The House with the Green Shutters

Blurb

The House with the Green Shutters is a novel by the Scottish writer George Douglas Brown, first published in 1901 by John MacQueen. Set in mid-19th century Ayrshire, in the fictitious town of Barbie which is based on his native Ochiltree, it consciously violates the conventions of the sentimental kailyard school, and is sometimes quoted as an influence on the Scottish Renaissance.
The novel describes the struggles of a proud and taciturn carrier, John Gourlay, against the spiteful comments and petty machinations of the envious and idle villagers of Barbie. The sudden return after fifteen years' absence of the ambitious merchant, James Wilson, son of a mole-catcher, leads to commercial competition against which Gourlay has trouble responding.
After the arrival of the railway, Gourlay's position worsens and he begins to invest his hopes and money in his neurotic son, John, who cannot live up to his expectations. His scatterbrained wife and daughter live in terror of his ferocious temper and take refuge in novelettes and daydreaming.
The symbol of the family's prosperity is their expensive house in the middle of the town: