Set in Scotland, August 1869 - Roderick Macrae, a 17 year old crofter is charged with 3 counts of murder. The novel brings together the full picture of the crime seen from all sides with a statement from Roderick written whilst in prison, witness statements, medical experts and trial transcript.

I must confess I thought this was a true story but embellished into a novel in the way that Thomas Keneally writes. But still that does not detract from my 'enjoyment' of the story which kept me riveted. I felt a lot of sympathy for Roderick until the end of his statement and then my jaw dropped open and I literally gasped when it was revealed what he'd actually done. It totally changes your perception of all he has written before and then subsequent revelations add to that. I don't believe in capital punishment but there was no other conclusion the jury could have come to.

I found it fascinating how the different opinions of Roderick were informed by people's own prejudices and encounters with Roderick from the schoolmaster's he was "a gentle lad", the minister "a wickedness, easily discernible, about the boy" and "an imbecile" by Lachlan Broad's cousin.

Although I loathed the character of J Bruce Thomson, the resident surgeon brought into examine Roderick, he was a misogynistic arrogant pillock and in stark contrast to the kindness shown Roderick by the advocate Andrew Sinclair, who was naive. But though I find Mr Thomson to be an odious little man I do agree with his conclusions about the real reasons behind the crime.

An excellent read really kept me turning the pages right to the very end.