Douglas Stewart

It feels like a freedom.

It feels like a white page.

Well, I can't wait to see how you fill that white page.

Watch, I'll be right back in Paisley before you know it.

Thank you so much, Sarah.

Thank you so much, Sarah.

Yes.

I mean, I am a Scotsman who grew up in Glasgow, but I had never been to the Outer Hebrides before.

You know, they're quite far from the mainland and it takes some effort to get there.

But in 2019, when I was thinking about writing a new novel, I decided I was going to go to the Archipelago of Islands and just explore it and see if a story emerged.

And I realized that every little settlement I went to, that when I was talking to someone, I would sit at a kitchen table and have tea and pancakes or whatever they baked for me.

It was, you know, all the islanders were very hospitable.

But I was hearing about their settlement and the people in the village.

And there was always a bachelor or some spinsters who had never married.

And for quite a conservative Christian place, that seemed a little unusual.

And I asked everybody, you know, well, why did so-and-so not marry?

Why didn't they ever sort of take a partner?

And the answer was often, well, they missed their moment, was what was said.

And I came to learn that in rural places, you know, the window to find someone to love could be quite short, quite narrow.

And that just really sparked my imagination.