Whispers in the Glen

A tale inspired by real events of sisterhood, heartbreak and resilience in a Highland village home front in World War II Scotland.

Clova, Scotland, 1942. As World War II roars overseas, sisters Nell and Effie Anderson live together in the old schoolhouse of their quiet glen. Effie is a teacher, while Nell works as a postwoman, delivering news--often of the worst--from the frontline to her neighbors. Though they love and care for one another, unspoken tensions and mysteries put distance between them.

When a plane carrying Canadian and British soldiers crashes over their village, the only survivor stumbles to their door. In his pocket is a photo that will set in motion a chain of events threatening to uncover their family’s troubling past.

Told across a dual timeline of the sisters’ adult years and their adolescence during World War I, Whispers in the Glen is a novel about secrets, lies, and the dangers of keeping them hidden.

Sue Lawrence is the author of gripping historical thrillers that cast fascinating light on the perils and injustice that characterized women’s lives in Scotland in centuries past - whether they were penniless or wealthy. She is also one of the UK’s leading cookbook writers and food broadcasters. Trained as a journalist, she won BBC television’s first series of MasterChef and became Food Editor of the Sunday Times and a contributor to leading magazines, and she appears frequently on the BBC. Born in Dundee, she lives in Edinburgh.