Kenneth Mcalpine

Gordon Stables's Kenneth McAlpine follows a Highland boy whose life is shaped by heather hills, moonlit moors, and the restless pull of sea and adventure. Nearly thirteen and already marked by hardship, Kenneth is tender-hearted, practical, and vividly imaginative, with a deep sympathy for animals, old people, and the land itself. From mourning a dead lamb on a lonely mountain to discovering a hidden cave in a fairy knoll, he moves through a world where realism and wonder meet, and where his loyal dog Kooran is never far from his side. As Kenneth grows, the story widens from shepherd life to fishing and travel, showing him learning courage and skill beside old Duncan Reed on the Atlantic coast, where danger and hard work test him again and again. He also finds comfort in the kindly herbalist Nancy Dobbell, the wise keeper Dugald McCrane, and the old stories, superstitions, and music of Highland life. Later, away from home, Kenneth looks back on loss, change, and enduring loyalty, then tells of leaving Scotland with little money and great hopes, meeting hunger, generosity, and the first stirrings of a larger destiny. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.