Benbecula

Darkland Tales

In July 1857, Angus MacPhee bludgeoned to death his parents and aunt on the Hebridean island of Benbecula. Five years later, Angus's brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Graeme Macrae Burnet delivers a tale of dark madness, leavened by moments of black humour and absurdity.

On 9 July 1857, Angus MacPhee, a labourer from Liniclate on the island of Benbecula, murdered his father, mother and aunt. At trial in Inverness he was found to be criminally insane and confined in the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison.

Some years later, Angus’s older brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Malcolm is living in isolation, ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode in his past.

From Graeme Macrae Burnet, the Booker-shortlisted author of His Bloody Project, comes a beguiling psychological novel set on a remote Scottish island. Based on a true story and drawing on the documentary evidence of the time, Burnet constructs a gripping narrative about madness, murder and the uncertain nature of the self.

Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize

Longlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger

'Dark, intense and utterly compelling' – Laura Wilson, The Guardian

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