Remember the Rowan

‘Gavin has not married me in church with stained glass saints looking down in judgement and me wearing shop-bought jewellery that will soon become tarnished. He has not married me on paper, inking out scribbled signatures as if I am a woman to acquire on hire purchase and he a man too busy read the fine print. He has married me with all of this: a marriage of minds and souls, conceived in the beating heart of nature where we share one consciousness and one calling. One otter, most important of all. Instead of white lace, we have rowan blossom. Instead of pungent florist bouquets, we have a flourishing carpet of wildflowers.’

‘If hate were love, if love were hate, it could not make our tale untold’

Divorced and living apart from her two children as she strives against the odds to carve out a career in 1940s London, poet Kathleen Raine is initially unimpressed when she meets Gavin Maxwell, a would-be portrait painter struggling to recover from a recent breakdown. Nevertheless, the pair soon bond over childhood memories and a profound love of nature, epitomised by a mysterious vision they share of a rowan tree.

When Gavin confides that he is ‘more of a man’s man’, Kathleen remains determined that their connection can survive. They share a cottage in the wildest reaches of the West Highlands, where they care for Gavin’s beloved pet otter Mij and for each other. But when tragedy strikes, love soon turns to hate, and Kathleen finds herself being written out of her own life.

Inspired by the true story of Kathleen Raine and Gavin Maxwell’s ‘some-requited’ love, Remember the Rowan illuminates their extraordinary relationship and shines a light on the woman behind Ring of Bright Water.

Despite the hardships Kathleen faced in her relationship with Gavin, she went on to become a well-respected and successful poet.