Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora
"It's part of me, Scotland. I'm still immersed in it even though I am not there." -- Irvine Welsh (1958 - ), Scots novelist, short story writer, playwright, author of Trainspotting among many other works).
All my life I have been interested in the history of Scotland and the profound consequences of the Scottish diaspora throughout the world. Scotland and the Scots are appealing in so many ways -- the beauty of the land- and seascapes, the food and drink, the extraordinarily resourceful and creative people, the dramatic history from antiquity to the present, the great literature and history and philosophy and religion. The subjects are themselves enough to inspire writing, but there is great satisfaction in the fact that the Scots have lived up to the subjects on their own writ.
Over many years I have researched the history of Cumberland Valley, and I have often talked about the Scots, the Scots-Irish, and the settlement of this part of the New World by these willing and not-so-willing exiles. In recognition of the history and significance of the Scots to our area, I fly the Saltire and carry these books and cds. I am always on the lookout for more.
P.S. Due to listing limitations, I have moved Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, two fine writers of the Scots Noir movement, over to our International Mystery page.
The Guynd: Love & Other Repairs in Rural Scotland
The Guynd: Love & Other Repairs in Rural Scotland
When New England-raised Belinda Rathbone falls for a charming Scottish landowner, she quickly discovers she’s also begun a complex relationship with his family’s 400-year-old ancestral estate, The Guynd—Gaelic for “a high, marshy place,” it rhymes with “wind.”
Rathbone’s memoir of her unlikely marriage and move to pastoral Scotland is by turns funny, heartwarming, and occasionally maddening as she learns to cope with a grand but crumbling mansion still recovering from the effects of two World Wars, an overgrown landscape, a derelict garden, troublesome tenants, local aristocracy, Scottish rituals, and a husband who loathes change.
Alternating between enchantment and near despair, Rathbone digs into family and local history in an effort to understand her new surroundings and the ties that bind us through generations. Like a letter home from a strange land, The Guynd provides a poignant, intimate view of the Scottish Lowlands not found in guide books.
“The book lifts and excels … Rathbone nails down a little bit of the Scottish soul in all its stark splendor.” —The New York Times
“Sometimes comical, often touching, The Guynd is at once the story of a house, a place, and a marriage. Rathbone writes so beautifully of the house and of rural Scotland that our lives are enriched…” —Chicago Tribune
“Belinda Rathbone’s account of her romance with a 400-year-old Scottish country estate is as sharp-eyed as a field guide, as nuanced as an anthropological study, as gripping as a book of wilderness exploration, and as bittersweet as a classic love story.” —George Howe Colt, The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
“An exceptionally entertaining and instructive read… a new country house classic.” —Country Life
Belinda Rathbone is a biographer and historian who has written widely on 20th century American photography. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Walker Evans: A Biography, as well as important essays on the work of Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz, and many contemporary artists and photographers. Rathbone is also the author of the memoir, The Guynd: A Scottish Journal. As a fine arts journalist, she has written for House and Garden, The World of Interiors, and the magazine Antiques.