 Silver
Threads
PRICE: £9.99
ISBN: 978-0-9554535-5-7
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PlashMill Press is pleased to announce the
release of successful Scottish author Tom Ralston's new book.
Silver Threads is a dramatic
novel weaving a tale of life, love and tragedy set against the background
of life in Scotland’s fishing communities.
Mr Ralston will be doing a tour of book signings
and talks during the forthcoming months to publicise the new book,
and details of his appearances will be available from the publisher’s
website and in the local media.
Born in Campbeltown, Mr Ralston left school
to become a fisherman at the age of fifteen. He worked in the industry
for many years before coming ashore and forming his own fish buying
and processing Company. He served the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
for over 34 years, retiring from the post of Coxswain/Mechanic of
the Mallaig lifeboat in 1991. During this time he was awarded the
Bronze Medal for bravery. He served 15 years in the Royal Naval Reserve,
reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer. He was appointed Justice
of the Peace in the Lochaber area, an appointment which, he says,
taught him a great deal about life.
Mr Ralston’s wide ranging and profound
knowledge of the Scottish fishing community informs his new book,
which is an ambitious and powerful novel telling the story of the
lives of a group of individuals but also accurately illustrating the
wider life of the fishing community and the important role that it
played.
Silver Threads is Mr Ralston’s
third book to be published. His previous books, My Captains and To
The Edge, received widespread critical acclaim.
Now retired, Mr Ralston now lives in Lundin
Links in Fife with his wife Ina. They have two daughters.
REVIEWS
Reviewer: David Renwick Grant
SILVER THREADS
Review: 6th Nov 2008
This is a jolly good story, well told. Set against
the background of the herring fishing industry on the west coast of
Scotland, it is both a love story and a tragedy; above all it is a
magnificent and authentic account of ring-net fishing as it was in
its latter days. The tale moves rapidly along, following young Bill
Martin from adolescence in Cambeltown to becoming established as a
fisherman in Mallaig. Early on, he meets a girl, who falls as deeply
in love with him as he does with her but fate and different faiths
separate them. Meanwhile, Bill buys his own boat, becomes a highly
successful herring fisherman and marries a local girl. The descriptions
are so good that one shares the agonies when fish are scarce, sweats
buckets hauling in a huge catch – and becomes quite nauseous
when the Misty Isle buckets and plunges in a storm, always hunting
the elusive herring. The social life of the community forms an important
strand in the book, too. As the fishery develops, the town expands,
with more facilities and more boats. A lifeboat station is established
– and thereby sows the seeds of tragedy when a boat is lost
in terrible weather. There is personal tragedy for Bill as well but
to write more would risk giving away too much, as the tale hurtles
to its surprising conclusion. I highly recommend this book, which
is a most creditable first novel.
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