The Guynd - by Belinda Rathbone (Paperback)

About the Book

"This memoir offers an American woman's uniquely privileged view into the pastoral Scotland of today. It is the author's account of her marriage to a Scottish landowner and of the years they spent together at 'The Guynd,' his large ancestral estate. We follow her steep learning curve in dealing with a grand and crumbling mansion still recovering from the effects of two World Wars, as well as an overgrown landscape, a derelict garden, troublesome tenants, local aristocracy, Scottish rituals, and a husband for whom change is anathema"

Book Synopsis

A woman from New England falls for a charming Scottish landowner only to discover she's also in a complex relationship with his family's 400-year-old ancestral estate, The Guynd. Funny and heartwarming, this is the story of a house, a place, and a marriage.

Guynd (rhymes with "wind") is Gaelic for "a high, marshy place." It's there that Belinda Rathbone's memoir takes place after her unlikely marriage and move to pastoral Scotland. There she learns to cope with a grand but crumbling mansion still recovering from the effects of two world wars, an overgrown landscape, a derelict garden, troublesome tenants, local aristocracy, Scottish rituals, and a husband who loathes change.

Alternating between enchantment and near despair, Rathbone digs into family and local history in an effort to understand her new surroundings and the ties that bind us through generations. "The book lifts and excels," wrote The New York Times, "Rathbone nails down a little bit of the Scottish soul in all its stark splendor."

The perfect book for anyone who loves a fish-out-of-water romance and a touching story of home.

Review Quotes

"Rathbone writes so beautifully of the house and of rural Scotland that our lives are enriched..."-Chicago Tribune

"Belinda Rathbone's account of her romance with a 400-year-old Scottish country estate is as sharp-eyed as a field guide, as nuanced as an anthropological study, as gripping as a book of wilderness exploration, and as bittersweet as a classic love story."-George Howe Colt author of The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

"An exceptionally entertaining and instructive read... a new country house classic."-Country Life

"Rathbone writes so beautifully of the house and of rural Scotland that our lives are enriched..."--Chicago Tribune

"Belinda Rathbone's account of her romance with a 400-year-old Scottish country estate is as sharp-eyed as a field guide, as nuanced as an anthropological study, as gripping as a book of wilderness exploration, and as bittersweet as a classic love story."--George Howe Colt author of The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

"An exceptionally entertaining and instructive read... a new country house classic."--Country Life