About The Author

I’ve been lucky enough to have a career as an archaeologist, working on excavations in many parts of the world, and later, based in England, researching and writing. While I continue as a feelance archaeological researcher and lecturer, I have, in the last few years, found myself drawn to writing fiction.

My first book, THE HOUSE BETWEEN TIDES  (Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Year in 2018) allowed me to write about the Outer Hebrides, a much loved string of islands off the west coast of Scotland. A place where past conflicts still have a strong resonance.

BEYOND THE WILD RIVER is a tale of 19th century murder and revenge. Writing it gave me a chance to revisit both the Scottish Borders, where my family lived for a while, and northern Canada where I spent an exciting childhood.

In writing WOMEN OF THE DUNES  I could no longer resist the temptation to combine archaeology and fiction, and the story is set the west coast of Scotland, where some surprising bodies are discovered.

My family has always had a restless gene. Past (and present) family members have settled not only in Canada but also in Australia and New Zealand where ALCHEMY AND ROSE is set. Researching the book enabled me to retrace the steps of past generations as I explored old gold mining towns and fabulous scenery, and developed the plot.

The plot for THE AWAKENINGS had been brewing in my mind for a while, and the dark days of Covid and the long lockdown seemed to invite Gothic overtones. The story is set in the Scottish Borders and the ancient, and turbulent, kingdom of Northumbria, with its capital in York.  Set in 790 and 1890 it follows the strangely intertwined lives of two women, Wyn and Olwen, whose fates seem to follow parallel trajectories until they dangerously collide.

I had started work on THE FORGOTTEN SHORE before Covid derailed all our plans and my research visit to Newfoundland had to be postponed. I put the project aside until countries reopened borders as I wanted to spend time revisiting Newfoundland and the old fishing harbours, getting a deeper sense of their history and people. The story is set in Argyll, Scotland and Newfoundland and stretches over two generations, from the war years to the 1980s. It is told by Archie Maxwell, troubled war hero and a man in hiding, searching for redemption, and by Eva Bayne, a child with whom he develops an unlikely friendship. Eva’s later job as a journalist sends her from Scotland to Newfoundland to find him and, between the two of them, they are at last able to make peace with their past.

World War 2 also provides the backdrop to my current work in progress, as yet untitled. Set in the Inner Hebrides it is a story of suspicion and deception as the west coast of Scotland became an important link in the chain of coastal defence. Harry Armstrong has come to the island to build a radar station on land belonging to Peter Rawlings, archaeologist and one time spy, and his enigmatic wife. Harry is baffled and wary of them both. Radar can detect but it cannot distinguish between friend and foe… Ana McKay, who comes to the island a generation later, discovers that her ailing father has been stealing books from the late Peter Rawlings’ library.  Rawlings’ wife, however, is very much alive and has an agenda of her own.

I hope you enjoy exploring these pages!

Sarah Maine