Author: MacQuarrie, Kirsten
Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Published on 21 September 2024 by Ringwood Publishing in the United Kingdom.
Paperback |
396 x 253 x 41 | 692g
‘Gavin has notmarried me in church with stained glass saints looking down in judgement and mewearing shop-bought jewellery that will soon become tarnished. He has notmarried me on paper, inking out scribbled signatures as if I am a woman toacquire on hire purchase and he a man too busy read the fine print. He hasmarried me with all of this: a marriage of minds and souls, conceived in thebeating heart of nature where we share one consciousness and one calling. Oneotter, most important of all. Instead of white lace, we have rowan blossom.
Instead of pungent florist bouquets, we have a flourishing carpet ofwildflowers.’‘If hate were love, if lovewere hate, it could not make our tale untoldDivorced and living apart from her two children as she strivesagainst the odds to carve out a career in 1940s London, poet Kathleen Raine isinitially unimpressed when she meets Gavin Maxwell, a would-be portrait painterstruggling to recover from a recent breakdown. Nevertheless, the pair soon bondover childhood memories and a profound love of nature, epitomised by amysterious vision they share of a rowan tree.
When Gavin confides that he is‘more of a man’s man’, Kathleen remains determined that their connection cansurvive. They share a cottage in the wildest reaches of the West Highlands,where they care for Gavin’s beloved pet otter Mij and for each other. But whentragedy strikes, love soon turns to hate, and Kathleen finds herself beingwritten out of her own life.
Inspired by the true story ofKathleen Raine and Gavin Maxwell’s ‘some-requited’ love, Remember theRowan illuminatestheir extraordinary relationship and shines a light on the woman behind Ring of Bright Water.
Despite the hardships Kathleen faced in her relationship withGavin, she went on to become a well-respected and successful poet.