Story of life on Arran Island easy to read, hard to put down

THE LEGACY OF ELIZABETH PRINGLE <br> <b> Kirsty Wark </b> <br> <i> Hachette
THE LEGACY OF ELIZABETH PRINGLE <br> <b> Kirsty Wark </b> <br> <i> Hachette
Elizabeth Pringle's legacy is her home, ''Holmlea'', on Arran Island, off the west coast of Scotland, where she has lived for about 90 years.

Having no family, she leaves the house to Anna Morrison, who expressed a wish to buy it more than 30 years after admiring it while on holiday with her infant daughter, Martha.

But Elizabeth also leaves behind her memoir and this is related in alternating chapters with Martha's story - her struggle with her mother's advancing dementia, an unhelpful sister, job dissatisfaction and a string of controlling boyfriends.

While the book is an easy read, (hard to put down at times), there are difficult sections about dealing with relationships of all kinds, and both world wars markedly affect Elizabeth's life.

Some parallels between the two women's lives include dilemmas over men, such as having to choose whether to go to the antipodes with them, and coping with ageing parents.

Elizabeth's garden, tapestries and letters play a big part in Martha's quest to understand her life, and a family connection is found, but Elizabeth's secret is only revealed near the end of her story.

A middle-aged Buddhist monk, Saul, lives on nearby Holy Isle and is instrumental in putting together parts of Elizabeth's life, but he is not very monkish, having come from the party scene in New York, and ends up fathering children with another character.

His ''breezy brand of Buddhism'' shows when he proclaims, ''I'm a Buddhist, for Christsakes'', and when he shares a joint with Elizabeth.

I loved the Scottish terms; an old suitcase is covered in ''stoor'' (dust), and a little girl ''skliffed'' and stamped her boots. The language is evocative, e.g. ''my stomach tightened the way a Livingstone daisy closes ...''

In her debut novel, Wark's descriptions of the islands make you want to experience them and will resonate with Kiwis, as a proposed trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, is described as ''swapping one beautiful wet mountainous island for another''.

There are several ''Arran Island days'', with four seasons, which sound like Dunedin days.

There are also factual events and people incorporated in the story. The paintings of Scottish artists Craigie Aitchison and Francis Cadell, are mentioned, the Queen Mary does her speed trials near Arran before her maiden voyage, and Winnie Drinkwater was a female aviator in Britain at that time.

Kirsty Wark is writing her second novel. I look forward to more of her descriptive writing and compelling storytelling.

Rachel Gurney is an avid Dunedin reader.

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