Books
Beware a Scot's Revenge Scoop
- For my research into the George IV's visit to Scotland, I relied heavily on John Prebble's book, The King's Jaunt. I also turned to Wikipedia, which has an entire article about it! Although the masquerade ball was my invention, its location was not. The Edinburgh Assembly Rooms are still a popular venue, and the description of plans for the Peers Grand Ball there was exactly as recorded in period accounts. I followed the schedule exactly, arranging my ball for a night when the king wasn't doing any public appearances.
- Holyrood Park has long been a popular tourist site in Edinburgh, so I was able to get plenty of pictures and information about it. There's even a map!
- The Clearances are well-documented all over the web and in books. I used John Prebble's book, The Highland Clearances (can I help it if Prebble wrote about everything?) as well as several websites and sections of several other books on Scottish history. One site I found fascinating was specific to the area of Moidart. It chronicled in detail the effects of the Clearances on that particular region. The chronologies for the period immediately before the book and during the book contained tidbits of information that I found fascinating. It was chilling to read this running list of ships that left Scotland with emigrants bound for America and Canada. It gives you a true sense of the vast scope of the Clearances.
- The Clan Ross is a real clan with a real tartan. I just sort of cheated in who I made its laird.
- Not to burst anyone's romantic bubble, but the idea of handfast marriages in Scotland is largely mythical. According to this article, it comes out of a misunderstanding of how marriages worked in Scotland until 1940. I found the article very useful, however, in explaining marriage law in Scotland, which was confirmed in other sources I consulted. The vows I cited were actual Gaelic vows.
- For a nice brief history of whisky production in Scotland, you can go here. You can also find lists of distilleries on the web. My favorite resource, however, was a DVD I bought at a local Scottish Highlands Games, called Scotch Whisky: The Myth and the Magic. I got as much enjoyment out of the beautiful images and the lush Scottish accents as I did out of doing research on whisky!