Rafael's Wings

Her life as she knows it in Scotland is over. Ornithologist Luisa Ross embarks on an odyssey to Spain where, during the course of a lonely fieldwork assignment in the mountains of Mallorca, she discovers an extraordinary and mysterious world. The people who inhabit it - the enigmatic Anita Berens, the Ferrer family, the journalist Colin Cramer, her nature conservancy colleagues, Julio and Felipe, and the shaman Rafael Vargas - challenge her preconceptions at every turn. Isolated on the mountain she gets on with her field study and struggles to avoid the distractions of the nearby town. But there is no escape, and soon she finds herself confronting the severest challenge of her life so far.

Comments about the author's work:

The lyrical, lucid text takes the reader on a wonderfully vivid journey . . . . The Herald

. . . she spins a web of words . . . . The Scotsman

I would recommend it to anyone searching for the inherent magic and poetry that makes Mallorca such a special place. The Reader

Sian Mackay lived for several years in Egypt and North America before returning to her native Scotland to bring up her son and daughter and work as a journalist. She founded Moubray House Press in Edinburgh's Royal Mile and later wrote several non-fiction books (as Sheila Mackay) including Lindisfarne Landscapes, Mountain Music: Mallorca, The Forth Bridge and Early Scottish Gardens: A Writer's Odyssey. By 1992 Spain had become her 'home from home', and Mallorca was the seedbed for a further literary transition, where the grandeur of the Sierra de Tramuntana and its mountain towns inspired Rafael's Wings.