Ivar, the only inhabitant of a remote Scottish island, has lived for decades in peaceful isolation, accompanied by a few animals. Until one day in 1843, he finds an unconscious man on the beach. The newcomer is John Ferguson, a young minister sent by the island’s owner to evict Ivar and turn the area into grazing land. Unaware of the stranger’s intentions, Ivar takes him to his home and, although they do not speak the same language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile, on the mainland, Mary, John’s wife, anxiously awaits news of her husband.
Set in the remote Orkney Islands during the harsh and dramatic evictions of rural Scottish communities in the 19th century, Clear is a moving story about the meeting of opposites—an intimate and tender novel about two people at the mercy of the social and economic changes of their time. (Up to this point, publisher’s synopsis.)
An interesting novel about a historical period little known outside the English-speaking world. Exquisite character development. Though entirely fictional, the story is thoroughly researched to accurately reflect the real events of those evictions in the northern lands.