On Scottish Books: Jennie Robertson
Notable writers and readers share five of their favorite Scottish titles.
For Volume 2 of ‘On Scottish Books’, we are joined by my cousin/bestie Jennie Robertson aka SelkieMum. Take it away Jennie!
I have many books about Scotland on my shelf, but I find they are mostly reference books or heavier non-fiction that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. When it comes to children’s or young adult books, however, I have many favorites that have had an important part in forming my Scottish-American identity. Here are five of them:
1. Selkie stories
The selkies are seal people with multiple associated stories (not all Scottish). Although I originally became acquainted with selkies through my Scottish Folktales and Legends book by Barbara Ker Wilson (an Australian), I have added to that volume several zines and picture books and one chapter book by a local young author whose parents run our general store. This story was always a favorite and I remember re-telling it to my nieces by the seaside when they were small. My online persona was Selkielassie, then Selkiemum when I had children. At this point, the story, where a Selkie captured in her human form eventually returns to the sea, became even more meaningful to me as I struggled to reconcile my wild wanderlust with domestic life. My first important byline was an article about that selkie metaphor in my life. It would be hard to find a character that I identify with more.
2. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
My favorite kind of fairy tale, this book is magical but not shallow, with well-developed characters and relationships that hint at real world ideas like bravery, loyalty, love, and faith. Some might object to MacDonald’s “every little girl is a princess” concept, but Irene is no damsel in distress. She and Curdie, a young miner, take turns rescuing each other. There are many good quotes, but one of my favorites is, “. . .that is the way fear serves us: it always sides with the thing we are afraid of.”
3. Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
It was 30 years ago or more that I last read Eight Cousins and Goodreads reviews warn me that I may not see it the same way that I did as a child. I suspect that Alcott made her main characters of Scottish descent because of the Outlander-style Highland craze touched off in her day by Queen Victoria and I was never under the impression that it was particularly authentic. Nonetheless, when the Campbell boys descend on poor Rose in kilts and with pipes and divulge their “Scotch” heritage, it resonated with me because these kids were Scottish Americans like I was. I didn’t see characters like this in the Scholastic novels of the ‘80s and it was nice to find them here. I will always think fondly of these books because of that (and a few other reasons, detractors notwithstanding.)
4. The Emily Books by LM Montgomery
Like Eight Cousins, the children of the Emily books (and other Montgomery titles) are quite distinctly of Scottish descent and so they resonated with me for the same reason (among others.) Montgomery’s books, however, have a richer, more nuanced, and less forced flavor, which I believe is attributable to her own Scottish heritage and being brought up on PEI, where Scots are still the majority ethnic group. My father’s ancestors were Scots that trickled into Maine from Nova Scotia, so the characters in Emily felt like my people, not to mention Emily was a writer like me.
5. Precious and the Puggies by Alexander McCall Smith.
This one is an honorable mention; I bought the English edition, The Great Cake Mystery, for my daughter several years ago and it was enjoyable but not necessarily a favorite. However, the fact that you can buy the books translated into Scots gives it a coolness factor that’s hard to beat.
These aren’t the books to read for an “authentic” Scottish experience, especially not a modern one. But what I think is authentic and important is that part of the burden of immigration is the inevitable loss of culture. My great-grandmother was from Scotland, so naturally a few “authentic” cultural things traveled from her to my mom and then me (although mostly she seems to have left souvenir tea towels, which I do enjoy.) My Dad’s Scottish ancestors are somewhat further back but that strain seems even more persistent, and I always wonder if it has to do with the circumstances of their immigration–perhaps not as willingly as my maternal great-grandmother–as well as their Scottish identity being maintained in “New Scotland” (Nova Scotia.) I imagine a chain from that first immigrant parent to their child all the way down to my father and me, saying, “We are Scottish, and don’t you forget it.” And so, with that in mind, I hope you appreciate this list of books enjoyed by a little Scottish-American girl before anyone could tell her why she shouldn’t enjoy them.
BIO
Jennie Robertson is a writer and teacher from Maine. She publishes short stories, essays and poems here on Substack, as well as zines. She has also been published in MaryJane’s Farm, Broken Pencil, the anthologies So Glad They Told Me and Here in the Middle, and online at Literary Mama, Mothers Always Write, and others. She is passionate about zines and folklore. She is enthusiastic about indie and alternative publishing and her first novel will be published serially on Substack starting in January, 2025.
You can follow Jennie here on Substack and on Instagram.
Thank you so much Jennie! And thank you all for reading. Stay tuned for future installments of ‘On Scottish Books’! And feel free to join Scottish Wanderlust Book Club on Facebook :)
Lilly
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Nice work Jennie 😊