On my second attempt, I found myself loving this book.

Yes, there are hard scenes of sexual degradation but it was commonplace in the eighteenth century for such things to occur to enforce position and dominance..

But.

The vast majority of this book is filled with beautifully written scenes of a Scotland that was (as it is now) searching for the freedom from Britain it so desires... My advice, is to stick to your guns and push forward through the post WW2 chapters till you are taken to Highland Scotland in all it's glory and despair...