The Witness

by James Jauncey

A fast-paced literary thriller set in the Scottish Highlands in the near future, when the disastrous nationalization of the land has led to a violent uprising I'm the only one who saw what they did .... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0330447149
• ISBN13: 9780330447140
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Young Picador
• Length: 373 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.0" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

An intriguing story

I first heard of this book on NPR's "Thistle and Shamrock" radio program. The author, who was a guest on the program, was reading passages from the book and discussing the musical references as well as playing songs were mentioned in the story (The author is also a musician). The background of this story is that in some future time in Scotland, the government has passed a law which limits the amount of land a person can own to one acre. The people begin to revolt and the government crackdown leading to more tension. The protagonist witnesses an atrocity by government soldiers. While exploring what happened, he discovers an apparently abandoned handicapped boy. The novel follows their flight from the soldiers as they try to find safety. The novel uses quite a bit of Scottish terminology (like "burn" and "bothy") so it was helpful to look up an occasional word that wasn't clear from the context. I was pulled in by the story; it kept my attention, and I didn't want to put it down. My one disagreement was that the final resolution felt rushed; but overall, it was a good experience and I'd recommend it to others.