THE YEAR OF THE STRANGER. by McLean, Allan Campbell - 1971

New York: Henry Z. Walck, 1971. 192 pp, 8vo (8 1/2" H). "When the hated factor caught Mata the tinker at the salmon poaching he planned a terrible punishment for him. And it was on the night of Mata's ordeal in the midst of a fearful thunderstorm that Calum Og discovered how the mysterious Cave of Gold had been given its name. But the thunderstorm was the start of a blight upon the little crofting township - week after week of rain and mist, the crops failing for want of sun. And then the Stranger arrived, bringing with him sunshine and fresh hope. On the same day the factor fell from his horse, and lay unconscious, unable to prevent the Stranger from leading the boys in the building of a great fish-trap. But when the herring shoals came up the loch, and the trap was filled with fish, the men turned against the Stranger and drove him from the township; and the seemingly endless sunshine turned to torrential rain. And still the Cave remained a mystery to Calum Og until the night of the flood - the night of the 13th of October 1877, when he learned the secret of that Cave of Gold....What really happened to Mata the tinker? Was it mere chance that the factor fell from his horse the day the Stranger came ashore? Who is the Stranger? Set in the Isle of Skye in the harsh 1870s, (this book) will be enjoyed by everyone with a sense of history and a taste for the unusual." Tiny foxing mark at top edge of rear endpapers, light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine, tiny scuff on fore-edge of front board. Dust jacket has been price-clipped, light edge wear/wrinkling - mainly at top bottom of spine and flap-folds, a few very small edge tears, tiny hole at top part of front flap-fold, minor rubbing. Very Good/Very Good. First U.S. Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.