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 Inverness, Scotland, and lived with her family in the Outer Hebrides. From Scotland, the family moved to Africa and Australia where her father worked in remote indigenous communities as a government dentist. These early experiences fed her interest in history and cultures. After her first marriage and as a young single mother she studied law, gaining her degree from Melbourne University.
She holds two Masters degrees – in Law and Creative Writing. She now lives in Brisbane, Queensland where she is married to academic and poet, Philip Neilsen.
LITERARY CAREER:
The False Men
- American Legacy Book Awards finalist (2026)
- USA ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition quarter-finalist (2021)
- Hachette/QWC Manuscript Development Award winner (2013)
- Varuna/HarperCollins Manuscript Development Award shortlist (2012)
A Hospital in the Clouds
- USA ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition finalist (2021) – working title Bird and Shadow
- Screen Queensland/QWC ADAPTABLE award winner (2019) – working title Bird and Shadow
WRITING STYLES AND THEMES:
Mhairead MacLeod writes closely researched historical and time-slip fiction. A central theme in her novels is love including romantic love, while also exploring issues such as dispossession, war and the socio-political circumstances in a community. She draws inspiration from historical events, archaeological findings, and personal experiences.
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.
WORLDWIDE STOCKISTS:
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.
WORLDWIDE STOCKISTS:
Mhairead’s Journal
A Pictish Enigma
The Romans gave their subjective and condescending description – that the Picts were little more than blue-painted barbarians. That is certainly the way they are often described in contemporary literature and media
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
I was on the trail of medieval monks, amongst other things, and came across some wonderful sites, and many interesting stories.
A Hospital in the Clouds – New Release
What struck me about the post-war era I researched for the novel, were the issues in common with today – post-war PTSD, global viruses, medical responses and experimentation, coups, assassinations and political change.
LOSS
She’d say, “People tell me I’m so brave. I don’t feel brave at all.”
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
In ‘A Hospital in the Clouds’, you step into the post World War 1 period, and meet Anna, a suffragette and nurse; a woman with a dark secret, but whose experiences are reflected even today.
Pandemic Past and Present
We are in a time of nervous anticipation as scientists and governments race to produce and deliver vaccines for each new mutation of the virus, to deliver to a global population of over 7 billion people.
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 thing about the Outlander phenomenon that I think needs to be acknowledged is that it is not really new, and that it is essentially conservative and of course, reductive. The first popular romanticising of the Scottish Highlands in novels can be attributed to Walter Scott.
Searching for The False Men
I was excited to stand in that mysterious place which inspired the title of my novel. It is the English translation of their ancient Gaelic name: Na Fir Bhreige.
Writing the Highland Clearances
On the north-west coast of Scotland lie the ruins of a croft-house that belonged to my ancestors. You will find them in a village of other abandoned houses, their tumbled-down stones reused for field walls by incomers.
Letter from the Outer Hebrides
We followed all the MacLeods of the world into the stomach of the ferry.
Contact
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