The Drover's Dogs

Ten-year-old Sandy Longmuir's childhood ends when his mother sells him to a farmer who half-starves and beats him.

In 1800, there was little compassion for the poor and sick. Sandy's father lies dying and the family is desperately poor. For the sake of her sick husband and younger children, Sandy's mother 'bonds' him to a local farmer.

Sandy's life as a 'bonder' is miserable. The farm-dogs are allowed into the warm kitchen but Sandy has to eat what little he's given while standing in the yard. His bed is straw and sacking in the corner of a cold, damp shed.

When he runs home, his mother makes him return and the farmer beats him, forcing Sandy to ask himself a simple question: Can he bear this life for another eleven years? Sandy runs away, breaking his bond.

Alone on the road, penniless, Sandy is lucky to find friends: Spot and Patch, two drover's dogs who are making their way home by themselves. With no idea where the dogs are going, Sandy joins them, following them all the way across Scotland through a wild landscape of loch and mountain to the Hebridean island of Mull in the west.

When the dogs bring him to the croft that is their home, Sandy's deepest, most secret wish seems to have come true: he, too, has found a loving home.

He is happier than he'd thought he could be- until he discovers that he is not wanted on the croft at all. Heart-broken, he leaves and takes to the road again. Is he doomed to go through life lonely and friendless?

If you like stories beautifully told, with warmth and tenderness, set in Scotland's wild Highlands and featuring charming dogs as characters, then you'll be hooked by Susan Price's 'The Drover's Dogs'.

Buy 'The Drover's Dogs' and follow them home today