The Kilted Ladies from Hell [Paperback]

Daniel A. McNiven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 1996

Ancient feuding clans unite on the battlefield of WWI, separating the path of fated lovers.

In WW1 a ghostly Lone Piper led kilted Scottish soldiers from defeat to victory. The Germans called them the Ladies from Hell. Come, join the Ladies from Hell from their Highland feuds to the trenches and back. Listen with Ian MacTavish to the Lone Piper's skirls drawing him away from the forbidden love of his life, Lorna MacNeil, to the Army of the Dead and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel A. McNiven, who traces his family name back in Scottish history to 1100 A.D., pays tribute in this book not only to his Scottish parents but also to Scotland's never-ending struggle for freedom.

Two uncles of his, Michael Gordon and Robert McNiven had given their young lives for Scotland in WW1.

His father, after twelve years in the British Navy, including WW1, died of natural causes at age ninety-two.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter One -- The Glen of Spirits One of the feuding clans had lost their chief from a heart attack during the Highland games. Even feuding clans respected the ancient sacred Scottish custom of burying a chief and crowning his successor. On the day of the funeral, waves from the Scottish sea roared and splashed the rocks and coves below. Gliding sea gulls chirped to the distant sounds of Highland bagpipe music. Winds from the sea drove the heavy swirling mist eastward carrying the pungent odors of salt and seaweed down the Glen of Spirits to Castle Tavish and the ancient cemetery. There, above the Glen of Spirits where the thick purple heather climbed from the glen to the rocks above, kilted Highlanders met among the granite tombstones of their ancient graveyard for the funeral. Five young bagpipers stopped playing and stood at attention behind the priest. The centuries' old Highland ceremony continued with a prayer from Father Michael Gordon. "Dust to dust," Father Michael said, standing at the head of the casket with his arms outstretched. He blessed the dark wooden casket that hung suspended with ropes and pulleys above the freshly dug grave. "May you rest in peace, Geddes MacTavish, chief of clan MacTavish." The son of Geddes and new chief-to-be, Denoon MacTavish, followed the strict ceremonial rules of the Highland custom of 'changing of chiefs'. He stood at the foot of his father's casket and held the family's huge steel claymore sword in front of him with the point of the blade resting on the ground. The sword had been engraved with the curse of 1692, "Hatred our sword and feud our fire." A purple discoloration from the heat engraving process highlighted the curse. The sword had been passed down over the centuries to each new MacTavish clan chief until now, 1913, when Denoon was about to become the next chief. Denoon glanced at his son, Ian, who was one of the pipers standing behind Father Michael. Some day Ian would be chief. Thirteen-year-old Ian MacTavish caught his father's glance and tried not to show tears. His grandfather's death hardly seemed real. It was true he was seventy-five and always living on the edge with a bad temper. Ian never dreamed his grandfather would die from a heart attack. But challenging clan chief MacDuff to a duel, a forty-four-year-old man who was very powerful and skillful with the claymore sword, didn't make sense. Just because Ian hadn't won first prize at the 1913 Clansmorra Highland games dueling with wooden swords against Malcolm MacDuff, the son of clan chief MacDuff, was no reason for Grandfather to start a fight with clan chief MacDuff that would lead to Grandfather's death.

