Millie Gray is something of an Edinburgh Treasure. She specialises in writing about what she knows. You get the feeling that she must never have to do any research, because the writing just tumbles out as if she were telling you a story she knows well.
In Silver Linings, we again meet the long suffering men and women of Leith. The Anderson family struggle through the days of the second world war, which is seen through the eyes of three generations of shipbuilders who kept having to repair ships that had been bombed, the young men and women whose careers were put on hold because of the war and, in particular, their womenfolk.
Shamelessly name dropping people and places of the time, Millie Gray’s heroines deal not only with the hardships of war, but with the ongoing fickleness of humanĂ‚Â nature, and the consequences of one silly mistake or thoughtless act which affect each family member in different and perhaps unsuspected ways.
But as someone once said (I hesitate to say who, because so many people are credited with it) When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and that could be the theme of Millie’s stories. People who roll over and give up don’t make good stories but girls who mature or are forced into early maturity do and we know that, while life is never going to be easy, these family members will do better than just survive.
Black and White Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84502-997-5.
