The Daft Days

Neil Munro's first contemporary novel, published in 1907, is evocatively set in a small town, which can easily be identified as his own home of Inveraray. As the every day life of the Dyce family unfolds, West Highland beliefs and values are repeatedly contrasted with those of the outside and wider world through the arrival of their young American niece from Chicago. In a further comparison the patterns and rhythms of life in the town are set against those of the tiny Hebridean island of Colonsay. Kate, their maid of all work, is perpetually torn between her delight in the sophistication of her new home on the mainland and her nostalgia for the gentler pace of island life. Light hearted and humorous in tone, as one might expect from the creator of Para Handy, this is also a subtle and serious examination of the way in which women with creative gifts in the Scotland of Munro's day were restricted by the social and religious attitudes and educational system of their country.