Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff
A book review by Anne McFadgen
Bonnie Dundee is the tale of a gallant Scottish champion who sacrifices all in the name of honour and loyalty. The narrator of Dundee's story is a young orphan, Hugh Herriott, who leaves his grimly pious Presbyterian relatives - Covenanters who refuse to accept the Catholic King of England as head of the Church in Scotland - to serve in the King's army. His commander is Colonel John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, known to his Jacobite admirers as “Bonnie Dundee”.
Viscount Dundee has everything: charisma, wealth, royal favour, a loving marriage. But when King James VII is deposed in favour of William of Orange, Dundee refuses to forswear his old allegiance. Setting off the first of the Scottish rebellions against England known as the Jacobite Risings, in April 1689 he calls out the Highland Clans in support of James and leads a fierce running battle against William’s forces over the following months.
In Sutcliff's tale, the story of the tragic Jacobite hero Bonnie Dundee hearkens back to Celtic legends of ritual kingship: the ancient responsibility of the king to give his life for his people in times of crisis. Turning points in Dundee's life are attended by portents of mythic significance. At his wedding, an eerie light surrounds the ill-fated bridal couple. A robin’s haunting lament greets the birth of their son, destined to live but a short while. And just before Dundee’s final victory, the Goddess of Celtic lore appears in her dark aspect as the Washer at the Ford: a mysterious woman washing bloody clothes at a river crossing, an omen of death to come. (1983; 205 pages)