Roisinis
Towards the latter half of the book, the location switches to the mysterious village of Roisinis
Roisnis sounds like I made it up for the book, but actually it is based on fact, and is an abandoned area on the Isle Eriskay.
As a matter of historical interest, it looks onto the area where the SS Politician floundered in World War II
The SS Politician was carrying goods destined for the American markets including a huge amount of whisky. Scotland like the rest of the United Kingdom was suffering a shortage of everything, so when the ship ran aground, islanders from Eriskay including no doubt people from Roisnis as well as the Isle of South Uist flocked to their shared coast lines to help the survivors and in turn when the authorities weren't looking, to plunder the wreck!
The men of Eriskay (and South Uist) got away with many bottles before an attempt to refloat the ship failed, the ship broke its back and half o it lies on the sea floor to this day. The other half was refloated and broken up for scrap metal.
The story was made into a wonderful Ealing comedy in 1949 and is well worth trying to find where-ever you get downloads from. It was later remade starring Eddie Izzard but the earlier comedy, shot exclusively on the nearby Isle of Barra that people love so much.
(See links to both versions of the film below)
Roisnis was like many Hebridean settlements, people carving out a difficult lifestyle in the harshest of environments; some settlements were successful, some less so. Roisnis sadly floundered with the last recorded residents leaving in the 1950s. Today, it stands largely forgotten, a cluster of approximately a dozen croft houses in different states of disrepair, all missing their roofs and some missing walls as well covered by a layer of peat and moss.
Well visited there on a misty day in February 2024 and the following are pictures of the visit. Well worth recording!
Note the ever present fog-bow that appears in many of the images!
NOTE - clicking on below pictures below they will take to YouTube. No responsibility is taken for content provided by third part websites