Far Above Rubies

Hector Macintosh is a young clerk in a modest Scottish town, spending his evenings alone in a quiet chamber where he tries to capture the lofty ideals of Celtic myth in verse. He is a dreamer who shuns the ordinary expectations of his family, especially the conventional chatter of his mother’s social circle, and finds solace only in the ancient stories that pulse through his heritage. Though diligent in his duties for his father’s bank, Hector’s heart is restless, yearning for a deeper connection to the world he imagines rather than the one he inhabits.

The novel follows Hector’s delicate balancing act between the practical demands of his everyday life and the soaring aspirations of his inner poet. As he wrestles with questions of purpose, friendship, and the true meaning of artistic integrity, he begins to sense the first cracks in his solitary routine. These early stirrings hint at a journey that may finally draw him out of his self‑imposed isolation and into the lived experience he has so long only described in his verses.