The small dark man

By Maurice Walsh

Subjects: Romantic overdose, idyllic Scotland, Fiction in English

Description: This long ago novel is the perfect antidote to influenza, a charmingly sentimental love story. Hugh Forbes (the eponymous small, dark man) is an IRA activitist, who has neverthless become friends with a Scottish landowner. He is, incidentally, one of the minor characters in "The Quiet Man". Visiting Charles Grant, he meets his sister, who unfortunately has given her heart away to an arrogant, ill-tempered (English, of course) stuffed shirt who takes worship to be his birthright. Lots of deer-stalking, fishing, Highland Games, unrequited sighing, and a few jolly dust-ups to leaven the mixture. There is the mandatory red-headed woman in the Maureen O'Hara style. Of course they all (yes, all) live happily ever after....