Brow of the Gallowgate

The brow of the Gallowgate is where Albert Ogilvie buys his property in 1890 - the shop he has dreamed of for years, and above it, a house with nine rooms to accommodate the large family he and his beloved wife, Bathie, desire. As their babies are born - there will be eight in all - Albert employs three sisters, one after another, as nursemaids. Bathie finds Mary and Jeannie Wyness more than satisfactory, but Bella, the youngest, is troublesome and sly, and creates a set of distressing circumstances resulting in her dismissal. The years go by, with their joys and sorrows, and war splits up the close-knit Ogilvies, some of whem eventually emigrate to New Zealand. And it is there that Bella Wyness, her resentment of the family grown to black hatred, will wreak her terrible revenge...

Doris Davidson was born in Aberdeen in 1922, the daughter of a master butcher and country lass. In 1967 she became a primary school teacher, and subsequently taught in schools in Aberdeen until she retired in 1982 to become a writer, publishing her first work in 1990. Thirteen novels, one collection of short stories and an acclaimed autobiography - A Gift from the Gallowgate - later she was firmly established as one of the country's best-loved romantic novelists. Doris died in June 2012.