The Piper's Tune

Book excerpt: Jessica Stirling's Glasgow comes to scintillating life in The Piper's Tune, a story of love and fortune set in Edwardian Scotland. Lindsay Franklin's life is an adventure she has just begun to enjoy. At eighteen, Arthur Franklin's cosseted daughter has left her Glasgow school and finds her role as a marriageable young lady with a widowed father more than agreeable. And the source of her family's wealth, the Franklins' shipbuilding yard on Clydeside, is prospering as the long peace of Queen Victoria's reign gives way to the feverish arms race of the new century. But Lindsay's life takes an unexpected turn when she is given a share of the family business. Equally unexpected is the appearance of Forbes McCullough, her charming Irish cousin whose attentions she secretly welcomes. To everyone's surprise, Lindsay decides to master the family business as carefully as her male cousins. What is not surprising is that several eligible men have decided that it is time to master Lindsay. As the mysteries of shipbuilding open to her, and the puzzle of male behavior becomes both more fascinating and more dangerous, Lindsay is forced to make some fateful decisions.