AGENCY WOMAN IN THE NORTHERN TIMES by John A. A. Logan
Two years ago, The Northern Times (the weekly newspaper for Sutherland and the
North Highlands of Scotland) did a feature article on my then-new novel, The
Survival of Thomas Ford’s release, entitled, “The Literary Survival of John
Logan”:
Later
in 2012, when I released Storm Damage, the newspaper did another article on
that book.
When
I released my new novel, Agency Woman, last month, quite a bit of time had gone
by since the last book release, so I wondered if they would remember me…
On
Friday 28 February, though, The Northern Times ran a feature on Agency Woman’s
release in their Arts and Lifestyle/Books section.
Here is the article, reproduced by kind permission of reporter, Caroline McMorran, and The Northern Times:
Here is the article, reproduced by kind permission of reporter, Caroline McMorran, and The Northern Times:
North author writes ‘probably the first thriller set in Achriesgill’
NORTH
author John A A Logan has chosen
the
tiny north west Sutherland community
of
Achriesgill as the main setting
for
his latest thriller Agency Woman.
Logan
knows the area well as his late
mum
Agnes Logan (nee Ross) was born
and
brought up there and he has been a
frequent
visitor.
The
Inverness-based writer acknowledges
the
peaceful rural surroundings are
an
unlikely background for a tale of dark
deeds.
He
jokes: “It’s probably the first espionage
mystery/thriller
set in Achriesgill!”
The
book is dedicated to Agnes, who
passed
away aged 76 last May. Mother and
son
were close, with Logan looking after
Agnes,
who was disabled, for a number of
years.
Agency
Woman was
released on Amazon
Kindle
at the start of the month and immediately
soared
to number 21 on the
Amazon
international mystery and crime
chart.
The plot centres around a damaged
man
who finds himself drafted back into
a
world he thought he had escaped when
the
local branch of a powerful international
agency
needs a mysterious job done in
the
Highlands.
Logan
sums it up as “a dark tale of conspiracy,
espionage,
murder and terrorism
with
an existential edge and the spirit of
Foinaven
looming at its centre”.
Inverness
is the setting for chapters one
and
two, but from chapter three onwards,
the
book is set in Achriesgill.
A
number of scenes take place on
Foinaven
and Oldshoremore beach with
Kinlochbervie
and Durness also serving as
settings
in other chapters.
An
Aberdeen University English honours
graduate,
Mr Logan has made writing
his
livelihood.
He
is the author of five novels and 85
short
stories and his work has received
widespread
praise from critics.
He
has previously spoken of his frustration
at
the publishing industry’s increasing
reluctance
to publish authors’ work in a
physical
form. As a result, his last two novels,
The
Survival of Thomas Ford and Storm
Damage
were
also released on Kindle at
Amazon.
“The
books have done quite well worldwide,
with
a total of 125,000 downloads,”
he
reveals.
Logan
still retains strong links with
Achriesgill.
His aunt, June Taylor, and
a
cousin, Angus Ross, live in the house
in
which his mother was born at 105
Achriesgill.
Another cousin, Jane Morrison,
lives
in Kinlochbervie.
Logan
says: “My mum’s brother,
Donnie
Ross, who is 78, was a shepherd
at
Achriesgill in the 1970s but emigrated
to
Montreal. A friend in Achriesgill sends
him
copies of The Northern Times every
week.
“My
mum’s sister, Morag Matheson,
was
a nurse at Achriesgill and also at
Dounreay.”
Logan
has fond memories of childhood
holidays
spent at Achriesgill.
“I
would stay at my Auntie Morag’s cottage
at
the foot of Foinaven in the summers,”
he
recalls. “My cousins and I would
play
together or fish out on the sea and sea
loch
in rowing boats, or walk up the side of
Foinaven.
We ate salmon nearly every day
and
were allowed to stay up until midnight
watching
old Dracula films on TV, which I
never
forgot!”
The
magic Achriesgill holds for Logan is
summed
up in a documentary film called
The
Crofters,
made in 1944.
“My
mum is shown in the film, aged six,
walking
up the hill from Achriesgill towards
the
school – on the way to Kinlochbervie,”
he
says.
“The
Crofters is a great film and captures
on
record the lives of the people of
Achriesgill
back then. With all this in my
mind,
it was natural that I’d set a novel
there
one day.”
Achriesgill, Sutherland
Thanks
very much to Caroline McMorran and The Northern Times for kindly giving permission to reproduce the article!
Quite
a few people in the north Highlands, where there are relatively few bookshops, must have
E-readers/Kindles, because the day the article came out Agency Woman climbed
into 3 Top 100 Amazon Bestselling charts simultaneously:
Number
13 in “International Crime and Mystery”
Number
74 in “Espionage”
Number
93 in “Spy Stories”
Agency
Woman on Amazon UK:
Agency
Woman on Amazon US:
As
the article says, Agency Woman is dedicated to my Mum, who passed away last
year.
Here
is the link to The Crofters, the 1944 documentary film on the village of
Achriesgill, where Agency Woman is set and where my Mum was born.
That’s
her on screen walking to school, from 4.43-5.00, she’s the shortest/youngest
one with black coat and short black hair, grey socks, third from left at the
beginning, seen from side later, then from behind (apparently
scratching/rubbing her nose while walking along):
http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=0120&search_term=john&search_join_type=AND&search_fuzzy=yes
At 4.52 she turns and looks right into the camera as she passes it.
http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=0120&search_term=john&search_join_type=AND&search_fuzzy=yes
At 4.52 she turns and looks right into the camera as she passes it.
The Crofters
is a fine, energetic film in its own right, capturing well, and artfully, a
time, place and spirit now past.
Comments
Thank-you, Aine!
Thanks, Lydia - yes, it got me thinking about that, too, the practical necessity of an ereader in parts of UK where bookshops are scarce, and even postal delivery unreliable. Then again, it might be hard to get a wi-fi or 3G signal in remote spots, too...not impossible, though, that people have more reading choice in the isolated places than ever before!