Several of Andrew Greig's novels have drawn inspiration from the literary ground of Scotland. "The Return of John MacNab" replayed John Buchan's class-bound romp for our times. Novels such as "When They Lay Bare" and "Fair Helen" have drawn from Border Ballads. This novel is a bildungsroman exploring the early years of the poet and courtier William Fowler, as a student seeking his fortunes while navigating the politico-religious disputes of Scotland during the regency of James VI. Affairs of heart and mind are negotiated only with difficulty in the zealotry of the new Godly State by the young student - and all the more so for the excluded woman of the working class. As Fowler's handwriting skill carries him into double-dealing, there is the emerging role of the scribe as agent. While the novel only briefly touches on Castelnau and Walsingham, with whose schemes the real-life Fowler would become fankled, the youthful adventures in the novel set the groundwork for a career in subterfuge, of the letter forger's confection of false truth for the convenience of his patrons.