The Speak of the Mearns

by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Ian Campbell (Introduction), Jeremy Idle (Introduction)

The Speak of the Mearns, on which Lewis Grassic Gibbon was working just before his untimely death, seemed set to become a worthy successor to Sunset Song, sharing much of the autobiographical content of the earlier novel. The setting is a close rural community, sharply observed by a growing boy. The "speak", the gossip of the region, is as intense and as bitingly observed as elsewhere in Gibbon's work, but the actual territory is moved from Arbuthnott to other parishes nearby. Now the seaa plays a part in invoking the atmosphere of childhood remembered.

Genres: Scotland

265 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pen name of the Scottish author James Leslie Mitchell.

Born in Auchterless and raised in Arbuthnott, then in Kincardineshire, Mitchell started working as a journalist for the Aberdeen Journal and the Scottish Farmer at age 16. In 1919 he joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in Iran, India and Egypt before enlisting in the Royal Air Force in 1920. In the RAF he worked as a clerk and spent some time in the Middle East. He married Rebecca Middleton in 1925, with whom he settled in Welwyn Garden City. He began writing full-time in 1929. Mitchell wrote numerous books and shorter works under both his real name and nom de plume before his early death in 1935 of peritonitis brought on by a perforated ulcer.

Reviews

[latner3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

'When chap men billies leave the street and droughty neighbours neighbours meet and we sit boozing at the nappy getting fou and unco happy." Liked this book.