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No Safe Anchorage: Flight, Exile, Loss and Hope Paperback – October 27, 2017

by Liz MacRae Shaw (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 28 ratings
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Tom Masters, a nineteenth century naval officer, is a round peg in a square hole. A tantalising glimpse of a stranger leads him to jump ship on a quest to find her. His adventures, interwoven with the life of a young Robert Louis Stevenson, take Tom from the Isle of Skye to Canada. There he encounters others who have been jettisoned by society, including Silent Owl, a Native American who becomes his soulmate. But, danger and exposure threaten Tom's every move as he is forced to continue on his journey...
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  1. Print length
    280 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Top Hat Books
  4. Publication date
    October 27, 2017
  5. Dimensions
    5.48 x 0.63 x 8.51 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1782797068
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1782797067
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

An evocative and fast-moving tale set in Skye and the West Highlands before moving to Canada, 'No Safe Anchorage', like its title, swirls with danger. It invokes the spirit of Robert Louis Stevenson whose childhood it portrays. With its sharp use of dialogue and tight, concise description, it also conjures up that writer in other ways, creating an adventure story that is as breathless and exciting as some of that nineteenth century novelist's work. -- Donald S Murray

'No Safe Anchorage' is a great second novel by Liz MacRae Shaw. Set in the mid-nineteenth century in and around the Isle of Skye, and moving on to Canada, we follow the life of a naval officer, Tom Masters, a square peg in a round hole. His childhood experiences, slowly revealed, loss of a close friend and awakening sexuality make for a very strong central character. Neatly woven in is part of the life of Robert Louis Stevenson who might be described as a similarly round peg within his lighthouse building family. -- Linda Henderson, author and editor

About the Author

Liz Macrae Shaw studied History at Oxford University; her passion is the turbulent nineteenth century. Liz lives with her husband and two standard poodles on the Isle of Skye. She finds inspiration for her historical fiction from Highland culture, family history and the stark but beautiful landscape of the island.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Top Hat Books (October 27, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782797068
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1782797067
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.48 x 0.63 x 8.51 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 28 ratings

About the author

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Liz MacRae Shaw

Liz MacRae Shaw

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Although I was brought up in England I spent all my summer holidays as a child and teenager with my grandparents on the Isle of Skye and the island cast its spell over me. The inspiration for my historical fiction comes from the history, culture and landscape of this unique and beautiful place.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
28 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ann Friedman
5.0 out of 5 stars Landscape and seascape
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2017
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No Safe Anchorage deftly braids three stories that span the Hebrides Islands of Scotland, the wilderness of eastern Canada, and the Pacific Island of Samoa from 1856 to 1891. We first meet the principal character, Tom Masters, as a young officer of a ship carrying out a survey of the Hebrides Islands and the Scottish coastline. Woven into the story of the fictional Tom Masters are the characters of Janet Mackenzie, the author’s thrice-great-grandmother, and Robert Louis Stevenson, whom we meet as both a child visiting the Hebrides in the early chapters of the book and as a famous author (and plantation owner) in Samoa.

Tom Masters gradually comes to the fore as the protagonist of the novel, and from then on, we see events and places through his point of view. Tom’s adventures lead him to jump ship in Scotland. This has left the threat of arrest for desertion hanging over Tom’s head – he feels there is no safe anchorage wherever he may be – but it forces him to branch out and develop his character and interests in ways he would not have anticipated. The reader shares in his growth and insights and observations of the land and people around him.

He emigrates to Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada, where he becomes a farmer and photographer with great sympathy for the Native tribes. He takes a Micmac man as his lover and goes with him to photograph the Indians of the Canadian prairie. Eventually he travels to the Pacific island of Samoa to photograph the natives there.

The landscape is as much a character as any of the people in the novel. Liz MacRae Shaw has a keen eye to observe, and pen to record, the beauty of landscape, notably in and around the Isle of Skye (where she lives), so it is especially fitting that she would create a character who is a mapmaker and an artist, equally keen to observe and record the beauty around him.
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Helen Hollick
4.0 out of 5 stars A Discovering Diamonds Review
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2017
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Helen Hollick
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' the feeling of the Hebrides is as strong as the Canadian scenes, introducing both a young and older Stevenson is a lovely touch and I can warmly recommend this book.'
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Debby D. Flower
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just your everyday historical!
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2018
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After years of reading historical Romances based in Scotland, I’ve found something different! Beginning in mid 19th century Isle of Skye, Scotland and traveling to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and other new world locales before heading to Samoa, we get to follow the stories of the widow MacKenzie, who is apparently based on an ancestor of the author’s, naval officer Tom Masters and the real Robert Louis Stevenson. The history is spot on without being tedious.
I can’t say I couldn’t sleep till I finished it, but even better- when I fell asleep, I dreamed about this book!
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Manumit
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripped from beginning to end.
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2017
There is something about the way this historical novel, 'No Safe Anchorage', by Liz MacRae Shaw begins that makes you confident that, regardless of what may befall her characters, you are in safe hands and assured of an engrossing read.
The preface explains that aspects of the story are founded on truth, which is reinforced by the authors' skill and evident knowledge and love of Scotland's Western Isles. Her descriptions of the islands around Skye and their inhabitants at a time when poverty was widespread in Scotland and the Highland Clearances still ongoing are deeply evocative.

The story begins in Bournemouth in 1886 with the renowned author, Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife making a brief appearance. The tale then flashes back to 1854 to the time when Stevenson was a sickly boy staying with a fisherman's widow on the island of Rona. There we are introduced to a cast of beautifully drawn characters including a glimpse of the main protagonist, a young Naval officer, Tom Masters, who is serving on a survey vessel charting the Hebridian waters. And it's here that Tom and the ship's Bo 'sun, Richard, both encounter a girl, a will-o'-the-wisp, who so entrances them as to change their destinies. forever.

