Iain Maclean’s Cogadh Ruairidh (Ruairidh’s War) is an account of the first day of the Battle of the Somme through the eyes and the experience of a Highland soldier, Ruairidh, and his two friends. MacLean first describes the waiting period, when the soldiers’ emotions swing between tedium and high tension, fear and naïve overconfidence, and then, clearly and dispassionately, what the three men encounter as they go over the top and advance towards the enemy trenches – and the waiting machine guns. The novel follows Ruairidh through his convalescence in France and his journey home, where he struggles to come to terms with what has happened on that awful day. Cogadh Ruairidh is a powerful evocation of one of the grimmest days in the history of modern warfare. As an indictment of the brutality and futility of war, it is all the more effective for the fact that MacLean lets the events speak for themselves. With chapter-by-chapter glossaries and summaries to assist Gaelic learners, this is a most impressive debut novel from yet another talented young Gaelic author.
- ISBN10 1905207301
- ISBN13 9781905207305
- Publish Date 15 October 2009
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 8 April 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Sandstone Press Ltd
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 120
- Language gla