Light on Dumyat

Rennie McOwan

Rowan Tree Publishing, £7.99

Review by Nick Major

Confectionery aside, children like nothing more than an adventure. It is no coincidence that many books long cherished by young readers have ‘adventure’ in the title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn spring to mind. As do a few chapter headings from Treasure Island: My Sea Adventure, and My Shore Adventure. For those adults willing to entertain a sense of unbridled fun, the word can still conjure a childlike enthusiasm for exploration. Rennie McOwan’s novel Light on Dumyat has a far more enigmatic title than those classics. Nevertheless, it contains a similar adventurous spirit, along with a delightfully Scottish sense of wild romanticism.

Gavin is disappointed when he can’t go on his usual summer holiday with his dad to Anglesey, where he was expecting to spend time messing about in boats. But he perks up when he finds out the alternative: going to visit his Aunt Elspeth, who lives at the base of the Ochil hills, surrounded by mountains, Pictish ruins and plenty of wildlife. Gavin buys a trolley load of walking gear and boards a northbound train. Once at his Aunt’s house he has a crash course in navigation and sets off for the peak of Dumyat. In the hills he meets the Stewart clan: Clare, Mot and Michael, who carry bow and arrows and are skilled in outdoor survival. But there is someone else in the hills, watching Gavin’s holiday home, or rather watching Gavin’s Uncle, who is writing a book about silver, and has stored plenty of his research material in the house.

McOwan’s plot turns away from the imaginary dangers created in the minds of these young warriors to the real and present danger of a bunch of cutthroats intent on pillaging Elspeth’s home for a sizeable fortune. Gavin and his new friends soon realise they will have to use their war games to save the day. First published in 1980, Light on Dumyat is the first in a series featuring the same gang of four, all of whom could outwit the Famous Five any day of the week. According to the publisher, the popularity of this novel in schools in the UK, Australia and the US has led to its republication.

Too many contemporary children’s stories rely on tacky wand-waving. Light on Dumyat allows the imagination to create its own mysteries. The didactic elements of the novel mostly concern mountain safety and provide good instruction to any young readers inspired to take to the hills. Yet these precautions don’t detract from the excitement of what it’s like to discover a new landscape and the call of the wild. McOwan writes good, clean prose and the well-crafted plot is polished off nicely. It’s a thrilling tale, full of clannish rebellion and enough suspense to keep the pages turning at a rapid pace. The novel should, however, come with a note of warning for parents: Light on Dumyat will keep the torches shining under the duvet covers long into the night.