Mollie Hunter is by general consent Scotland's most distinguished modern children's writer…. [She] is read with pleasure not only in her own country or by the offspring of expatriate Scots, but by legions of young children whose prior knowledge of Celtic legend is nonexistent, and by older readers whose acquaintance with Scots history is at best rudimentary. (p. 109)

The fact is that one cannot talk about Mollie Hunter without talking about Scotland. If one finds her work parochial, one finds Scotland parochial. If one is surprised by the international interest shown in her work (given, of course, that it has the major intrinsic qualities that I for one believe it has) one is surprised that Scotland itself should be so interesting. The general idea that a confined setting means a confined range of interest was obviously laid to rest long ago…. But somehow the notion persists for some...