This fast paced tale then follows the various vicissitudes of Tom's fascinating life until, many years later he meets up again with Robert Louis Stevenson. No Safe Anchorage was one of those rare stories that I found so enjoyable, I didn't want it to finish; moreover I feel certain that were Robert Louis Stevenson to have read it he would have enjoyed it every bit as much as I did. A must read.
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Norman Sean
3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed review
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2023
I very much enjoyed the setting of the book having read it while on vacation on the Isle of Skye where the book starts. The author weaves many Gaelic phrases into the conversation. The book does take some patience as the author attempts to set the stage for several different stories (too many maybe) that will eventually come together by the end of the book. Having made it past the somewhat cumbersome beginning, I did find myself drawn to the book and finished it one sitting. It was hard to put down as I waited to see how all the pieces would come together.

A bit of a caveat here: I think those of a more "progressive" bent will likely to enjoy the common themes repeatedly painting the picture that religion is harmful, anglo-hetero marriages are devoid of love, and that anglo settlers in multiple lands (Canada, Samoa, and the US) are almost alway a bad lot in their treatment of natives. These themes are hammered home chapter after chapter. Those who value a more nuanced or complex take on such themes are likely to be disappointed. Those of a more "conservative" bent may find the repeated emphasis off-putting. Having said that, I am not a fan of existing within an echo chamber but let the buyer beware.

Trying not to weigh in directly on the values behind the themes, I give this interesting, quick read three stars. It held my attention as I waited to see how the multiple stories would work their way out in the end. For my taste, accepting their resolution requires an act of stretched imagination but, then again, much of fiction does. Suspending disbelief to accept one or two such fatalistic coincidences probably works, more than that feels like a stretch to me.
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Top reviews from other countries

Marga J
5.0 out of 5 stars If you like historical fiction, you'll love this book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2018
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This book kept me awake at night - not because it was awful (far from it!) but because I could not put it down. Liz MacRae Shaw is a wonderful storyteller who keeps the reader’s attention, while the chapters are fairly short so it is tempting to think ‘Just one more!’.
In 'No Safe Anchorage', MacRae Shaw interweaves the stories of Tom Masters, a young lieutenant on board a 19th-century ship charting the Scottish coast, and Janet MacKenzie, a feisty widow on the island of Rona (who also happens to be the author’s great-great-great-grandmother). In the absence of a lighthouse on Rona, Janet has saved countless lives by lighting an oil lamp in the window of her cottage at night.
Through the intervention of Tom's commanding officer, Captain Otter, a lighthouse is built on Rona under the supervision of Thomas Stevenson, father of the author Robert Louis Stevenson. He brings his young son, who falls ill and is nursed by Janet. I greatly enjoyed the chapters describing the relationship between the sickly child and the older woman. Louis has a mellowing influence on Janet and helps her face her demons, while her Scottish folk tales fan the flames of his imagination that eventually turn him into a successful novelist.
Following a dramatic turn of events, Tom emigrates to Canada and we follow him on his voyage there and during his first years in the New World. The descriptions of the Canadian landscape and Tom’s interaction with the native population are particularly fine; they provide a sharp contrast to the relentless expansion of ‘civilised’ society and the hypocrisy of the settlers. There are faint echoes here of the film 'Dances with Wolves', albeit that it is 'Dances with Wolves' with a twist.
The final two chapters of the book describe another encounter between Tom and Robert Louis Stevenson, who by now has moved to Samoa. These mirror the chapters of their earlier meeting on Rona: again, they are together on an island which is essentially alien to both of them.
A character I particularly liked was Tom’s sister Emma, who develops from a demure Victorian housewife into a successful businesswoman and a pillar of society. I would love to read more about her; perhaps MacRae Shaw could expand on her story in a future novel?
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michael tickner
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a really well written and thoroughly readable story ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is a really well written and thoroughly readable story.It takes place in Scotland with evocative descriptions of Skye and she similarly brings the wilderness of Canada to life.I rationed myself to a few pages each day to make it last as I was enjoying it so much.
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Alex Scarbrough
5.0 out of 5 stars A feast of a novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2017
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'No Safe Anchorage' takes the reader on a journey during the 19th century to the Scottish Hebrides, the English Midlands, and the Atlantic seaboard of Canada. The suspense grips early as the stories of the characters in the novel weave a fascinating tapestry involving in equal measure infidelity, suicide, and betrayal, but also longing, loss, tenderness and love. Liz Macrae Shaw uses language with considerable skill to transport the reader to different places and times, vividly recreating both the beauty and the horror encountered by the novel's characters – the stark beauty of a Hebridean seascape, the appalling stench and terror of the hold of a 19th century emigrant ship, the eternal silence of a Cape Breton forest, the incessant fear of not knowing who to trust when meeting strangers, the heat and fragrances of a Pacific garden. She maintains the suspense of the narrative by leaving the reader to infer what is happening thus giving them the fun of trying to work out where the connections might be, where the story might lead. A feast of a novel and one to be thoroughly recommended.
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Mrs Jane E K Inglese
5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put it down.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
Having read "Love and Music will endure" I was looking forward to Liz MacRae Shaw's second book, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I found it a book I couldn't put down and I was quickly drawn into the storyline. The author invites us to share with her her love for the beautiful islands she knows so well, showing a keen insight into the characters she creates, and using vivid imagery and an attention to detail. I look forward to further novels.
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Rosemary Collier
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 5, 2018
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A good read
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