A Stones Throw - C M Cardwell

Thomas and his three brothers were forced from their croft in the highlands of Skye into the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. They left two sisters and a sick brother behind, all orphaned since their mother's death in child birth 15 years earlier and their father's breakdown until he too died. But not before he left Thomas with a distressing secret. As illiterate peasants they survived only because Thomas at 12 and his sister Jinni at 11, became their surrogate parents.
The four brothers learnt how to kill or be killed for months until they were ordered to retreat on December the 6th. Reaching a river in Lancashire at high tide, Thomas threw their four different stones up, before separating to avoid being slaughtered by the English Army. Never knowing if they would ever meet again or if they would all survive. Each was battle scarred both physically and mentally, how would they cope with the prejudice and emotional difficulties they were to face in an alien country.