IN CELEBRATION OF BURNS WEEK, WE'RE DELIGHTED TO INVITE AS OUR GUEST ROSEMARY GEMMELL, AUTHOR OF 'THE HIGHLAND LASS', WHO KINDLY ANSWERED OUR QUESTIONS -
Welcome, Rosemary.
Rosemary Gemmell is a published historical and contemporary
novelist for adults (as Romy) and also writes for the Middle Grade/tween age
group (as Ros). Her short stories, articles and occasional poems have been
published in UK magazines, in the US, and online and several stories have won
awards. Her new novel, The Highland Lass, was released by Crooked Cat
Publishing in 2015 and was recently a Number #1 bestseller on Amazon UK.
Thank you so much for inviting me on to your lovely blog –
I’m delighted and honoured to be here!
Gill asked: ‘Where did you get the idea from for this story?’
The historical part of this story idea had been in my head
for a very long time, even before I knew it would eventually become a novel! When
I was a child, my mother and I took a Sunday afternoon walk through the large
Greenock cemetery to put flowers on my paternal grandparents’ graves. It’s a
very old, winding, hilly place and provided much scope for an imaginative girl.
We always stopped at Highland Mary’s big dark gravestone and my mother told me
she was connected to Robert Burns. Since I then won two Burns certificates for
recitation at primary school, this rather neglected gravestone caught my
interest and I became fascinated with this Mary Campbell, wondering why she was
buried in Greenock.
Over the intervening years, when I started writing in earnest,
I kept thinking about Highland Mary and her romantic story. It wasn’t until I
researched her for an article I had published in the US magazine, The Highlander, some years ago that I
wondered if I could develop the basic details for fiction. Since there are few
definite facts about her relationship with Robert Burns, I read everything I
could with a view to using my imagination and finding her voice. After many
years (while I wrote other types of fiction!) I knew I had to do something
about this compelling idea that would not go away. However, I didn’t think
Highland Mary’s story would sustain a whole novel, and setting it completely in
the past would entail even more research. I also didn’t want the novel to be
about Burns himself, apart from his relationship with Mary, so I decided to
write a dual-time novel allowing me to ‘speak’ in Mary’s own fictionalised
voice in the 18th century. The link between present and past is a
contemporary story of family secrets involving a book of poems by Robert Burns,
and a modern ancestress of Highland Mary’s branch of the Campbells.
Jennie asked: ‘I see you describe The Highland Lass as the book of
your heart. Can you tell us why?’
Even while I was writing those other short stories and
novels, I knew that The Highland Lass would be different. Not only because it
is more women’s fiction than romance and it is the only one so far that has a
dual timeline, but it also means so much to me because of its setting and
Highland Mary’s connection to my own childhood. As an imaginative child, I
looked upon her grave on almost a weekly basis and by the time I stopped going
to the cemetery so often, it was as if I had
to write about her. I was pretty sure not many local people even knew her grave
was there, or where to find it (which has proved true), although more has been
made of it in recent years. I’ve never felt that same compulsion to write about
anyone before yet I kept putting it off. Perhaps it was partly the worry of not
doing the story justice, or because of it being of such local interest and the
fact there are so many Burns fans around the world, but I knew that, for me,
this probably would be the most important novel I would ever tackle.
Linda asked: ‘You must be thrilled that your daughter is now also
a novelist - has she always been interested in writing or do you think it’s
because of your influence that she has taken it up?’
I am indeed thrilled that
Victoria has now achieved her long-held dream of being a published novelist!
She has been writing since about five or six and was always making up stories.
She
started going to the SAW Conference with me in her late
teens and since then she’s had many shorter pieces published, but her main aim
was always to be a novelist.
I think she would confirm that seeing me writing and eventually
being published with short stories and articles, showed her that writing was
something she could do too and I certainly encouraged her. She was (and is) a
prolific reader so writing her own stories seemed completely natural to her and
she went straight to novel length. The head teacher in her last couple of years
of primary school was a great influence too as she recognised Victoria’s love
of reading and her creativity and told her it was possible to be a writer. You
can imagine our huge pleasure when Mrs Fraser came to Victoria’s book launch
and told her how proud she was!
Audrey/Neil asked : ‘Chapters in The Highland Lass open with
quotes from Burns. Do you have a favourite poem or quote you’d like to share?’
I love so much of Burns poetry and find he gets straight to
the heart of everything, with huge insight into human nature. It was a pleasure
trying to find a couple of verses from different poems to loosely illustrate
the content of the modern chapters of the novel. One of my favourites is Ae
Fond Kiss, especially as a song, and no matter which of his ladies he wrote it
for, to me it really encapsulates the sweet sorrow of his parting from Mary
Campbell. These few lines from the second verse really appeal to my romantic
nature!
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met-or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
Rae asked: ‘How important was the setting of 'The Highland Lass?’
The setting was hugely important in this novel, more than in
anything else I’ve written. Most of it takes place in the area of Inverclyde on
the west coast of Scotland where I grew up, went to school and was married. All
my siblings stayed in the area and I have great memories of visiting my granny
and grandpa in one of the streets I mention in the story. Greenock and Gourock
are quite unique, being at the ‘tail of the bank’ as it’s called, with some of
the best scenery you will find by the River Clyde. Yet it was also one of the
great industrial areas, with its now mainly silent shipyards and faded memories
of the important sugar factories, amongst other industries. It is this mix of scenic
beauty and industry that has always made it interesting and it was such a
pleasure to write about the area I know best in the world.
One of the other significant areas is Dunoon, Argyllshire,
on the other side of the river where the American navy had its base during the
1960s and 70s. As well as being where Mary Campbell was born, Dunoon was also
where my modern heroine’s mother used to go dancing, which adds another thread
to the story. And of course, Ayrshire is the third significant setting in both
the contemporary and eighteenth century strands of the novel, since that was
where Highland Mary met Robert Burns and where they eventually parted. It was a
pleasure visiting all the locations in the novel again and it gave me a more
authentic feel for the past as some small villages in Ayrshire have hardly
changed, including one of the inns where Burns and his cronies used to sit and
drink! But Greenock itself is where Mary Campbell’s journey ended when she came
to visit her brother, and from where she intended to sail away to the Indies
with Burns. How could I resist telling her story!
Now Rosemary would love to answer your questions too!
The Highland Lass - Blurb
Eilidh Campbell returns to her Scottish roots from America
with one main aim: to discover the identity of her real father. But her
mother’s past in Inverclyde is a mystery with family secrets, a book of Robert
Burns’ poems with a hidden letter and a photograph link to the Holy Loch at
Dunoon when the American Navy were in residence.
Staying with her childhood friend, Kirsty, while searching
for answers, Eilidh begins to fall in love with handsome Scot Lewis Grant, but
just how free is he? Together they trace the story of Highland Mary and Robert
Burns, with its echoes to her mother’s story. In short alternate chapters,
Highland Mary tells her own story from 1785-6. From Dunoon, to Ayrshire and
culminating in Greenock, Eilidh finds the past is closer than she realises.
Website:
http://www.rosemarygemmell.com
