Gavin Maxwell: A Life - Softcover

Douglas Botting

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780601069 ISBN 13: 9781780601069

Publisher: Eland Publishing Ltd, 2017

Synopsis

Gavin Maxwell was a romantic, self-destructive adventurer, brave and handsome, with a deep sympathy for the underdog, a wonderfully curious mind and a dogged commitment to discovering the truth. It was said of him that he was loved by women, had sex with men but his emotional life was ruled by animals. His father died in the trenches in the year of his birth, so he and his brothers enjoyed a wonderfully carefree childhood, living in passionate proximity to their mother, the widowed daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, in an isolated house on the south-west coast of Scotland., He became one of the most brilliant and quixotic of British travel-writers, who wrote about Iraq (where he travelled with Wilfrid Thesiger in 1956 and acquired his first otter), Sicily (where he befriended both Communist peasants and Mafia hitmen) and Morocco (where he spent six years chronicling the rise and fall of a Berber dynasty). But he would become even more famous for his trilogy of books set in the north-west coast of Scotland, which was a true fulfilment of his affinity with nature and a love of wild things, most especially otters. Despite the success of Ring of Bright Water, The Rocks Remain and Raven Seek thy Brother, the vast bulk of his life remained a closely guarded secret., He was by turns a shark-hunter, a wartime secret agent, portrait-painter, racing car-driver, naturalist, poet and a social renegade. Often poised on the edge of bankruptcy he could also be insanely profligate and generous.

About this title

Review:

'Totally absorbing, wonderfully written. David Attenborough; 'Here is a life woven from the stuff of high romance, a tragic and fascinating quest. Elspeth Barker, Independent; 'Could hardly be bettered Botting s great achievement is to have looked his friend square in the face, portraying his frailties while remaining loyal to his gifts. --Fraser Harrison, New Statesman

From the Back Cover:

'The life of the man who wrote 'Ring of Bright Water ''

The bestselling author of 'Ring of Bright Water' – his classic account of life with otters at his inaccessible Highlands wilderness by the sea – was, in the words of 'The Times', ' a man of action who writes like a poet'. Aristocrat, social renegade, wartime secret agent, shark-hunter, adventurer, racing driver, traveller, naturalist, poet and painter, Gavin Maxwell was also one of the most popular authors of wildlife books in the twentieth century.

Wonderfully written and very penetrating and understanding. What an extraordinary story!"
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

"Here is a life woven from the stuff of high romance, a tragic and fascinating quest."
ELSPETH BARKER, 'Independent on Sunday' Books of the Year

"Compelling... a ripping yarn about a mercurial man told with the verve and romanticism it deserves."
JOHN MCEWEN, 'Sunday Telegraph'

"Could hardly be bettered... Botting's great achievement is to have looked his friend squarely in the face, portraying his frailties while remaining loyal to his gifts."
FRASER HARRISON, 'New Statesman'

"Botting's achievement is immense... much as Maxwell would have raged at his biographer's portrayal of his many flaws as well as his virtues, he would have approved of the book's honesty... Botting has unravelled then rewoven the extraordinary tapestry of Maxwell's life into a fond, frank and endlessly absorbing and moving book."
JIM CRUMLEY, 'Scotland on Sunday'

"Masterly... enthralling”
ANDRO LINKLATER, ' Spectator'

"Fascinating... a tour de force, meticulously researched and well written, for Botting's descriptive prose is in the same genre as Maxwell's and equally eloquent. This is a book that is difficult to put down."
PHILIP WAYRE, ' The Field'

"Excellent and thorough... a gripping story, told here by someone who knew him very well, yet can stand back far enough to see this extraordinary character as a whole."
DUFF HART-DAVIS, 'Mail on Sunday'

About this edition

• Publisher: Eland Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1780601069
• ISBN 13: 9781780601069
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512