Hugh C. Rae (1935–2014)
Author of Harkfast: The Making of the King
About the Author
Hugh C. Rae was born on November 22, 1935 in Glasgow, Scotland. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. His first novel, Skinner, was published in 1963. He wrote several novels using his name including Night Pillow, A show more Few Small Bones, The Interview, The Shooting Gallery, The Marksman, and Harkfast: The Making of a King. He also wrote as Robert Crawford, R. B. Houston, James Albany, and Stuart Stern. Using the pseudonym Jessica Stirling, he wrote more than 30 historical romances. He wrote the first few novels with Peggie Coghlan. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he wrote the remainder on his own. The books written under this pseudonym include The Spoiled Earth, The Constant Star, Hearts of Gold, and Whatever Happened to Molly Bloom. He died on September 24, 2014 at the age of 78. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Hugh Crauford Rae also wrote under the pen names of "Hugh C. Rae", "Hugh Rae", "Robert Crawford", "R.B. Houston", "Jessica Stirling" (initially with Peggie Coghlan), "Stuart Stern" (with S. Ungar), "James Albany" and "Caroline Crosby".
Series
Works by Hugh C. Rae
På farligt spår 1 copy
Privelidged Strangers 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Rae, Hugh C.
- Legal name
- Rae, Hugh Crauford
- Other names
- Rae, Hugh C.
Rae, Hugh
Crawford, Robert
Houston, R.B.
Stirling, Jessica
Stern, Stuart (show all 8)
Albany, James
Crosby, Caroline - Birthdate
- 1935-11-22
- Date of death
- 2014-09-24
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Knightswood Senior Secondary School, Glasgow
- Agent
- Fraser and Dunlop Scripts Ltd.
- Short biography
- Hugh Crauford Rae was born on November 22, 1935 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, son of Isobel and Robert Rae. He published his first stories aged 11 in the Robin comic, winning a cricket bat the same year in a children’s writing competition. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. At work, he met her future wife, Elizabeth. Published since 1963, he started to wrote suspense novels as Hugh C. Rae, but he also used the pseudonyms of Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar) and James Albany. On 1973, his novel "The Shooting Gallery" was nominee by the Edgar Award. On 1974, he wrote the first few romance novels with Peggie Coghlan, using the popular pseudonym Jessica Stirling. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he continued writing more than 30 on his own, and also as Caroline Crosby. His female pseudonyms first became widely known in 1999, when "The Wind from the Hills" was shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Widowed nine years ago, Hugh died on September 24, 2014 at the age of 78.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Place of death
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Disambiguation notice
- Hugh Crauford Rae also wrote under the pen names of "Hugh C. Rae", "Hugh Rae", "Robert Crawford", "R.B. Houston", "Jessica Stirling" (initially with Peggie Coghlan), "Stuart Stern" (with S. Ungar), "James Albany" and "Caroline Crosby".
- Associated Place (for map)
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Members
Reviews
I read this book because Hugh Rae (for whatever reason) took the challenge to write a mutual friend into the story as a minor character. Puzzled by what role a Chinese girl from Singapore, in the 19th century known as the Straits Settlements, could play in Victorian-era Glasgow, I was delighted to find her a realistically drawn and feisty character. The main characters of the book are the McKennas, two sisters and a brother from Ireland who come to Glasgow in search of survival (to say "a show more better life" would be overstating the matter). Their first stop is a graveyard, where they glean the name of a recently-deceased Irishman in order to seek out his widow and pose as his nieces and nephew. Although she realizes the deception almost immediately, she quietly accepts them, pleased to have some "family" to care about - and says as much to the rent-collector who is concerned that she may be falling for a scam. He accepts her reference on their behalf, however, since she cannily is not giving money but her word, and from there we see all of these people interacting, changing, developing as the story continues. A joy to read. show less
Not one of my favourite Hugh Rae books. I just couldn't like the main characters. They were well-depicted, but not sympathetic. There was a pompous, unpleasant shipyard owner, his meek wife who used to be vivacious before she fell under his blighting influence, and their annoying niece or more probably the man's unacknowledged daughter. Honestly, I didn't finish the book; after a few chapters I prevailed upon a trusted fellow reader to give me the story in short. She informed me that none of show more the main characters improved during the course of the book. There were delightful characters, with Hugh there are always delightful characters, but in this book they were peripheral. I'm sure the plot was fine, but if I don't care about the characters, what happens to them doesn't matter.
Revisiting the book's tags some time later, I realized that I had tagged it gone as if I had yeeted it, rather than the usual read but unowned for books returned to the library. This would be partly because I hadn't completely read it, and partly because of my eagerness to get it out of the house. "Not a novel to be tossed aside lightly" as Dorothy Parker is said to have remarked. show less
Revisiting the book's tags some time later, I realized that I had tagged it gone as if I had yeeted it, rather than the usual read but unowned for books returned to the library. This would be partly because I hadn't completely read it, and partly because of my eagerness to get it out of the house. "Not a novel to be tossed aside lightly" as Dorothy Parker is said to have remarked. show less
This book is the 2nd part of a trilogy and is set in the late 1800's. I didn't read the first book, but maybe if I did, I would have enjoyed the story more. The plot is saturated with unrequited love, infidelity, sibling loyalty, and betrayal. Two characters were exceptionally horrible. If they were standing in my living room right now, I would do both of them bodily harm. The syntax was difficult to understand at times because the author is a Scot writing about people living in Scotland. show more Unless you are from that part of the world or are familiar with all things Scottish, you would need to read some of the sentences twice to understand. Some of the storyline centered around topics that were forbidden to talk about in the nineteenth century. I enjoyed the way they were talked about and boldy dealt with. show less
Island Wife by Jessica Stirling and tells us the story of two sisters, Innis and Biddy Campbell, who live with their family on their Mother’s holding, a farm that all the females in the family work upon while the father and two sons work on their fishing boat. The book is set on the Isle of Mull in 1878.
Sister Biddy is the acknowledged local beauty while Innis is clever and mostly doesn’t mind being overshadowed by her sister. But when both girls all in love with the new shepherd on the show more local estate, many trials and tribulations occur. The whole Campbell family are not a very likeable lot, the father is a drunken lazy abuser and the mother appears quite heartless. Being full of disagreeable characters made this rather a slog to read. Despite the morality of the day and the strict religious and social conventions, many characters spend much of their time pursuing their passions. The book is rather depressing with it’s dark outlook and loutish characters. This is the first of a trilogy, but I doubt that I will continue on as I have no interest in what happens to these characters. show less
Sister Biddy is the acknowledged local beauty while Innis is clever and mostly doesn’t mind being overshadowed by her sister. But when both girls all in love with the new shepherd on the show more local estate, many trials and tribulations occur. The whole Campbell family are not a very likeable lot, the father is a drunken lazy abuser and the mother appears quite heartless. Being full of disagreeable characters made this rather a slog to read. Despite the morality of the day and the strict religious and social conventions, many characters spend much of their time pursuing their passions. The book is rather depressing with it’s dark outlook and loutish characters. This is the first of a trilogy, but I doubt that I will continue on as I have no interest in what happens to these characters. show less
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- Works
- 76
- Also by
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- Members
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- Popularity
- #33,469
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 412
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