The Spanish Letters

by Mollie Hunter

A thrilling tale of espionage in 16th century Edinburgh as the Spaniards are preparing a second Armada, and the Scots and English are for once united against them.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Scotland, Young Adult, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Maureen Mollie Hunter McIlwraith was a Scottish author. She wrote under the name Mollie Hunter. Mollie Hunter is one of the most popular and influential twentieth-century Scottish writers of fiction for children and young adults. Her work, which includes fantasy, historical fiction, and realism, has been widely praised and has won many awards and honors, such as the Carnegie Medal, the Phoenix Award, a Boston Globe - Horn Book Honor Award, and the Scottish Arts Council Award.

There has also been great interest in Hunter's views about writing fiction, and she has published two collections of essays and speeches on the subject. Hunter's portrait hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and her papers and manuscripts are preserved in the Scottish National Library.

Her books have been as popular in the United States as in the United Kingdom, and most are still in print. Critic Peter Hollindale has gone so far as to assert that Hunter "is by general consent Scotland's most distinguished modern children's writer."

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Danger makes me happy"--that was what [Marie] had said. And smiling to himself in the darkness at the brave ring of the remembered words, Jamie stepped boldly into the passage behind the door.
Oof, if only I had read this when I was younger, I think I would have liked it even more!
This is a fun and adventurous middle-grade historical fiction book. Jamie is a great protagonist; he's brave and has his own code, and honestly just a cool character. He is a little foolhardy, running off to take on the antagonists on his own, but like, it's heroic, so that's acceptable lol. Also, I love Marie. Like unfortunately she wasn't in it enough, but for a book of its time, it's her intel and resourcefulness that solves a lot of the problems, and I love that for her.

[David Tendo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dramatic, haunting and gripping.