"The Flood" a first novel by Ian Rankin

This book is one of the most unusual and interesting I have ever read. It is Ian Rankin’s first novel that according to his introduction was originally a short story that grew into a novel. The novel begins in a coal mining community in Fife. There is a “hot burn,” a which drains a hot and chemical waste from the colliery. A ten year old girl is pushed into the burn by older boys. She doesn’t drown or die but her raven hair turns white.

Carsden is a village full of suspicious people who tend to blame any downturn in fortunes of those who are different. And so with another incident, this time in the mine, Mary with the silver hair is the scapegoat, for surely she is a witch.

This edition I have has reading group questions at the end. For those Rankin/Rebus fans it might be fun to read The Flood and discuss these questions. There are more, but I did not want to do any spoilers- any more than my 2 paragraphs above.

What is Ian Rankin saying about the difficulties of escaping one’s past?

An aunt of Rankin was so disturbed reading The Flood that she was left "crying for his soul." Should she have been crying for the souls of the characters in the story and if so for whom exactly?

Is the political comment of the decline of the mining communities in Scotland implicit or explicit?

In the Rebus novels does Rankin tend to offer political or social criticism through his characterization rather than simple through polemic as in The Flood?