'He was constantly harassed with the idea, that the next time he lifted his eyes, he
would to a certainty see that face, the most repulsive to all his feelings of aught the
earth contained'
Robert Wringhim knows himself to be one of the Elect: predestined for a salvation which
nothing he can do, however criminal or bloody, will prevent. With conviction he records his
own devout, dark work, committed in the company of his new friend Gil-Martin - who can pass
for Robert, and carry other likenesses too.
James Hogg's tale of religious fanaticism and evil is a chilling classic of the macabre,
and its telling is as troublingly, compellingly duplicitous as Gil-Martin himself. Initially
unappreciated, then bowdlerised, it has gone on to have appeal and influence as great as
anything in Scottish literature.
