Pine Trees and the Sky by Jean Cantlie Stewart
Pine Trees and the Sky paints a picture with words of Scottish rural life that takes the reader inside a close-knit community in an isolated glen. It is based on Jean's personal recollections of life in Corgarff, in the north-east of Scotland. The press dubbed Corgarff as the 'village in the sky'. Surrounded by the finest mountain scenery in Britain, its roots go back to antiquity. The rugged peaceful scenery of the surrounding land is captured and the wildlife, birds, flowers, insects and animal life found there are described by Jean in beautiful detail. Jean moves there with her young son in 1954 after her divorce the previous year. She lives in a cottage on the Allargue Estate and several of the chapters deal with the problems and privations of rural living. Jean's new cottage was in a rather dilapidated state and she experiences particular hardship in her early attempts at renovation. The story describes Jean's efforts to turn it into a home for herself and her son and their day-to-day life of a small village. It is a charming and very human story.
Jean's book does not so much tell a story as paint a picture with words of Scottish rural life- The Donside Piper and Herald; If there was a perfect time to read this charming little book, may I suggest outdoors on a lazy, balmy summer afternoon in relaxed half-hour snatches. - Keith Lobban, Leopard Magazine;
Jean Cantlie Stewart was born in Edinburgh in 1927, the daughter of the equally feisty Admiral Sir Colin Cantlie who ran Rosyth naval dockyard during the war. Jean was also the granddaughter of Sir James Cantlie who was a pioneer of first aid and influential in the study of tropical diseases. Some say she was expelled from her school after squirting a tray-carrying chamber maid with a water pistol. This was a charge she always denied but perhaps so as not to encourage her son into rebellious ways. Bright and passionately focused, she matriculated into St Andrews aged only 16. Her early career was in teaching and in the Red Cross. She married a retired Army officer in 1952 but shortly after the birth of their son, Hugh, they divorced. Being a single, divorced mother was not easy in the early fifties. Jean buckled down to earn a living as a freelance journalist in gentlemanly magazines while living in a remote and primitive cottage in the Highlands without electricity. Determined to improve her lot, she moved to Oxford to read for a diploma in teaching. Jean was a traditional, one-nation Conservative. She decided to study law, as much as a way to enter politics, and qualified as a barrister. Jean then stood for the Conservatives in Kirkcaldy (it later became Gordon Brown's seat). Though she failed to win the seat, she did increase the Conservative vote substantially. She then devoted herself to writing full time.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781898218975 |
| ISBN 10 | 1898218978 |
| Title | Pine Trees and the Sky |
| Author | Jean Cantlie Stewart |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Rowan Books |
| Year published | 1998-04-30 |
| Number of pages | 108 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |