The Runes of Dunross
Scottish Highlands, Present Day
The storm was alive. Violet stood barefoot on a cliff top. The rock beneath her feet crumbled in flakes, tumbling into the void below. The sea didn't look like water; it looked like a living creature.
Eleven-year-old Violet MacLeod inherits a remote Scottish manor from a great-aunt she never knew. But Dunross House holds secrets: ancient runes, whispers of witches, and dreams of storms that feel far too real.
The sea is restless. Something has been waiting.
The Story
When Violet MacLeod's family inherits Dunross House - a grey stone manor crouching on a cliff above the Scottish sea - she expects a boring summer of sorting through a dead relative's belongings. What she doesn't expect are the dreams.
Night after night, Violet finds herself standing on storm-lashed cliffs, watching women in dark cloaks chant words she almost understands. She sees symbols of light spiralling from their fingertips - shapes she recognises from her own doodles. And she sees something else: a colossal figure shouldering the thunder like a cloak, eyes glowing white as burning coals, a hammer crackling with lightning.
The locals speak of Lady Morven with careful words and careful silences. The old shopkeeper warns of a door that sticks "in a high wind." And the sea has been restless for three weeks now - ever since Lady Morven died.
With her best friend Rosa at her side, Violet must uncover the truth about Dunross House, the MacLeod family legacy, and the ancient power that has been waiting for her all along.
Characters
Violet MacLeod
Eleven years old, with a stubborn halo of black curls and a habit of drawing strange symbols in the margins of her notebooks. Violet has always had storm dreams - but lately they feel less like dreams and more like memories.
Rosa
Violet's best friend and self-appointed ghost-busting sidekick. Armed with emergency jelly babies and an endless supply of Weird Facts, Rosa is determined to keep Violet sane - even when the witches show up.
Lady Morven MacLeod
The great-aunt Violet never knew. She died alone in Dunross House, leaving behind secrets that refuse to stay buried and a legacy that stretches back centuries.
The Shopkeeper
An old woman with eyes the exact grey of a rainy morning. She knows more than she says, and what she says is this: "Sometimes the sea only says listen. Sometimes that's enough."
Historical Inspiration
The Runes of Dunross draws on the real history of the North Berwick witch trials of 1590-1592 - one of the most notorious witch hunts in Scottish history.
When King James VI of Scotland sailed to Denmark to collect his new bride, Anne of Denmark, his fleet was struck by terrible storms. The king became convinced that witches had summoned the tempests to sink his ships. What followed was a frenzy of accusations, torture, and executions that claimed the lives of dozens of people - mostly women.
The accused were said to have gathered at the old kirk in North Berwick, where they raised storms, cast spells, and plotted against the king. Some confessed under torture to impossible things: sailing in sieves, kissing the devil, brewing poisons from toads. Others maintained their innocence to the end.
In this story, I wondered: what if some of those women were real? What if their power didn't come from the devil, but from something older - something tied to the land and the sea itself? And what if that power had descendants, waiting to be awakened?
Themes
Author's Note
I grew up fascinated by the wild edges of Britain - the places where the land meets the sea in cliffs and caves, where storms roll in without warning, and where the old stories still feel close to the surface.
The Runes of Dunross began with an image: a girl standing on a cliff in a dream, watching women chant words she almost understood. I wanted to write about the moment when a child discovers that their family history is stranger and deeper than they ever imagined - and that they have a part to play in it.
The runes in the book are based on real Norse and Celtic symbols, though the magic is entirely fictional. The setting draws on the Scottish coast I've walked and loved, where you can stand on a headland and feel the weight of centuries in the wind.
This is a story about storms - the ones outside, and the ones within. It's about finding your place in a story that started long before you were born. And it's about the courage it takes to face the dark when the sea is calling your name.
Reader Reviews
★★★★★"A storm-swept mystery that lingers long after the last page"
The Runes of Dunross is that rare children's book that respects its readers' intelligence while sweeping them into a world of genuine wonder and unease. From the opening dream sequence—Violet standing barefoot on crumbling cliffs as the sea writhes below—Wedow establishes an atmosphere of creeping dread that never quite releases its grip.
What elevates this above typical middle-grade fantasy is the grounding in real history. The North Berwick witch trials of 1590 provide a dark underpinning to the magic, and Wedow weaves this history into the narrative with a light touch. Young readers will absorb the truth about those accused women—their persecution, their courage—without ever feeling lectured.
Violet is a wonderfully stubborn protagonist, and her friendship with Rosa provides both comic relief and genuine warmth. The prose is evocative without being overwrought. Wedow captures the weight of centuries in a headland wind, the particular grey of a Scottish morning, the way old houses hold their secrets close. This is atmospheric storytelling at its finest.
— Amazon Review
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