#TheWriteReadsBlogTour: The Whistlers in the Dark by Victoria Williamson

This blog tour has been organised by @TheWriteReads and Scotland Street Press to whom I am grateful for the provision of an e-book and an invitation to write a review.

Victoria Williamson is such a talented and versatile writer, this is the third of her 2023 publications that I have read and each time she enthrals me with an original plot, great characters and a fascinating setting.

In this novel, aimed at readers of 9+, the action takes place in 158 AD around the Antonine Wall which was constructed by the Roman invaders north of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and which I had no knowledge of prior to reading this book. As with many of Victoria Williamson’s previous novels, the reader is given a dual perspective on events, enabling an understanding of the two sides of the conflict that drives the story. Jinny, who is 12 autumns old begins the story seeking revenge on the Roman boy whom she holds responsible for the terrible accident which befalls her younger brother and beloved dog, for which she has been blamed by her tribe, the Damnonii. Her enemy, Felix, is the son of a Roman soldier and a Damnonii woman and is consequently an outsider in the eyes of both sides of the conflict. His father has gone missing on a scouting expedition north of the wall, and very early on the reader is given an insight into his precarious place in the Roman camp.

An uneasy peace exists between the two camps, but they are always teetering on the edge of violence, the author provides readers with a tremendous sense of daily life within the walls of the Roman camp and the encircled Damnonii compound; the physical and cultural barriers between the enemies are explored in parallel. Layered delicately on top of the narrative is a mystical force in the shape of a stone circle, a sacred place to the Damnonii, who sing to ensure that the stone spirits are not woken. When Jinny’s revenge plan lures Felix inside the ancient circle, her tempestuous actions appear to wake the spirits and when tribespeople begin to disappear in the night it seems that the stone giants of legend are roaming the land once again. The ‘Whistlers’ of the title become apparent as the tense plot unfolds.

This book will be a super addition to primary school library and classroom collections and provides an exciting new background read on an aspect of Romans in Britain that I have not seen covered in children’s literature before. Author Victoria Williamson has crafted a historical adventure which explores identity, revenge and forgiveness and “Family, friendship and the courage that comes from a sure sense of belonging”. She will be donating 20% of her author proceeds from this title to Archaeology Scotland.