11 h 28 minAudiobook11 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Along the Scottish coast, youth opens onto adventure, smugglers, and the first stirrings of love.
In The Dew of Their Youth, S. R. Crockett brings coming of age into the open air of the Scottish Lowlands. Youth, coastal adventure, and first love meet in a romance rooted in his home country of Galloway, a landscape of moors, hill farms, small villages, and the Solway Firth.
Smugglers give this world its pull of adventure, while young love brings the story close to the heart. Crockett links the passage out of childhood with the beginning of choices. His romance invites you into the uncertainty of growing up, where affection and adventure belong to the same unfolding life.
What you’ll discover
- A Lowland world Explore a Scottish setting shaped by moors, hill farms, villages, and a long coast.
- The threshold of adulthood Follow the coming-of-age thread as childhood gives way to choices and first love.
- The lure of smugglers Discover the coastal adventure that gives this romance its lively, open-air spirit.
- Love in its beginnings Enjoy the warmth of young affection woven into a tale of growing up.
- Crockett's own country Enter the Galloway landscape that lies at the heart of his regional fiction.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like Scottish village life, smugglers on a moonlit shore, a girl who rules every room she enters, and a narrator who tells his own young follies with a smile.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ghost rumour brings the crowd to Marnhoul
- Irma Maitland receives her rescuers
- Grandmother Mary Lyon takes the children in hand
- A warning on a knife and a night of watching
- The siege of Marnhoul and the fight in the cellar
- A new home, a false lawyer and a death
- Duncan goes to college and love goes astray
- Edinburgh, a marriage and a little white house
Who’s who
- Duncan MacAlpineThe schoolmaster's son who tells the story, a clumsy, romantic young man who loves Irma and wants to prove himself.
- Irma MaitlandA proud, quick, black-haired girl raised in France, who guards her little brother and will take help from nobody on easy terms.
- Sir Louis MaitlandIrma's small brother, a baronet and heir to Marnhoul, who is loved by all the household and tempted by a charming uncle.
- Mary LyonDuncan's grandmother, a strict Cameronian who scolds all her neighbours and shelters every child that needs her.
- Agnes Anne MacAlpineDuncan's sister, a quiet girl who runs the house at home, and who proves bolder than her brother ever believed.
- Boyd ConnowayThe village idler and Irish talker, who is always in trouble with his wife and always knows what is going on.
- Lalor MaitlandIrma's cousin and the children's guardian, a smooth spy and adventurer who wants the family estates.
- Fred EsquillantDuncan's shy school friend, a gifted classical scholar who is afraid of girls and fond of Duncan's sister.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 28 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 11 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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El rocío de su juventud
by S. R. Crockett · 1910
A mob storms a haunted mansion in Galloway and meets a girl in a crimson sash and a little boy with yellow curls.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Dew of Their Youth is a coming-of-age romance by S. R.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ghost rumour brings the crowd to Marnhoul
The story opens in Eden Valley Academy, where Duncan MacAlpine helps his father, the schoolmaster, and also does most of the work of the post office. The coach guard, Sandy Webb, drops a piece of news before he drives off: smoke is rising from the chimney of the long-deserted Marnhoul, the Haunted House. Duncan tells his friend Jo Kettle, a rich farmer's son, and Jo makes the tale grow with every telling.
By the time Jo has whispered it to Agnes Anne, Duncan's sister, there are green demons, a Grey Lady in rustling silk and a sea serpent that has lassoed a footman. The school hears it all, and the leather strap called Lochgelly is kept busy until four o'clock. Duncan, who is supposed to be above such nonsense, is quietly glad that the school road is full of people.
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What is The Dew of Their Youth about?
It tells how Duncan MacAlpine, a schoolmaster's son in Galloway, meets Irma and Louis Maitland, two children living alone in a haunted house, and how smugglers, a false lawyer and a scheming cousin shape his youth and first love.
Who is Lalor Maitland in the book?
Lalor is the children's cousin and legal guardian. He is a charming, dangerous man who has worked as a spy and smuggler's friend, and he wants the Maitland estates for himself, so Irma and Louis fear him.
Is The Dew of Their Youth a true story?
It is a novel by S. R. Crockett, who died in 1914. The people and plot are invented, but the smuggling trade, the churches and the daily life of the Solway coast are drawn from real Scottish history.
The author
S. R. Crockett
1859–1914 · Scottish novelist
Samuel Rutherford Crockett (1859–1914) was a Scottish novelist born in Galloway, Scotland. He lived in Scotland and worked as a minister in Penicuik before becoming a full-time writer. His novels include The Lilac Sunbonnet, published in 1894, and The Dew of Their Youth, published in 1910.
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