The Other Side of Stone by Linda Cracknell

Taking as its focal point a 19th century mill building in Perthshire, author Linda Cracknell’s The Other Side of Stone isa remarkable novella, interweaving threads of disparate lives over two centuries. Just as the tweeds that are produced at the mill – first by rural workers and water power, later by deafening machinery – have their own unique weft and warp, so the loosely connected tales come together to create a satisfying whole, encompassing personal relationships, political upheavals and the shadow of war.

The first story is that of a stonemason working on the construction of the mill in 1830. Steeped in Gaelic folklore and, like the other villagers, “quite bespelled by the thing clambering towards the heavens in steel and wood and stone”, he hides a mysterious symbol on the back of the mill’s date stone. This supernatural carving from Highland tradition takes the shape of a Green Woman, reputed to lure travellers from their path. Her spirit seems to take hold of the mill, demanding loyalty from those who work there, even if they will not profit from their labours, and extracting a price from those who defy it. It stands as a symbol of industrialisation, and is pitted against the natural world.

In 1913, a firebrand supporter of the suffrage movement rails against the mill and its hold on her foreman husband. Her fury at the unravelling of his principles and the strictures of her social position are directed at the dark building opposite her cottage.

In 1990 the mill bears witness to its last employee, holed up and defiant against