History was repeating itself from the 1876 Highland Games, only this time, clan chief MacTavish died instead of clan chief MacDuff. For the renegade spirit inside Grandfather, it was time to exchange bodies, a new one for an old one. The drums began to beat, the signal for Ian's father, Geddes, to raise the claymore sword above his head and repeat in Gaelic the mythical words that pronounced him chief of the clan. At this moment a break in the overcast sky brought spearlike shafts of sunlight shimmering down the mighty blade. When Ian's father lowered the sword and touched the casket, a fireball of light emerged, grew and took on a human shape of an enormous ancient Highland warrior who diminished into a red flash that darted along the blade into Ian's father, the new chief. The drums stopped beating when the casket was lowered. It was in this moment of silence that Ian heard a lone piper play an ancient Highland song and saw two transparent ghost-like figures leave his grandfather's wooden casket. One climbed to a high point above the graveyard moving upward toward a heavy red mist and into a gathering. A Highlander in ancient kilts was playing the pipes in front of two horsemen in battle armor. One was King Robert the Bruce and the other man was Wallace. Behind these two men stood the Army of the Dead. Ian saw his grandfather moving toward the Army. He turned and waved at Ian then joined the ranks. The other ghost turned into a ball of fire that took on the shape of an ancient Highlander. Ian asked his friends Denny, Sean, Pat and Allan if they had heard a lone piper play the ancient song Grandfather had taught them for the games or seen a fireball. No, they had not. Nor had Father Gordon. Ian was afraid to mention Robert the Bruce, Wallace, the Army of the Dead and Grandfather. Maybe Mrs. Gordon could explain.

Seven months before, early in the morning Lucy Cameron Gordon, had wound her way over flattened purple heather and followed the narrow paths among the scattered grave sites that spread above the Glen of Spirits. Mrs. Gordon had been surprised to see two students on the pathway ahead of her--Lorna MacNeil and Ian MacTavish. They were holding hands. What she had suspected but always dreaded was happening. A boy and girl from feuding clans were falling in love, a violation of strongly held Highland tradition. A fresh stain on the fabric of Scottish history! Highland customs wouldn't tolerate love between feuding clans. Lucy knew there was no one who could turn off passionate love or even slow it down. She also knew clan chiefs MacDuff and MacNeil had promised their children Malcolm and Lorna in marriage. The warning of their families to keep away from each other had only driven them closer and made the tension among the feuding clans more taut.

Something had to be done before it was too late. She continued along the narrow path and stopped at a granite headstone with the name 'Cameron' engraved at the top. Kneeling, she removed withered flowers from the clay pots and filled them with fresh flowers from her basket.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Pilgrimage Press; 1 edition (December 10, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096546802X
• ISBN-13: 978-0965468022
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book could be made into a brilliant movie..., July 19, 2001

By 

Ruth A. Caldwell "Highland Princess Mum" (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Kilted Ladies from Hell (Paperback)

This is a TRUE story about the unrequited love of a young man (Ian) and woman (Lorna) from feuding families. It is truly the epitome of the Scottish history that emphasizes the generations of Scots, and how their fueding was a typical way of life. The fueds were brought on by often real or sometimes imagined slights. The constant need to merely "stay alive/exist" led to cattle raids and sometimes the loss of an entire clan, depending on the slight! The MacTavish clan haunted generations with a curse for future clans: "Hatred our sword and feud our fire". During the Boer War in 1902, the clans put aside their tensions. Lorna MacNeil was engaged to Malcolm MacDuff, yet in love with Ian MacTavish. This story takes you to the battlefield in France and back to Scotland, using the "Glen of Spirits" to provide an eery feeling to the voice of this wonderful story. There are a number of startling moments, that made me exclaim out loud. A genuine look at Scottish History.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A mystical, adventurous journey into Scotland's past., January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Kilted Ladies from Hell (Paperback)

This book has it all--from the feuding clans in the highlands to the forbidden love of Lorna and Ian to the battlefields of WW1 and the ghosts of Scotland's past. I found this book to be a very enjoyable read.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A THOUGHT PROVOKING BOOK. . INTERESTING, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Kilted Ladies from Hell (Paperback)

I found this book hard to read, but worth the effort. ..It was a diffent kind of roamance than I am used to reading. .but very good.

I would also hightly suggest that you read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. ..What a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties. I intended to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter's battle with lupus and her growing love for Don Lipton. This love, in the face of Julie's impending death, makes for a story that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are great, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I've never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie's story will remind your readers that life and love are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I'm grateful.

Literary agent, Carolyn Hopwood Blick

"Stolen Moments " which is reminiscent of "Love Story" is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to cry. Like"Love Story" it is about a dying woman who has found true love. It is the love story of the nineties."