Living with the Laird: A Love Affair with a Man and his Mansion - Softcover

Rathbone, Belinda

3.55

276 ratings by Goodreads

9780007246212: Living with the Laird: A Love Affair with a Man and his Mansion

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007246218 ISBN 13: 9780007246212

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

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A little bit of the Scottish soul in all its stark splendor, and a perceptive anlaysis of the social mores of Scotland that have existed for centuries. A love affair with a Scottish man and his mansion, and a moving account of a strange new world for a New York girl. (bio)

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Review:

‘A new country house classic.’ Country Life

‘A gem of a memoir.’ Observer

'I read “Living With the Laird” with admiration and sympathy...This is not only a personal story, but a perceptive analysis of the social mores of Scotland and a way of country life that seems to have continued over the centuries.’ Rosamunde Pilcher

‘It is difficult to remain unseduced by this winsome account of a misalliance between a New England woman of literary taste and architectural sophistication and a frugal Scottish laird in his dilapidated ancestral home.’ The Times

‘The poignancy of her fractured love affair with both the man and the house shines through...Perhaps only an 'incomer' could have written such an intimate and acutely observed account of a disappearing social order which deserves a memoir like this as a lasting testimonial.’ Spectator

‘Fascinating...the book lifts and excels in [Rathbone's] description of her husband. In writing about John with affection, exasperation and sadness, Rathbone has managed to nail down a little bit of the Scottish soul in all its stark splendor.’ New York Times

Synopsis:

A captivating memoir of one woman's relationship with a man and his mansion. 'I knew that when I married the man that I married the mansion,' begins Belinda Rahtbone's captivating memoir of her relationship with a Scottish laird -- and with his 400-acre ancestral home 'The Guynd'. But there was also much that the urban American did not know when she abandoned her life in New York to become the unlikely chatelaine of this country estate in north-east Scotland after a whirlwind affair with its eccentric owner. Finding herself in a setting reminiscent of many a classic English novel, Rathbone recounts her story of dealing with a grand but crumbling Georgian mansion still recovering from the effects of two world wars, not to mention a hopelessly overgrown garden, troublesome tenants, and an intractable class system often too dangerous to navigate.

With the persistence of the biographer she delves into local history, anecdotes and family papers in her attempt to understand the small Scottish community into which she has been thrown, and with the curiosity of a outsider she imbibes the country wisdom that surrounds her, from the value of dead elm trees and the intricate working of the slow-cooking Aga to how to pluck a pheasant and what to wear to a country ball. Like a letter home from a strange land, Living With the Laird gives a unique view into the Scottish countryside of today that is both wry and poignant, combining a warm, Bill Bryson-esque view of British society with a fascinating portrait of an historic house and its many colourful inhabitants. Whether tackling her husband's habit of hoarding bottles of 30-year-old raspberry vinegar and pots of crystallised blackcurrant jam in their icy kitchen, or struggling to revive the fortunes of the rundown Georgian mansion, 'Living With the Laird' tells a larger story: a tale of what happens when two cultures and two worlds -- the old and the new -- collide.

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