Synopsis: The Ill-Favored Maid

My novel is based on as Scottish incident that is half-history, half-legend:

On the Isle of Mull, in 1496 or so, the only living son of Iain McLean, Laird of Lochbuie, was killed in battle. Hector MacLean, Laird of nearby Duart, happened to be there supporting hIs distant cousin Iain.

But, seeing that he was now without an heir, Hector took Iain prisoner. If Iain were to die without an heir, Hector, being a MacLean, could lay claim to the Lochbuie lands. To keep Iain from begetting any new heirs, Hector sent him to a castle on a remote and tiny island. No women were allowed anywhere near the island - except for one aged maidservant described by Hector as "the ugliest maid on Mull."

So, what else could possibly happen? The maidservant gets pregnant and bears Iain a male heir, who eventually reclaims the Lochbuie lands and title.

That's the historical legend. I want to explore the story of the maidservant: what would it be like suspect that you might be the ugliest woman on the island, and then to have your liege-lord so insultingly confirm it? How would that play into her eventually succumbing to the charms of the much younger Iain? How (on earth!) did she manage to conceal the baby's sex from the Duart men who were waiting outside the birthchamber to kill any boy-child; and what kind of toll would that add to the already-fraught emotional extravaganza of childbirth? How was the new heir spirited away to the remote glen where he was raised by a sympathetic family, and how did the new mother react to the separation? And where would she go, and what would she want, after all that?

I also want to consider the motivations driving Iain and Hector (and several other significant characters), bring in as much as I can about clan history and the interactions between the two branches of the MacLeans and the other nearby clans, tie in several other related and/or contemporaneous legends, maintain as much historical accuracy as possible, and try to convey the feel of the setting and the times.

That's all - I wouldn't want to get overambitous or anything. :)