Maggie Walls Wood

March 1940, Crieff, Perthshire

Some criminals commit no crime

Bob and Annie Kelty’s quiet world is upturned when Bob registers as a conscientious objector. The people of Crieff – friends and strangers alike – turn against him. A pacifist in a time of war, Bob finds there are no easy answers. Is he doing the right thing? Or is he a coward, as people say? 

What he doesn’t know is that his resolve and courage are about to be tested to the absolute limit.

Some crimes are not criminal

Meanwhile Ellen Laing, the Glasgow evacuee who came to live with Bob and Ellen the previous year, still feels like an outsider, untrusted and untrustworthy. She befriends a young Traveller boy and learns something of the Traveller lifestyle. She also reads about the story of Maggie Walls, a Dunning woman burned as a witch in the seventeenth century, and feels an instant connection she can’t explain. 

Where will this revelation lead? And what will she do when she discovers she is not the only person in 1940 to endure the kind of prejudice experienced by Maggie Walls? 

In the shadows, good and bad become indistinguishable

Maggie Walls Wood explores the way outsiders are treated by society and the consequences of standing up for your beliefs. At turns moving, hilarious and frightening, it is a story of friendship and courage in adversity, and the belief that better times will arrive.

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