Remember the Rowan

by Kirsten MacQuarrie

‘If hate were love, if love were hate, it could not make our tale untold’.

Divorced and living apart from her two children as she strives against the odds to carve out a career in 1940s London, poet Kathleen Raine is initially unimpressed when she meets Gavin Maxwell, a would-be portrait painter struggling to recover from a recent breakdown. Nevertheless, the pair soon bond over childhood memories and a profound love of nature, epitomised by a mysterious 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 can survive. 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 when tragedy strikes, love soon turns to hate, and Kathleen finds herself being written out of her own life.

Inspired by the true story of Kathleen Raine and Gavin Maxwell’s ‘some-requited’ love, 'Remember the Rowan' illuminates their extraordinary relationship and shines a light on the woman behind 'Ring of Bright Water'.

460 pages, Paperback

Published September 21, 2024

About the author

Kirsten MacQuarrie's first novel 'Remember the Rowan' was published by Ringwood in September 2024, with a new edition by Red Squirrel Press coming later in 2025.

Kirsten's work has also appeared in New Writing Scotland, Gutter Magazine, the Scottish Poetry Library, Glasgow Women's Library, Edinburgh Literary Salon, Scottish PEN, the Federation of Writers Scotland, Postbox Magazine, Speculative Books, Stand Magazine, the Young Women's Movement, South Lanarkshire Libraries, DREICH, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, Tipping the Scales, Skirting Around, BlueHouse Journal, Coin-Operated Press, -algia and others.

Reviews

[Beatrice Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully poetic and agonising (in the best way). a truly important novel, placing a long-forgotten and even long-disdained female writer back into the public eye. I knew nothing about Kathleen Raine, let alone Gavin Maxwell, before picking this up, and now I want to get my hands on everything Raine has ever written. MacQuarrie weaves such a wonderful 'fictionalised' tale from personal correspondence and published works of the two writers - it's beautiful and heart wrenching, full of love and hate. Kathleen's emotions were palpable and there were moments I actually had to put the book down because I was getting so angry for her! The characters were interesting and well-written, Gavin's charm was just as remarkable as his less likeable aspects (re: my last point lol). I really can't wait to see what Kirsten MacQuarrie does next - I'll be right there!

[TBG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve hesitated to write this review because it feels important to get it right. Kirsten’s imagining of Kathleen Raine and Gavin Maxwell’s “some-requited” love is beautifully poetic. No noun goes un-adjectived. Raine’s romantic soul and strong connection to her idea of this man is heartbreaking but life-affirming. Her realisation of all she has sacrificed, in the name of throwing herself into this relationship, was shocking - I heard myself saying out loud - “how could he”! The sense of place is powerful - although I’ve never visited Sandaig, I can smell the peat, and feel the bracing chill of the water. See - Kirsten’s writing has inspired me!

I can’t wait to read Kirsten’s next one.

Just read it folks, you won’t regret it.

[Richard Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, which I read because I've been reading my way through Kathleen Raine's collected poems and recently read Ring of Bright Water.

I felt that the novel was very visual and wrote a "screenplay" based on it:

https://richardswsmith.wordpress.com/...

[John Pendrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Kathleen Raine’s poems so it was hard to imagine that a novel could capture in any way her thoughts and life.
But just a few pages in and an old photo and I can easily believe, especially, as apart from her poems, books and lectures I know little about her personal life.

I think it will enrich my reading of her poems:

“He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water
Whose ripples travel from the heart of the sea,
He has married me with a ring of light, the glitter
Broadcast on the swift river.
He has married me with the sun’s circle
Too dazzling to see, traced in summer sky.
He has crowned me with the wreath of white cloud
That gathers on the snowy summit of the mountain,
Ringed me round with the world-circling wind,
Bound me to the whirlwind’s centre.
He has married me with the orbit of the moon
And with the boundless circle of the stars
With the orbits that measure years, months, days, and nights,
Set the tides flowing,
Command the winds to travel or be at rest.

At the ring’s centre
Spirit or angel troubling the still pool,
Causality not in nature,
Finger’s touch that summons at a point, a moment
Stars and planets, life and light
Or gathers cloud about an apex of cold,
Transcendent touch of love summons my world to being.”

The Marriage of Psyche
by Kathleen Raine

[Lauren S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely stunning and unexpected, a page-turner as well as a meditation on the soul's desires. I was not very familiar with Kathleen Raine's poetry prior to reading this, and you absolutely do not have to be for this well-told story to make an impact. It's clear the author has a significant depth of understanding of Raine's experience in addition to being a fantastic writer - she was born to convey this story and I am so grateful for the work she has done!

[Helen Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a tour de force! Not only has Kirsten amassed and digested a vast amount of research to produce this deeply felt, passionate and unflinching portrait of the hugely talented yet overlooked and ill-used writer, Kathleen Raine, she has written a beautiful, lyrical novel about unrequited love in which the landscape takes your breath away and the shared love for a wild otter becomes transcendent.

[Silvia Spaltro · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beauty this book is.
Don't even know how to start this review.
I have learnt so much through this journey, that has made Kathleen Raine my daimon too.
So poetic and yet so real.