Gathering Storm by Maggie Craig

Narrated by Steve Worsley

I first reviewed Maggie Craig’s Gathering Storm when it was released in audiobook format back in 2015, in the version narrated by James Bryce (which is no longer available). I enjoyed the story a great deal, but had a number of reservations about the narration; one that the pacing was very slow, but most importantly, that the narrator was not able to effectively portray the hero of the story, Robert Catto, who, rather than a virile young man just shy of twenty-five, sounded like a grizzled old campaigner in his forties.

When the author released the sequel – Dance to the Storm – last year, she opted to self-publish and selected a narrator much more suited to the material. Guest reviewer Wendy praised Mr. Worsley’s warm, smooth-as-silk voice and the way he enunciates each word perfectly whilst keeping the narrative separate and clearly defined from the dialogue of the large cast of characters. Ms. Craig has now had Gathering Storm re-recorded by Mr. Worsley and was kind enough to send me a copy. Given I’d so enjoyed the story, but felt let down by the narration, I decided to revise my original review to reflect the change. Gathering Storm is a terrific book, and it deserves to reach a wide audience; the historical backdrop is meticulously researched and skilfully incorporated, there’s a star-crossed romance, political intrigue, secrets, lies and betrayal, and an intensely charismatic leading man, things which combine to make this a must for fans of well-written romantic historical fiction.

From my original review:

Set in Edinburgh in December 1743, the story opens as Robert Catto, Captain of the Edinburgh City Guard embarks upon a raid on Surgeons’ Hall at the Infirmary, seeking to find evidence of illegal dissections. Finding nothing, he moves on to the home of Patrick Rankeillor, respected surgeon-apothecary, where he encounters Rankeillor’s daughter Christian (Kirsty) who is infuriated by his insolent manner and declared intention to search the house. Robert is deliberately rude, crude and deeply unpleasant to Kirsty and the other women of the household, clearly not above using intimidation to get the information he seeks.

We learn shortly after this that Robert’s actual mission has nothing to do with cadavers and everything to do with the unstable political situation in the country at this time. He has been called back from fighting in Europe by the Lord President of Scotland in order to hunt down a Jacobite agent. The Lord President wants to preserve the peace and encourage the growth of stability and prosperity in Scotland, but divisions are running deep, emotions are running high and the Jacobites look set to plunge the country into civil war. It’s therefore essential that he gathers all the information he can about the current level of support for the Jacobite cause in Edinburgh.

Rankeillor, his assistant James Buchan, his daughter, and all those in his immediate circle are known to be dedicated to the restoration of a Stuart monarch to the British throne, and Robert is sure that they are hiding the agent until such time as he can be safely spirited away from the city.

During the course of an eventful week, Robert finds himself thrown increasingly into the company of Miss Rankeillor, and it’s not long before others are noticing that they are striking sparks off each other like there’s no tomorrow. Kirsty is no simpering miss and refuses to cower under Robert’s continued onslaught of sarcasm and thinly veiled disdain, things he affects in an attempt to put a stop to his growing interest in her. They are on opposite sides; she is committed to a cause Robert has good reason to hate, so their mutual attraction can go nowhere and they both know it. But that attraction is so strong, it’s impossible to deny. The captain also finds himself drawn into the murky underside of the city when he investigates the murder of a young prostitute and, in pursuit of his aim to appear as though he might actually be sympathetic to the Jacobite cause himself, to join a kind of gentleman’s club in which the men are no gentlemen at all when it comes to the women they procure and use for their entertainment.

I’m not going to say any more about the mystery as I don’t want to spoil it, but Ms Craig very skilfully draws together her different plotlines as the story progresses. The romance between Robert and Kirsty is fairly low-key, but it builds continually throughout, reaching a satisfactory conclusion at the end, but leaving room for further development in the next book.

Ms Craig’s writing is captivating, and, as I had been told [by those who had recommended the book to me], she brings the sights, sounds – and smells – of Edinburgh to life in such a way as to put the listener right in the middle of it. All the characters are strongly written and Robert Catto is a very charismatic and memorable hero. He’s not Mr Perfect by any means – he’s got a nasty temper, a sharp tongue and can be ruthless when in pursuit of his goal, but he is also compassionate, extremely honourable and loyal; he is definitely one of those characters whose flaws make him that much more human.

Having enjoyed Steve Worsley’s performance in Dance to the Storm, I was sure of an equally good performance here. He has a very attractive, mildly accented voice that’s easy to listen to, and his enunciation is clear, so there’s no problem in understanding any of the dialogue, even those words and phrases spoken by characters with stronger dialects and accents. The story boasts a fairly large secondary cast, and Mr. Worsley skilfully differentiates them all, usually by means of tone and accent rather than pitch; he varies the accents according to where the characters come from and their status, and it’s easy to work out who is saying what in group conversations. His female voices are generally good; he doesn’t make big changes in pitch, but he does soften his tone and alter his speech rhythms, which usually works well – although there were a few times I needed dialogue tags specifically to identify the female characters because they’re performed in the same register as some of the men. The best thing of all though, is his portrayal of Robert Catto, which is spot on; his mercurial, no-nonsense, sharp-tongued, but deeply honourable personality is perfectly captured, and he makes for a dynamic, sexy hero. Because he’s lived away from Scotland for many years, he speaks with a cultured English accent (with an occasional Scots inflection), which is well-sustained, and Mr. Worsely also does a great job in showing the softer side Robert rarely shows to anyone in his interactions with Kirsty and young Geordie. The slow burn romance between Robert and Kirsty is just coming to a boil in this book, but Mr. Worsley expertly communicates their growing connection in their scenes together.

Maggie Craig is a superb storyteller and her grasp of the historical and political background against which she has set her tale is unparalleled. In my 2015 review, I closed by saying that Gathering Storm was a book best experienced in print, but now I’m happy to reverse that opinion and give a wholehearted recommendation to this new audiobook version.

Caz

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