Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, was one of Scotland’s most notorious and romantic figures. A double-agent and spy, he became the most famous supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the last nobleman to be executed for treason.  Sarah Fraser’s gripping adventure and swash-buckling spy story The Last Highlander uses the events of Lovat’s life to recreate this extraordinary period of history. It’s a brilliant read that will appeal to fans of books Ben Macintyre and C.J. Sansom.

Sarah Fraser is in a unique position to tell this story. Until recently she was married to Kit Fraser, one of the Lovat-Fraser clan and she continues to live in the highlands of Scotland.  Lord Simon Lovat was a shrewd and calculating soldier of unlimited ambition, wit and double-dealing who died a martyr for his country and for an independent Scotland. Born into the unpredictable world of the late seventeenth-century as a younger son of a junior branch of the Frasers, Simon determined to enforce his claim to be chief of the Fraser clan and enjoy the income from its lands.

In July 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie landed on Eriskay – a tiny Hebridean island and launched his last and greatest attempt to seize back his throne, joined after victory at Preston Pans by Simon Fraser and his clans. They reached Derby before retreating ignominiously and facing final defeat at the hands of the British at Culloden. Fraser – one of Scoltand’s most colourful characters – was found hiding in a tree. Sarah argues that the defeat at Culloden led directly to the end of traditional Gaelic civilization; to the brutal clearances and ‘pacification’ of the Highlands which followed and the lost civilisations of Scotland that were destroyed after 1745 by English repression.

Sarah will be promoting widely around publication, including media interviews and events with independent bookshops in Scotland.

The Last Highlander is published on 10^th May

978-0-00-722949-9 £20 HB