The book is a unique combination of the author's original poetry and prose with the dramatic paintings of artist Walter Parker.

The Border Reivers were people living in the Scottish and English borderlands between the 13th and 16th centuries who eked out a precarious living brought about by political and personal circumstances and became known for their reiving, or stealing

John has taken a new perspective on the Reivers, focussing on how people managed in these difficult times. His poems cover such topics as a mother’s grief when her youngest son doesn’t come back from his first raid, the fear of a family besieged in their home, and imaging what it would be like to lose everything you had – family, home and possessions.