The Orcadians is a gripping and atmospheric debut that begins with an archaeologist’s discovery of ancient human remains, setting in motion a sweeping saga that spans millennia, continents, and the enduring threads of love, memory, and survival.

It was a visit to Skara Brae that gave birth to the epic series, it was a story that was almost never told, recalls Campbell.

She says:

“I’d had the idea in my head for almost a decade, following a family holiday to Orkney in 2018. We’d visited Skara Brae on a beautiful autumnal day and I remember being captivated by the settlement, and imagining all the lives that once lived there, and all the stories that had been told over hearths, the laughs, the loves, the ordinary lives of people.

“Above all else, I wondered how similar those ancient people were to us, how they’d have felt the same love, the same sense of belonging, as well as I suppose jealousies, anger, happiness, and fear.

“The idea took hold, and for years I carried Sol’s story with me, nurturing it and letting it develop, but it wasn’t until last year that I actually started writing The Orcadians.

“For years I’d told myself I wasn’t an author, until one day I told myself: if I don’t tell Sol’s story, no one will. And once I started writing it was like unleashing a dam; the words kept pouring out, and I’ve now just finished the draft of the third novel in The Orcadian series, All Bow Before The Sea People.”

As well as Skara Brae, during her time in Orkney, Caroline visited the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, both of which also feature in The Orcadians, as well as a wild swim at Inganess Bay under the shadow of the shipwreck Juanita. And while she undertook thorough research into Orkney’s history, there there is, she says, “so much we simply just don’t know”.

“Orkney has left such a profound mark on my imagination, and, with these books, my life as it’s awakened a passion for history and for writing. I remember being moved by Orkney’s incredible history, as well as its extraordinary big sky and captivating landscape, and of course, the wind, all of which feature in The Orcadians.”

Now out in paperback and on ebook, The Orcadians is followed by CRC Campbell’s second book, Where The Seek Mountains, both of which are published by The Lane Publishing.

The Orcadians

It tells the story of Sol of Skara Brae, a young boatbuilder in love with his best friend. Forced into exile by betrayal and tragedy on his wedding night, he flees across the dangerous Pentland Firth, pursued by an enemy determined to see him fall and accompanied only by a young healer and a little girl. Their journey leads from the rugged Highlands to the ancient cities of Mesopotamia and the icy forests of Neolithic Scandinavia in the first instalment of an ambitious new literary saga tracing one family’s lineage through history from the Stone Age and classical Greece to Roman Europe, through the battle-scarred streets of wartime Berlin to modern-day New York. Woven with rich historical detail and timeless human emotion, it is a novel about the bonds that endure across time, and the mysteries of the past that still shape our lives today.

The Orcadians, an unforgettable story of love, loss, and legacy available from The Orcadian bookshop in Kirkwall, Amazon, and www.thelanepublishing.com