A Proper Woman - Tapa dura

When the family croft in the Hebrides is sold, Anna Matheson is forced into marriage with Black Fergus, a harsh and violent man, and finds love and fulfillment only later in life

Lillian Beckwith (Lillian Comber) was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, in 1916. She went to live in the Hebrides before the Second World War and stayed there for nearly twenty years, living first on Elgol, Isle of Skye, and later on the nearby and smaller Isle of Soay. Her hilarious initiation into crofting life is captured in the heart warming book 'The Hills is Lonely'. She acquired her own cottage, and living and working on her own croft gave rise to a series of magical Hebridean books such as 'The Sea For Breakfast'. She retired to the Isle of Man, where she died in 2004.