In the shadow of a war that rages through Europe, brothers Calum and Neil work to gather pine cones in the grounds of a Scottish estate. When Calum releases two mutilated rabbits from a snare, he comes face to face with Duror, the gamekeeper. In retaliation, in the depths of the wood, Duror lays a trap for the cone-gatherers. Under a bright blue sky, Neil prophesises that forces of evil will encroach upon the harmony of their lives. It is a prophecy that comes true when Duror commits an act so brutal it destroys all sense of humanity in the once thriving wood. Powerful and unforgettable, The Cone-Gatherers is a novel about the good and the bad in human nature – and of our propensity for both.