As may be expected from [Mollie Hunter, The Kelpie's Pearls] is blended from the folk lore of the countryside, the commonsense of Morag—the old woman whose hill cottage at Abriachan forms a perfect setting for the story—and the loyalty of young Torquil, who had a great gift with animals, and who alone stood by Morag when the whole community would have hunted her as a witch.

The author's previous story [Patrick Kentigern Keenan, published in the United States as The Smartest Man in Ireland,] was centered in Ireland, but The Kelpie's Pearls shows that she writes with the same easy confidence in a Scottish setting. Her simple, economic dialogue forms a direct contrast to the fine prose of the descriptive passages which are embellished by a fitting use of imagery.

Photograph by Bill Angus, Inverness; used by permission of Mollie Hunter

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