Historical fiction, talks, Mull heritage, genealogy
Speaking
Invite William A Allan to Speak
William A Allan gives thoughtful, story-rich talks for libraries, book clubs, genealogy groups, Scottish heritage societies, Probus, U3A, community groups and historical organisations. Drawing on his novels, family research and the landscapes of Mull and Victoria, William explores how ordinary families were shaped by eviction, migration, memory and the search for belonging.
From Mull to the World
The family story behind Echoes of the Clearances and Dispossessed
The Highland Clearances Through One Family’s Eyes
Land, loss, memory and survival on the Isle of Mull.
From Dispossessed to Settler
Migration, belonging and the moral complexity of settlement in Australia.
Turning Family History into Story
How to transform records, places and memory into compelling narrative
A warm, personal author talk tracing how one Mull family’s journey through eviction, migration and memory became the foundation for William A Allan’s historical fiction.
A personal and moving talk exploring one family’s experience of eviction, resilience and remembrance during the Highland Clearances.
A thoughtful talk on how families dispossessed in Scotland became settlers in Australia, and the questions of belonging, opportunity and responsibility that followed.
Upcoming Events
A practical and inspiring talk for genealogy groups, writing groups and family historians on how documents, landscapes and inherited stories can be shaped into fiction or memoir without losing respect for the truth.
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Echoes of the Clearances
A Novel of Love, loss and survival – Inspired by True Events
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Where heather blooms and stone walls crumble, their whispers endure.
Echoes of the Clearances is a moving historical novel inspired by the true lives of crofters on the Isle of Mull during the Highland Clearances of the 1850s — including the author’s own MacGillivray ancestors.
In a time of forced removals and vanishing townships, one family’s love for the land is tested by grief, loyalty, and impossible choices. Through vivid landscapes, fading letters, and the echo of footfalls in abandoned glens, the story explores how we carry the past with us — in our names, our silences, and the land that shaped us.
Told with lyrical depth and deep-rooted compassion, this is a story for anyone who has ever felt the pull of a place they call home — even if they’ve never lived there.
What Readers Are Saying
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"Echoes of the Clearances is a well researched and written book that will pull at your heart strings. If you want to know about the real life during the Highland Clearances on the Isle of Mull, this is the book to read."​​​
Dispossessed
Forthcoming historical novel
Due out Winter 2026
The companion novel to Echoes of the Clearances, Dispossessed follows Martin and Margaret McGilvray from the Isle of Mull to colonial Victoria, tracing a family’s search for land, dignity and belonging — and the moral questions that arise when the dispossessed become settlers on another people’s country.
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