Last of the Line

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Large Print publishing Janaury 2025

About the Book: 

The call came from a place far away where the dark was deep and the only sound was the fading breath of a woman on the edge of eternity.

The summons to the bedside of his dying aunt drags Cal MacCarl away from the blur of city life to the islands where time turns slowly and tradition endures. He is striving for the urban dream of the luxury apartment and the prestige car and has shed all of his past to get there.

Aunt Mary is his only remaining blood link. She comes from the past. She still knows him as Calum. When she passes he will be the last of the family line. But for Cal, family, and history are just bonds to tie him down.

Reluctantly embarking on a journey of duty, Cal finds himself drawn into the role of genealogy detective and discovers secrets that are buried deep. He begins to understand that Mary was not the woman he thought he knew and the secret she kept hidden for so long means he might not be who he thought he was.

Reviews: 

A Strong modern story of personal conflict. NORTHWORDS NOW

Where MacKay differs from most other Hebridean-based novels is in his obvious research into the geography, and meticulous background into island traditions and cultures.  The Stornoway Gazette

The Hebridean scenes are powerful.  The Sunday Herald

There is a tightly plotted story here, together with some lovely details of remote island life.  The Independent

About the Author:

JOHN MACKAY is a Scottish broadcast journalist and STV News presenter.  John is co-anchor on STV News at Six and presenter on Scotland Tonight, the country's most popular news and current affairs programmes.  A highly-respected journalist with over 30 years’ experience, John has covered many of the biggest news stories in Scotland in recent times and has been witness to Scotland’s transformation as a society and a nation which he charts in non-fiction title, Notes of a Newsman. 

John’s fiction writing draws upon the oral traditions of his Hebridean background with a trilogy of bestselling novels set in the Isle of Lewis, the first of which has been adapted for the big screen.  His fourth novel, a sweeping Hebridean story, Home, follows the stories of one family over 100 years.