Today, in Caithness, the sun is shining and the air is clear. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog that, certain weathers and certain times of the year ignite certain music in me. And, on late winter days which are filled with sunshine, I am usually to be found singing the songs of The Spinners . Inevitably, I start humming different ones of their songs (and of course adapting them to be about Orlando and Jess) as I go around doing different things. But I remember almost all the words to them. I haven't heard a lot of them in years, but they are all there, rooted in my memory. It is truly fascinating to think about how these songs have passed through history. They are part of my own nostalgia, which is why crisp sunny mornings make me incapable of ignoring the temptation to sing them, but they are part of something much bigger. There are songs amongst them which are a newer step in the folk music movement. Songs like Silver in the Stubble are amongs...
Today's blog is a bit of a challenge...
Next week, there is an exhibition in Thurso Art Gallery (it's the back room of the library, for any people in the area who are are interested in going along!) entitled Caithness Connections. I've had a little sneak peek on social media and been amazed by the variety of ideas the artists have used to consider the theme. It set me thinking about how differently people see their home, and how greatly it differs to how other people see it.
Caithness is not a well-explored area, either in tourism (although this has improved since the NC500 route became popular) or in the arts, as its near neighbour Orkney. This is not always a bad thing - the Orkney which exists now is a far cry from the one I knew as home in my childhood thanks to the insane amount of cruise ship traffic, but when you say Caithness to most people from outwith Northern Scotland, most of them have no idea where it is if they've even heard of it.
A few years ago, I wrote a blog about history close to home, which was only months after moving here. Add on a few years, and I'm here with a first draft of a novel set right here some 1,300 years ago. But I am certainly not the first person to write historical fiction set in Caithness. In fact, Caithnessian history has featured in texts since the Norse sagas.
I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've never finished reading an historical fiction novel set in Caithness. I have dipped into the work of Neil Gunn (Caithness' literary giant) on countless occasions, but never actually read one from cover to cover. I have read short folktales of Caithness, but not a full novel. This is something I am determined to amend!
Have you read any historical fiction set close to where you live? How far do you have to go to find your local historical fiction setting? Perhaps you've never come across a novel set there, but there is almost certainly one waiting to be read - if not, write it yourself!
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