A Hospital in the Clouds
‘A powerful and perceptive depiction of love in the wake of war and trauma.’
Second edition out now.
About the Author
Mhairead MacLeod was born in Scotland and now lives in Australia. She practised as a lawyer before becoming a full-time writer.
Her novel, The False Men, won and was short-listed for, two national manuscript awards before being acquired by ThunderPoint Publishing (UK) in 2017.
The manuscript for her latest historical novel, A Hospital in the Clouds, won and was short-listed for two national and international screenwriting awards.
A Hospital In The Clouds
by Mhairead MacLeod
1918. Anna Sinclair is a war widow, mother and nurse who has fled her home in Edinburgh. She is working under an assumed name in the tropical frontier town of Cairns, Australia, hoping the law will not catch up with her.
She dreams of building a new life – and a modern hospital – but has to deal with the demons of her soldier-lover, and fight the medical and business establishment who see no such place for a young woman.
Now, danger threatens as her dark secret closes in.
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THE FALSE MEN
by Mhairead MacLeod
Outer Hebrides, Scotland, 1848
Jess MacKay has led a privileged life as the daughter of a local landowner, sheltered from the harsher aspects of life. Courted by the eligible Patrick Cooper, the Laird’s new commissioner, Jess’s future is mapped out, until Lachlan Macdonald arrives on her island amid rumours of forced evictions just to the south. As the uncompromising brutality of the Clearances reaches her community and Jess sees her friends ripped from their homes, she must decide where her heart, and her loyalties, truly lie.
Set against the evocative backdrop of the Hebrides and inspired by a true story, The False Men is a compelling tale of love in a turbulent past that resonates with the upheavals of the modern world.
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Mhairead’s Journal
Book Tour
Check in to the virtual book tour of A Hospital in the Clouds - commencing 4 May 2025
A European Travelblog – on the story trail
The view above is of the Danube Valley as seen from the exquisite Benedictine abbey at Melk, Austria. The abbey's roots go back to the eleventh century. I visited the abbey as part of my tour of the autumn-coloured villages of Europe. It was a dual mission – part...
New Release
I'm happy to say that I am starting 2025 with the fresh release of A Hospital in the Clouds - second edition. The novel takes place in the 1920s in Cairns, Far North Australia, and was inspired by two women, one of whom is remembered by her crime, but remains...
LOSS
On the evening of the Wolf Moon in January, 2020, my writing stopped. The precise moment happened when I was buying an ice-cream cake with my daughter for her son’s 10th birthday party. Her doctor made a last-minute call to her before heading home for his Friday-night...
THE WEIGHT OF SECRETS
The attraction of the theme of secrecy in a novel perhaps is not just to do with the drama of whether it will be discovered, but more about how it is borne by the character.
Suffragettes and other Rabble-rousers
Emma Miller, suffragist and trade-union organiser, lived in Queensland, Australia, during the time set in my forthcoming novel, A Hospital in the Clouds. My story was inspired by women such as Miller and she is one of the best remembered suffragists of the early...
A Hospital in the Clouds
Reinventing herself as a nurse in the tropical frontier of Australia, healing her soldier-lover, raising her unruly daughter – these are just a few of the challenges Anna Sinclair, a young suffragette, faces whilst on the run from the law back in Scotland.
As she struggles to establish her own hospital, her past draws closer and risks exposure of her shameful secret, along with the loss of everything she holds dearest.
Pandemic Past and Present
Writing about a pandemic, a hundred years later.
The Girl in the Album – a memoir
When I was young, I lived in Africa.
The Small Publisher
Indie publishing companies are usually small enough, or independent enough, to have the desire to really care about their lists’ longevity.
Summer in Norway
Our trip to beautiful Norway inspired my latest novel (work in progress). Here’s a film clip of the gorgeous sights.
The Outlander Effect
The Outlander craze is real. I think most people understand this refers to the novel and television series created by one of the most successful writers in recent times, Diana Gabaldon. Even before the television series, Gabaldon’s novels were huge sellers. The main...
Searching for The False Men
When I met the False Men, the standing stones which inspired the title of my novel, they were hidden by millenia of peat.
Writing the Highland Clearances
When I researched my novel, ‘The False Men’, I found that the ‘voluntary’ removals attributed to famine was often the accepted version, rather than the active resistance by affected groups against their conditions.
Letter from the Outer Hebrides
The following is extracted from my blog published in the travel blogspot: Are my feet in the way? When I was researching for my novel, The False Men, I took a trip back to the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, where my family once lived. The visit began with a ferry ride...
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