so i remember very clearly when the blackhouse came out, worrying about how it would be received on theut the critics, you know? no, no. how were the islanders going to receive it? and you know, there's a sequence that happens in that book that involves ten men on ness in the northern part of the island, that go every year to a rock out in the atlantic and slaughter 2000 gannets, sulairean as they call them in the gaelic. and i'd done a lot of research with them and i'd written about that experience and all of the rest of it. just literally two weeks after the book came out, i got an e—mailfrom the guy who is the head of that group. year. i saw it was from him, dods mcfarlane, and i thought... you held your breath? i opened it up, and he said, "peter, me and the boys have read the book. we love it!" and... big sigh of relief, you know? that's all you need. just to remind people, when they begin this book, they should make an effort with the gaelic glossary at the beginning because it will make all the difference. indeed. peter may, author of i'll keep you safe, thank you very much. than

we were doing one of those location radio interviews up on the isle of lewis, talking about the blackhouses the first book that i set up there. and we went to this slipway in a tiny harbour on the north—east coast. and i had set a scene there in the book and it was a scene that i had never originally planned to do. it was a kind of bridging scene between two other scenes that i had worked out that i was going to write about. jmeanebeceuse i remember sitting yes.