Product Description

Twenty-four hours after meeting and falling for archaeologist and Pictish expert Michael Hurt, Jess Kavanagh suffers a horrific accident that leaves her with aphasia and amnesia. No words. No memory of love. Michael travels south, unknowing. Will their relationship survive this test? Should it survive? Will Michael find Jess again?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #753474 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
ANNE MACLEOD is known throughout Scotland for her poetry and fiction. Her short stories have been widely anthologised and read on radio; her novel The Dark Ship (11/9) is a Scottish best seller; Standing by Thistles (Scottish Cultural Press, 1997) her first poetry collection was shortlisted for a Saltire Literary award; Just the Caravaggio appeared from Poetry Salzburg in 1999, and was reprinted in 2001. Anne is one of the more recent names in the long and well-established caravan of doctor/writers. A dermatologist, working in the Highlands, she has four children and lives on the Black Isle.

Customer Reviews

A book not to be forgotten
The Blue Moon Book is a touching contemporary story which deals with the themes of language, loss and love. The perfection of this novel is in Anne MacLeod's ability to keep things simple while never losing complexity.

For those who enjoyed fiction such as The Lovely Bones or P.S. I Love You, which considers the effects of death on those grieving, The Blue Moon Book will have a similar appeal. Only twenty four hours before a horrific accident, which leaves her with aphasia (loss of language) and amnesia (loss of memory), Jess Kavanagh meets and falls for Michael, an archaeologist specialising in Pictish history. After parting from Jess, he hears of the accident, in fact, is there when it happens, yet does not know it is her that is involved. He leaves Edinburgh unknowing. We also meet Jess's long term partner, Dan, who has a struggling relationship with her. Within this framework, a number of other characters' stories are explored, each one of them forming an intricate part of a complex web of relationships. We are thus given a sympathetic and balanced account of how one moment can change many people's lives, even those indirectly involved and least expectant.

At times dark and haunting, at times powerful and moving, MacLeod takes us on a journey which gives us an absorbing insight into the rollercoaster of emotions of the characters, described with such intensity that we immediately feel close to each one.

MacLeod, a dermatologist by day, keeps the novel authentic with her medical knowledge. Similarly, she has a clear knowledge of Pictish history and draws a clever parallel between Jess's story and that of the Picts. The frustration of Jess and the people around her during her convalescence corresponds with the problems of the study of the Picts, a race who left nothing of themselves except unique symbol stones. Just as Jess is on a search for her identity, we can never really know who the Picts were and what their language was. MacLeod seems to be fascinated both by the Picts and the profession of speech therapy, but never overloads us with facts, leaving us instead with subtle hints of knowledge.

The Blue Moon Book will appeal not just to a female audience, nor only to those with an interest in medicine or Scottish history, but to everyone, as it is a beautiful story with the universal appeal of emotion. This is one book not to be forgotten.