The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle: a story of love and belonging

(Paperback)

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'ORIGINAL AND ENTHRALLING' Guardian

'AFFECTING AND TENDER' The Times

'COMPLETELY ENCHANTING' Penny Vincenzi

Elizabeth Pringle lived all her long life on the Scottish island of Arran. But did anyone really know her In her will she leaves her beloved house, Holmlea, to a stranger - a young mother she'd seen pushing a pram down the road over thirty years ago. It now falls to Martha, once the baby in that pram, to answer the question: why Martha is coping with her mother's dementia and the possibility of a new life on Arran could be a new start.

A captivating story for fans of Rosamund Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Rachel Joyce of the richness behind the so-called ordinary lives of women and the secrets and threads that hold them together.

And Kirsty Wark's second novel, The House by the Loch, a story of unlikely love and long-hidden family secrets set in the beautiful Scottish countryside, is out now.

Reviews

Kirsty Wark's first novel gleams with beauty... Part romance, part family history, mother-and-daughter fable and meditation on memory, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle has qualities of heart... something of great worth and beauty gleams through the narrative and haunts the reader with its imaginative truth... Wark's presentation of a unique love unalloyed by sexuality is original and enthralling. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle is a hymn to the stark beauty of the island of Arran. - Guardian

Curl up for this big-hearted romantic debut by the Newsnight presenter... A pulse of secrets drives the story along... affecting and tender. - The Times

Set on the Scottish island of Arran, Kirsty Wark's brilliantly vivid descriptions bring alive a story that reaches across the generations. - Daily Mail

The narrative switches between Elizabeth and Martha...The structure works well, demonstrating the similarities and differences between the two women. Both are well-rounded characters and their stories are engaging... Martha's relationship with Anna is beautifully and touchingly written, a daughter helplessly watching her beloved, vibrant mother fade away... This is an appealing debut that sustains interest to the very last page... Elizabeth Pringle is a quietly heroic character and, like Arran, she never fails to charm. - Independent on Sunday

The story is set in the beautiful Scottish island of Arran, a place Wark very obviously knows and loves... Wark's story telling is direct, compelling and rewarding for the reader. She is a real writer who happens to do television. - Daily Mail

The book is fresh and beguiling... Wark deftly and delicately plaits the intricate tales of three women... The narrative is packed with incidents but, for the most part, does not rush; it breathes, sighs, ponders. Wark has an exceptionally vivid sense of place. Windswept Arran and Holy Island become starkly beautiful lodestones which keep its old inhabitants and draw new ones. The landscapes, soil and vegetation have the power to heal broken humans, deliver love and hope after calamities. George Eliot paid homage to those "who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs." In this novel some of those hidden stories are told and graves visited with real tenderness. - Independent

a lyrical, truthful, contemplative book. [it] grows, imperceptibly, like bindweed round the reader, captivating them and then practically throttling them in with a denouement so shocking that I could barely speak afterwards. - Daily Telegraph

Author Bio

Kirsty Wark is a journalist, broadcaster and writer who has presented a wide range of BBC programmes for more than twenty five years, from the ground-breaking Late Show to the weekly arts and cultural review show The Review Show and the nightly current affairs show Newsnight.

Kirsty has won several major awards for her work, including BAFTA Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting, Journalist of the Year and Best Television Presenter. Her debut novel, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle, was published in March 2014 by Two Roads and was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award, as well as nominated for the International DUBLIN Literary Award. Her second novel, The House by the Loch, was inspired by her childhood memories and family, particularly her father. She is currently working on her third novel, set in Glasgow.

Born in Dumfries and educated in Ayr, Scotland, Kirsty now lives in Glasgow.