And the Land Lay Still (97 page)

Thanks also, for technical, cultural and anecdotal information and discussions of various kinds, to Joseph Bonnar, Geoffrey Elborn, Robin Gillanders, Ian Hamilton, Jimmy Hutchison, Brian Lambie, Alan Lawson, Annie Matheson, James Miller, Judy Moir, Dudley Treffry, Rory Watson and many others.

I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of a Creative Scotland Award from the Scottish Arts Council in 2006, for the purposes of researching and writing this book. Without this award the project might never have been begun, and certainly would have been much more difficult to complete.

The details of the pit disaster at Borlanslogie (an imaginary place) bear a close resemblance to real events that took place at Knockshinnoch Colliery in Ayrshire in September 1950, and some of the words of the survivors are adapted from testimony given by miners at Knockshinnoch.

Many books, magazines, journals and other documents – too many to list here – were valuable resources in constructing the political parts of this novel. Particularly helpful were:
The Battle for Scotland
by Andrew Marr;
Poets, Pubs, Polls and Pillar Boxes
by John Herdman;
Britain’s Secret War
by Andrew Murray Scott and Iain Macleay;
The
Road to the Scottish Parliament
by Brian Taylor;
‘We in Scotland’: Thatcherism in a Cold Climate
by David Torrance; and
The Road to Home Rule
by Christopher Harvie and Peter Jones.

My deep appreciation goes to my parents, John and Betty, for all their love and wisdom over the years.

Finally, I cannot adequately express my thanks to Marianne, for the unflinching support and astonishing patience she has shown during the four years of toil that have been spent in the writing of this novel. The last and biggest thank-you is to her.