The Wind That Shakes the Barley by James Barke was first published in 1945 and it’s a fictional account of the early years of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.
His father William Burns has moved to the village of Alloway (an incomer) and built with his own hands the small cottage that we now think of as Burns Cottage, despite not being a builder. He intended to farm in a small way, and when he has finished the building he brings Agnes Brown to view it, she’s happy with it and they decide to marry. It’s a much tougher life than either of them would have thought, although William is a hard worker the soil is poor, stony and boggy, and it’s difficult to earn enough money to pay the rent to the landowner, never mind to feed and clothe the children that are born to them. William wants his sons to have an education so for a few years he determinedly pays for them to be tutored.
But that ambition falls by the wayside as money becomes tighter and the eldest son Gilbert and Robert are used to pull the plough, like animals, despite having little in the way of nourishment and strength.
William Burns is an Old Light (Auld Licht) Presbyterian, very strict in his religion, so by rights his God should smile on him, but things just get worse over the years. To make matters worse William realises that his second son Robert (Robin as they call him) has an eye for the girls, William’s not happy about it, and neither is Agnes. But Robert is always after the local girls, in love as he thinks but really in lust. His first illegitimate child arrives, but marriage was never on the cards. This book ends with the death of William, haunted by worries to the end.
This book was loved by readers at the time, but apparently the Burns scholars/fans of the day were not at all happy with it. It’s well-written for the most part but at times it is a bit clunky, particularly the love scenes. I was surprised that there’s not all that much in the way of description of Alloway and its surrroundings. We visited a few years ago and I was struck by how scenic and pretty the place is, it isn’t more to the fore, it’s described as a miserable area.
Most of the book is written in plain English but occasionaly it’s written in the Ayrshire dialect, which is probably a bit challenging for some people. I really liked this one which is the first in a four book series by the author. I read it to celebrate Robert Burns’s birthday, he was born on the 25th of January 1759.
You can see some of the photos that I took here when we visited Alloway a couple of years ago.
Happy Burns Day! I am off to a Burns tea about an hour away, although woke up with a bad headache and wish I could spend the day in bed instead (but I am driving two other people who would probably not go otherwise). I made oat cakes last night, trying a new recipe with brown sugar. They were tasty coming out of the oven but I just tried one this morning and it reminds me of the paste used in primary schools. I probably should have stuck to my usual party dish – cheese and spinach squares but too late now.
Constance,
I hope that you felt better by the time you got there. I would always make shortbread to take to something like that, very Scottish and easy to bake. Even some shop bought oatcakes don’t taste nice, some are just like eating cardboard – how I imagine that would taste anyway. I knew a girl who used to eat that glue paste at school, I think she survived.