14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 302 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 302 pagesAbout 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 love this book if you enjoy Scottish settings, smugglers, comic village characters, bold heroines, and a love story told with warmth and laughter.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ghost rumor meets real children
- Mary Lyon turns anger into care
- Irma trusts Duncan with her danger
- The household answers danger with courage
- Safety comes from neighbors who act
- Jealousy turns courtship into a trap
- Family grows through choices and kindness
- Duncan's boasts invite a closer look
Who’s who
- Duncan MacAlpineThe schoolmaster's son who tells the tale. He is brave, vain and often foolish, and he wants to win Irma and prove himself.
- Irma Sobieski MaitlandA proud, quick-witted girl who guards her little brother and trusts few people. She wants to keep Louis safe and to choose her own path.
- Sir Louis MaitlandIrma's young brother, a baronet and heir to Marnhoul. He craves friends of his own age and the importance of his name.
- Mary LyonDuncan's grandmother, a Cameronian farm wife with a sharp tongue and fierce kindness. She wants every child in her reach fed, scolded and safe.
- Agnes Anne MacAlpineDuncan's sister, quiet and capable. She wants to prove she is useful and braver than anyone thinks.
- Boyd ConnowayThe village idler and storyteller with Irish charm. He avoids work, loves a tale and is kind to the sick and the young.
- Lalor MaitlandThe children's cousin and former governor of a Low Countries castle. He is charming, ambitious and eager to control the Maitland fortune.
- Aunt JenDuncan's sour, hard-working aunt who disapproves of everything. She wants order in the house and is secretly soft toward the children.
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The Dew of Their Youth in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Dew of Their Youth
by S. R. Crockett · 1910
A crowd storms a haunted house and finds a girl in a crimson sash holding a small boy's hand.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What do you do when the whole school runs to a haunted house and the ghost opens the door? In Eden Valley, a Galloway village in the old smuggling days, a coach guard drops a piece of news.
The Dew of Their Youth at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 35 min5 h 15 min fast, 7 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 93,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1910by S. R. Crockett
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rumor sends a village to Marnhoul
The story opens at Eden Valley Academy, where Duncan MacAlpine helps his father, the schoolmaster. The coach guard, Sandy Webb, says the ghost of Marnhoul is lighting his four o'clock fire. Marnhoul is a gaunt old mansion sunk in woods, and some boys, including Duncan, have dared to grip its gate on a moonlit night.
Duncan's friend Jo Kettle carries the news into class and grows it with every telling. Soon there are green demons and a sea serpent. When school ends, everyone races to the gate, and the village loafer, Boyd Connoway, points with a straw at a real column of smoke.
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A crowd storms a haunted house and finds a girl in a crimson sash holding a small boy's hand.
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Details
- First published
- 1910
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 302 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 302 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 492 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 492 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Tue 1 Dec to Mon 7 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Crockett, S. R. The Dew of Their Youth. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dew-of-their-youth.
Crockett, S. R. (2026). The dew of their youth. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dew-of-their-youth (Original work published 1910)
Crockett, S. R. The Dew of Their Youth. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dew-of-their-youth.
@book{crockett2026dew,
author = {Crockett, S. R.},
title = {The Dew of Their Youth},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dew-of-their-youth},
note = {First published 1910}
}
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What is The Dew of Their Youth about?
It follows Duncan MacAlpine, a Galloway schoolmaster's son. He helps two orphaned children living in a haunted mansion, faces smugglers and a dangerous cousin, studies in Edinburgh and chases his first love, Irma.
Who is Irma Maitland?
Irma is a proud, resourceful girl who arrives at the haunted house with her young brother Louis, a baronet. She is educated, fearless and fiercely protective, and she becomes the center of Duncan's life.
What does the title mean?
The dew stands for youth, fresh and quick to pass. The book looks back at a time of first love, bold adventures and mistakes that Duncan can laugh about now that he is older.
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.
“I have no religious prejudices!”
More by S. R. Crockett
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