Silver Sand is a 1914 historical novel by Samuel Rutherford Crockett, a Prequel to The Raiders. It was Crockett's last novel published in his lifetime - indeed, it left the presses the day he died - and his last set in his native Scotland (he had a few posthumous publications set in other countries).
It tells of the youth and first love of John "Silver Sand" Faa, against the backdrop of the "Killing Times" in the 1680s.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Silver Sand has an alliterative nickname; there's also Historical Domain Character Andrew Agnew, and Mirren McNoah.
- Badass Preacher: Played with. Walter Dunning and Sandy Peden are both brave men who risk their lives for their faith, but Dunning is quiet, doubt-racked, and hides away, while Peden is hectoring, intolerant, and borderline buffoonish.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: If Doran and Grey Roger had obeyed Hector's orders and killed Silver Sand quickly and quietly, they'd have been long gone before his friends picked up their trail. Instead, they torture him to try to get the location of the tribute Juliana collected from the Romani clans - which ends up leading to his rescue snd their deaths.
- Cain and Abel: Hector plots against his brother Silver Sand.
- The Cavalier Years: Set in the mid 1680s.
- Characterization Marches On: Previously, for instance in Men of the Moss Hags, Crockett had depicted John Graham of Claverhouse as something of a Noble Demon, on the wrong side but much less cruel than other persecuting dragoons. Here, he seems to have been Flanderised into a corrupt, sadistic monster... except that we're getting that picture from the editorialising pen of Crockett's narrator Dominie Crogo, who clearly hates him.
- Child of Two Worlds: Silver Sand's status as this, being the son of a Romani father and aristocratic gorgio mother, with a concomitantly mixed education, is much discussed. Indeed, he's this in multiple senses - not just Romani/gorgio but Scottish/French and Protestant/Catholic.
- The Clan: It being Early Modern Scotland, sundry literal clans fit the trope, notably the Faas, McKittericks, and Grahams.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Doran and Grey Roger inflict this on Silver Sand after kidnapping him. His groans help the Red Killer track them down.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Jasper expects a boxing bout with Silver Sand to be this. It is... but not the way round Jasper had in mind.
- Death by Childbirth: Juliana rides out to rescue Silver Sand while heavily pregnant... and subsequently dies hours after giving birth.
- Death of the Hypotenuse: Juliana's death eventually frees Silver Sand to marry Lilias, though his sense of honour does delay things.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Crockett's depiction of seventeenth century Romani marriage customs is clearly designed to be shocking and alien to his readers. An Edwardian audience may have been more shocked than a modern one by women proposing to men, but the apparent acceptance that such a proposal is enforced by the implicit threat of suicide, and that the woman who thus coerces a man will then surrender completely to an authority he is expected to enforce with violence, is if anything more shocking today.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Hector is quite willing to have his brother Silver Sand murdered and kidnap his infant nephew: but he did not order his henchmen to torture Silver Sand or steal the Faa revenues, nor does he mean to harm the baby, even though the child's death would make him Silver Sand's heir. And the Red Killer doesn't need to be told any of this - he knows exactly how far Hector would go.
- Fighting Irish:
- Doran is a dangerous Irish mercenary and assassin.
- When Silver Sand visits Sheriff Agnew's Irish cousins, he finds that the Protestant planters live behind fortified walls in fear of the native population.
- Foregone Conclusion: Hector's plots are doomed - we know Silver Sand will survive because he's in The Raiders and The Dark o' the Moon. Crockett even directly refers to his and Hector's eventual fate.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Lilias is an invented niece of Sheriff Andrew Agnew.
- Historical Domain Character: Sheriff Agnew is a major figure within the narrative, while several more famous ones (Claverhouse, Lag, two successive Kings) are The Ghost. Peden the Prophet has a cameo.
- Hot Gypsy Woman: Juliana is a Romani beauty.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Perceiving that Silver Sand loves Lilias, Juliana would rather woo the other lady on his behalf than demand his fidelity.
- Illegal Religion: Like many Crockett novels, it's set during the persecution of the Covenanters.
- Infallible Narrator: Dominie Crogo isn't present for much of the action, but apparently knows everything that happened. He occasionally mentions which characters he heard particular bits from. He is treated as this for all the events directly depicted, but hinted to be somewhat less so when expounding upon the character of people he (and the reader) doesn't get to meet.
- King Incognito: Silver Sand is Romani royalty. He at first conceals this from Jasper until after their fistfight, then passes as "Mr Percy" among the gorgio gentry.
- Master Swordsman: The Red Killer is a match for any two opponents with sword or knife.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Timothy McKitterick is known as the Red Killer. One of his clansmen goes by "Viper".
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Downplayed Trope. Silver Sand doesn't share the Covenanters' beliefs, but he isn't helping them for selfish reasons either - rather, from a general objection to oppression.
- Oireland: Doran of Killibegs has very stereotypical speech patterns and a Funetik Aksent to match.
- Recognition Failure: Juliana lets drop that she knew John Bunyan, but is clearly completely unaware of his writings and his fame.
- Roguish Romani: The McKittericks are a feared (but honourable) clan of Romani outlaws. Hector Faa and Grey Roger are straight-up bad guys.
- Scenery Porn: Full of Crockett's usual lyrical descriptions of the Galloway landscape.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Juliana first disguises herself as Silver Sand's "secretary-page" "Julius" to bring him the tribute of the Romani clans, then adopts male guise again to lead the attempt to rescue him from the dragoons.
