In the 19th century and first half of the the 20th, Scottish councils, overwhelmed with the number of children in care, fostered some of them on remote farms in the Highlands and islands. Some were welcomed into the families and treated kindly, others were subjected to fearful cruelty and neglect. Mick was one of these. Mick, however, manages to climb out of the abuse to become a shepherd and eventually inherit his own farm. Such success was not uncommon. It would be easy to interest readers by descriptions of violence and relentless suffering, but this book tries to balance the darkness with a story of resilience and triumph over adversity