The dark year of Dundee : A tale of the Scottish Reformation by Deborah Alcock
"Fatal fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. Judging by the provided opening, it reads as historical fiction set in plague‑stricken Dundee during the Scottish Reformation, following humble townsfolk—especially Mary Wigton and the Duncan family—whose lives are changed by loss, charity, and the preaching of George Wishart. The focus is on faith under pressure, daily survival, and the quiet heroism found in ordinary homes. The
opening of the work places us in Dundee as the plague approaches: Mary Wigton, newly arrived from the countryside, bonds with the struggling Duncans while her ailing, indebted father succumbs without priestly rites. As fear and scarcity grip the town, the reformer George Wishart returns to preach comfort at the East Port, and his message of grace brings Mary deep peace and draws the Duncans to wrestle with old beliefs. Hardship sharpens: little Effie dies tenderly trusting Christ; Jamie, the family’s mainstay, falls ill and the household faces starvation. Mary’s desperate search for help fails—until Wishart himself visits, prays with Jamie, leaves a New Testament, and practical aid arrives; hope returns, Jamie rallies, and the section closes with the startling reappearance of Mary’s brother, the priest John Wigton. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Alcock, Deborah, 1835-1913 |
|---|---|
| Title | The dark year of Dundee : A tale of the Scottish Reformation |
| Original Publication | London: T. Nelson & Sons, 1867. |
| Credits | Richard Tonsing, Richard Hulse, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | Historical fiction |
| Subject | Reformation -- Scotland -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77324 |
| Release Date | Nov 24, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 159 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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