the mountains and the sunlight on them, the way they appeared to open up and welcome me. The opening paragraph (save for Charles Leslie's first 'prologue'-esque letter to his wife) of Corrag had the exact same effect on me, and I was (forgive me Father, for I'm about to pun unintentionally) bewitched by every page after.
I've read other reviews, both from fellow Amazonians and from professional critics, that accuse the book of dragging on, of being a hard slog, and claiming that Fletcher could have done with an editor. And while I can take these concerns on board, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Sure, Corrag does take more time getting to the point than your average politician - if you consider the point to be the Glencoe Massacre, that is. But the title is not 'The Glencoe Massacre' (although that atrocity is stitched perfectly into the narrative's fabric) and I for one would be more than happy to read the outtakes of Corrag's life story. If you feel differently, I fear you may be a little dead inside.
The eponymous heroine (for she most definitely is a heroine) has instantly found a place amongst my favourite literary creations. Her way of living also strikes a chord with contemporary issues of environmental health, materialistic greed and prejudice. I have seen Sylvia Plath mentioned in relation to Fletcher more than once, and Corrag does, I'm sure, appeal to a similar market with its overriding themes of loneliness, difference and persecution, as this tiny, kind woman who tells us her tale waits to be burnt alive.
This book could become your new best friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go outside.
I spent my first and most cherished childhood holiday in a caravan at the parks of Appin. I remember the day my family drove to Glencoe. I was mesmerised by the mountains and the sunlight on them, the way they appeared to open up and welcome me. The opening paragraph (save for Charles Leslie's first 'prologue'-esque letter to his wife) of Corrag had the exact same effect on me, and I was (forgive me Father, for I'm about to pun unintentionally) bewitched by every page after.
I've read other reviews, both from fellow Amazonians and from professional critics, that accuse the book of dragging on, of being a hard slog, and claiming that Fletcher could have done with an editor. And while I can take these concerns on board, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Sure, Corrag does take more time getting to the point than your average politician - if you consider the point to be the Glencoe Massacre, that is. But the title is not 'The Glencoe Massacre' (although that atrocity is stitched perfectly into the narrative's fabric) and I for one would be more than happy to read the outtakes of Corrag's life story. If you feel differently, I fear you may be a little dead inside.
The eponymous heroine (for she most definitely is a heroine) has instantly found a place amongst my favourite literary creations. Her way of living also strikes a chord with contemporary issues of environmental health, materialistic greed and prejudice. I have seen Sylvia Plath mentioned in relation to Fletcher more than once, and Corrag does, I'm sure, appeal to a similar market with its overriding themes of loneliness, difference and persecution, as this tiny, kind woman who tells us her tale waits to be burnt alive.
This book could become your new best friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go outside.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautifully written - it swept me away.
I read this book whilst on holiday last year - can't believe I forgot to review it as soon as I came back.
Well Susan Fletcher did an outstanding job with this one. Read more
Well Susan Fletcher did an outstanding job with this one. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Charlotte Lou
`Lives mean far more than deaths ever do.'
Early in the morning of 13 February 1692, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite uprising of 1689 led by John Graham of Claverhouse (`Bonnie Dundee'), an... Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Cameron-Smith
Couldn't get into this at all.
I'm a big fan of historical fiction, and on reading the back cover this did seem to appeal to me, however sad to say, I really could not get into this book at all. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Clashcity Rocker
CORRAG
A slow build up with events through the eyes of two people and the influence one has on the other,an unusual book in many ways but a very good read.
Published 19 months ago by traveller
Enchanting
This is a beautiful book. The description of the Scottish landscape leaves you feeling like you are there yourself. Read more
Published 21 months ago by lonouri
Captures the time and place
I noticed that some other reviewers have linked their reading of this book with their own experiences of the highlands, Glencoe in particular. It was the same for me. Read more
Published 22 months ago by John Williams
slow burner
a good read surprisingly as i new little about the subject or the author. thus i had no expectations . Read more
Published 22 months ago by gadget girl
Great unfolding and feeling narrative of the glencoe massacre
This is a great unfolding narrative of the Glencoe massacre seen from a very personal viewpoint. Enough history and politics to understand the times but mostly a carefully painted... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ian Davis
Rocky and cold!
Having been to Glencoe several times before and been mesmerised by the tale of the massacre, I was really excited about this book. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Jimbo Starr
Corrag, Susan Fletcher
I have read both Susan Fletcher's previous books and thought they we wonderful, so well written and enjoyable to read. Read more
Published on 17 May 2010
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