Daniel Boyle

The Road From Ardcranna Daniel Boyle

The year is 1856 and the people of Ardcranna in the Scottish Highlands are being forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for the sheep that will graze on the land. All except one are put aboard a 'coffin ship' bound for the Americas. Her name is 14 year old Mary McQueen and she will spend her life waiting to avenge the death of her mother, who was murdered by Thomas Coull, the man who evicted the people of Ardcranna. Mary's brother John (15)will survive the horrendous crossing but her father and grandfather will not, nor will the parents of her friends the McAllan's, Samuel (15) and Katherine(14). On their arrival in the Americas, the 'orphans' are taken under the wing of would-be gold prospector Daniel Flynn. And so begins a lifelong friendship between Flynn, John McQueen, and Samuel and Katherine Mc Allan, which will see John marry Katherine, and achieve his ambition to become a Reverend, while Samuel marries into the Nez Perce indian tribe. The story culminates when, in 1877, and in the course of the Nez Perce struggle to reach Canada and join Sitting Bull there, John, Katherine, Samuel, Mary, and Daniel Flynn are reunited to witness a last part of that struggle. John, Katherine, and their baby daughter Maxine, then settle in Duluth, Minnesota, while Mary and Flynn return home to Scotland. But a terrible discovery awaits Mary, and, later, unexpected good news sends Flynn, the would-be gold prospector back to the Americas. The 'Road From Ardcranna' was originally commissioned as a three part TV series for BBC Scotland. But personnel changes at BBC Scotland meant it was never produced, but the author, Daniel Boyle, who has extensive TV credits in the UK has converted the scripts into this prose format.