A Song for the Dark Times

Acknowledgements

This book was begun long before the COVID outbreak of 2020, but edited while the lockdown was in force. I am so grateful to my wife Miranda for putting up with me throughout, as well as for being my first reader and most telling reviewer. I’d also like to thank the staff of Forward Vision in Edinburgh for their dedication in looking after not only our son Kit but all the other young adults in their care.

Those who know the area around Tongue will realise that I have taken several liberties. There is no village of Naver, nor does Camp 1033 exist, though other camps mentioned are real, as are some of the incidents recounted.

I’m grateful to Edinburgh Central Library for pointing me in the direction of several valuable resources, most notably Camp 165 by Valerie Campbell and British Concentration Camps: A Brief History from 1900–1975 by Simon Webb. On one of my visits to the north coast I also happened across Tongue and Farr by Jim A. Johnston, which helped me explore the history of that beautiful region of Scotland.

All errors and inaccuracies are mine.

Here’s to all the songs and all their singers, in times of darkness and times of light.

I. R.