The Cone-Gatherers

Our summary description

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On a Scottish estate, with war raging through Europe, brothers Calum and Neil spend their days gathering pine cones. Their work is quiet and methodical, shaped by the routines of the wood and the unease that sits beyond it. When Calum releases two mutilated rabbits from a snare, the act draws the attention of Duror, the gamekeeper, and sets something in motion that cannot be taken back.

In retaliation, Duror lays a trap for the cone gatherers, deep in the trees where judgement feels older than law. Neil senses what is coming. He prophesies that forces of evil will encroach on the harmony of their lives, and the wood itself begins to feel like a place where cruelty can take root.

When Duror commits an act so brutal it shatters any remaining sense of humanity, the estate’s fragile order is exposed. Robin Jenkins’ novel moves through love and violence, and through class conflict, war, and envy, with a haunting, unsoftened force.