The Guynd A Scottish Journal |
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Author:
| Rathbone, Belinda |
ISBN: | 978-1-59372-025-4 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2007 |
Publisher: | W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | AUD $20.95 |
Book Description:
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This memoir offers an American woman\'s uniquely privileged viewinto the pastoral Scotland of today. By turns funny, heartwarming,and occasionally sad, it is the author\'s account of her marriageto a Scottish landowner and of the years they spent together at"The Guynd," his large ancestral estate. We follow her steeplearning curve in dealing with a grand and crumbling mansion stillrecovering from the effects of two World Wars, as well as anovergrown landscape, a derelict garden,...
More Description
This memoir offers an American woman\'s uniquely privileged viewinto the pastoral Scotland of today. By turns funny, heartwarming,and occasionally sad, it is the author\'s account of her marriageto a Scottish landowner and of the years they spent together at"The Guynd," his large ancestral estate. We follow her steeplearning curve in dealing with a grand and crumbling mansion stillrecovering from the effects of two World Wars, as well as anovergrown landscape, a derelict garden, troublesome tenants, localaristocracy, Scottish rituals, and a husband for whom change isanathema. A son and heir draws the author into an intimaterelationship with every tier of the local society, while a visitingAmerican friend heightens the strain of the ever-present culturegap. Alternating between enchantment and despair, Rathbone digsinto family and local history in an effort to understand hersurroundings and free her husband from the grip of the past. Like aletter home from a strange land, this book offers a view ofScotland not found in the guide books. The tale of the journeythrough the wrought iron gates and up the long tree-lined driveinto the living past is both wry and poignant, both oddball anddeeply reflective of the ties that bind us.