Book of the Week
Title deeds
A different look at the history of Scotland.
Title deeds by Liza Campbell
Have you ever wondered how a family who had so much could end up with so little? Come met the Campbell’s of Cawdor. In particular met Hugh Campbell, the 25th Thane of Cawdor. Let his daughter tell you how her destructive father mismanaged and ultimately betrayed their family, their wealth and their futures. This aristocratic family goes back many generations to 1295. They were rich in history, lands and castles and yet Hugh partied it all away. The legacy overwhelmed Hugh right from the start and sadly lands that come into the family in the seventeenth century was lost after only 17 years in his hands.
Hugh grew older but he did not mature. A great example of this is that Hugh wrote off several Ferrari and come to the conclusion that it was the brand of vehicle rather than his drunken lifestyle and as a result he simply changed the type of car he purchased and continued to write-off vehicles. As a host he was convivial and generous but as a father he was intolerant and often unkind and yet his family adored him. The author concluded that only poor people got sectioned and that rich lunatics were left to roam free with everyone looking the other way.
This book looks beyond the tourist idea of Scotland. Its tartans and bagpipes and tells the personal story of how the other half lives and how they too had to pay the price for the sins of the father.
16 November 2007
