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Leonie Charlton’s Marram
west coast review | 39
This week, Taynuilt author
Leonie Charlton introduces
us to her new book, about a
journey through the Hebrides.
Your three minutes
starts now...GO!
“Marram is the story of two
journeys intertwined; a physical
journey through the
Outer Hebrides with my friend
Shuna and our two Highland
ponies, and an emotional
journey through surfacing
memories of my late mother.
“Many years ago a friend,
Jane Isaacson, talked about
the possibilities of riding the
Outer Hebrides. Her words landed
somewhere deep and took seed.
In 2017 the timing was right to
make this trip. Seven years after
my mother’s death I found myself
ever more tangled in grief and
guilt. The idea came to me to
take a handful of her beloved
beads through the Hebrides,
and to leave them for her in
special places along the way.
“One highlight of my trip was
at Kinloch Resort, the head of a
sea loch where Harris and Lewis
meet. I’d taken off sodden boots
and socks and was wiggling my
toes in the mossy foundations
of a blackhouse when evening
sunshine swamped us, bringing
with it a sea eagle and rainbows.
In our new feature, the Review challenges a local artist,
heritage or cultural group to tell us about their passion
project – in just three minutes.
Dinner was cooking on the camping
stove and nearby the ponies
were tearing at grass. I had the
overwhelming feeling of being
the luckiest person alive, being
there, in that precise moment,
in one of the most beautiful and
remote places I’d ever seen.
“I am currently working on a
novel set in a west coast glen, and
there are always poems, poems
and more poems in progress.
I could happily spend the rest
of my life exploring Scotland,
and Argyll is a place that makes
my heart sing every single day.
People who are open-hearted,
open-minded, generous and
grounded. Hills and weather
that change by the minute. The
fluidity of light, water, wildlife,
the mosses and lichens. I will
never get enough of this place.”
KLAXON: Ten seconds left...
“My book is an honest account
of the messiness of life and
love, motherhood and daughterhood,
and is a windblown
love affair with the Hebrides.”
TIME ’S UP!
Marram, by Leonie Charlton
is out on March 19th (see our
review in West Coast Reads).