The Well of the Heads: Tales of The Scottish Clans

by Stuart McHardy

The origins of the Scottish clans go back over a thousand years, and for centuries these extended networks of families dominated life in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The warriors of the clan, fiercely loyal to each other and to their chief, were well known for their extraordinary courage and military skills.

Retold by one of Scotland's most acclaimed storytellers, these stories illustrate the drama and the dynamism of a society which lived close to nature, had little in the way of material wealth but which boasted a remarkable treasure house of stories that were passed down over generations.

Genres: Scotland, History

Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Stuart McHardy is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and storyteller.

Reviews

[Cheraya Estrada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great historical book about the clans. Lots of short stories and tales told about the clans.

[Vis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author presents a collection of brief stories, some historical and some legendary, of clan life in Scotland during the 15th to 18th centuries. In his forward he states that he isn't attempting to be historically accurate given the nature of the stories he has chosen to relate, all handed down through tradition and most based on historical events. Some of the stories are entertaining, most involve slaughter either on a small scale or large due to the structure of clan society. Unfortunately my edition of this book was marred by incessant typos and dropping of words - the first half of the book worse for some reason than the second.

Additionally the author seemed compelled to repeat background information already related in previous stories. This in my view gave an overall impression of poor editing resulting in a book that is a collection of extremely similar stories. In part the similarity is due to clan activities which from the stories appeared centred on two pillars, theft of cattle and property and disastrous heights of slighted honour - both of which led to slaughter. Unfortunately the stories were made weaker and less interesting because of their similarity.

This book and its readers would have been better served if a quarter to a third of the stories had been removed, and the manuscript had actually been spell checked.

[Gksjr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been to the well of the heads