Lowland Reels — Jan Webster

It is going to be a tradition Scottish wedding: kilts, reels, feasting, wild keening music, whisky et al. But the handsome Smollett, though deeply in love, is a reluctant groom ad beautiful, ambitious Melinda is not sure until the last moment whether her wiles will get him to the altar.

As if this is not enough, the bride's parents, Hamish and Nona, had invited Tam Caughery, a television mogul, to attend, knowing full well it will upset her friend Kizzie, who years before had an affair with Tam. Then there is newscaster James French, who has followed his “Scottish virago” Kizzie from London, not to mention Smollett's widowed mother, Jenny, who has not broken out of years of mourning but whom Tam Caughery invites to do so.

It is not difficult to compare the goings-on with the intricacies of an eightsome reel, with the dancers ‘setting' to first one partner then another. The story deals with the complexity of modern emotional relationships, with the demands of ambition and family, flirting with farces, near-tragedy and sexual drama, before the final ‘traveling steps' bring the reelers at Melinda's wedding to the end of the dance.