“An Ancient Strife” by Michael Phillips

From the theft and recovery of the Stone of Scone to the prospect of independence for Scotland, author Michael Phillips continues his account of the fictional history of Scotland and the contemporary story of Andrew Trentham, a member of Parliament for Cumbria in northern England on whose shoulders will fall the decision for independence.

This is the heart of Phillips’ An Ancient Strife, in which he blends a contemporary story (and a little romance) with critical periods of Scottish history. While the historical accounts are based on fact and real events, Phillips tells them as fictional stories, doing an excellent job of humanizing what happened, the people involved, and the effects on Scotland and its people.

Trentham is exploring Scottish history for two reasons. First, he’s discovered that he has Gordon ancestors, so that he’s part Scot and not the full-blooded Englishman he thought he was. And second, he’s trying to understand Scotland, its people, and its history, because of the critical role he will play in the British Parliament’s vote on Scottish independence.

The first volume of this two-part “Caledonia” series, Legend of the Celtic Stone, started the two-volume account (and was reviewed last week). I was expecting something of a romance between Trentham and the American journalist working for BBC but something changed between the two volumes. The journalist turned out to be married but somewhat estranged from her husband, and Trentham manages to fall in love with a rather fiery if diminutive Scot veterinarian. I suspect that the author needed to keep the romance within the Scot family.

Michael Phillips

Both books are self-contained and can be read separately or alone, but they are obviously the same story, with the same major characters and general narrative. In An Ancient Strife, Phillips tells stories in depth about the Viking invasion, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, and the Battle of Bannockburn among others. And one of his major themes is that Scotland has been betrayed by some of its own people as much as it has by anyone else – brother battling brother, clan battling clan, region battling region. That’s the “ancient strife” of the title.

Phillips is the author of 23 works of non-fiction. He’s edited 27 works of the Scottish writer George MacDonald, whose books had such an impact on C.S. Lewis. He’s edited five works of Harold Bell Wright and Ralph Connor. He’s also co-authored 13 novels with his wife Judith Pella, and written more than 40 original novels on his own.

If you want to learn more about Scotland’s history and read a contemporary story at the same time, then An Ancient Strife will fit the bill nicely. 

Related:

My review of Legend of the Celtic Stone by Michael Phillips.

My review of The Inheritance by Michael Phillips.

My review of The Cottage by Michael Phillips.

My review of The Legacy by Michael Phillips.

Top photograph of Ben Nevis in Scotland by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

“Legend of the Celtic Stone” by Michael Phillips

In late 1950, a group of students from Glasgow traveled to London and managed to pull off one of the most famous thefts in British history – the Stone of Scone in Westminster Abbey. The stone resided in the coronation chair constructed for Edward I, and it is the chair upon which all British monarchs are crowned. The 396-pound stone had been the traditional stone where Scottish monarchs had been crowned; Edward Longshanks of England took it in 1296 and carried it off to London. The Scots didn’t forgive or forget.

Novelist Michael Phillips centered Legend of the Celtic Stone, part one of the two-volume “Caledonia” series, on the Stone of Scone. Published in 1999 (and recently republished), the theft of the stone if fast-forwarded to the late 1990s, when Queen Elizabeth has abdicated and Charles is now king. The theft is connected to leaders in the Scottish National Party, not unlike the original, true theft story, in which there was some shadowy involvement of a political leader.

But this isn’t simply a story of contemporary British politics and the theft of the stone. Phillips aims a bit higher – at the legend of how Scotland came to be, weaving the various threads of Celts, Picts, Romans, Irish, Vikings, Englishmen, and Scots into a coherent narrative that is fascinating. His point is that the past is never past – it still influences the present in surprising, unexpected ways.

Andrew Trentham is a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, representing Cumbria, the English lake country not far south of the Scottish border. He comes from an old family, and his mother has had ambitions for him ever since the death of his older sister. Andrew finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the party leadership role – and because of a murder connected to the theft of the stone. His leadership responsibilities arrive at the same time he is wrestling with who he is and where he comes from. The answers he finds have much to do with Scottish history.

Michael Phillips

Phillips pairs the imagined stories of the first Celts to arrive, the Picts battling the Romans, and the various battles and wars between the Scots and the English with the contemporary story of Andrew Trentham to provide a broad (and fictionalized) sweep of Scottish history. The second volume, An Ancient Strife, completes the two-volume account (and will be reviewed next week). Phillips also add a possibility of romance for Trentham with an American journalist working for the BBC.

Phillips is the author of 23 works of non-fiction. He’s edited 27 works of the Scottish writer George MacDonald, whose books had such an impact on C.S. Lewis. He’s edited five works of Harold Bell Wright and Ralph Connor. He’s also co-authored 13 novels with his wife Judith Pella, and written more than 40 original novels on his own.

Legend of the Celtic Stone is a broad, fictional but realistic sweep of Scottish history and contemporary British politics. It’s also one dandy read.

Related:

My review of The Inheritance by Michael Phillips.

My review of The Cottage by Michael Phillips.

My review of The Legacy by Michael Phillips.

Top photograph: The Stone of Scone in the coronation throne, also known as King Edward’s throne.