I KNOW—IT’S BEEN A WHILE! I didn’t really mean to stay away so long. Part of it was that I had to go into my cave and write. And part of it is that last fall, my sweetie and I dropped everything and fled to Scotland.

And it’s been haunting me ever since.

I was coming to an important scene in the new novel that I knew would be set in Edinburgh—and I hadn’t been there since the 1980s. While it’s true that I wrote the scene in The Walled Garden where Lucy goes to a small French village near Dijon without having been there myself (in other words, I made it up), it didn’t feel right for this scene. An important character—and a proud Scot—was dying, and I needed an Edinburgh church to set his memorial in. I could have made one up, but it felt important to me to set it in an actual church. And I wondered if visiting Edinburgh again might even teach me things about my characters that I hadn’t known.

But Scotland in November? What if it rained all the time? I’d find coffee shops to write in and eavesdrop on people talking, or go to museums and draw, I decided.

But Scotland in the fall, with autumnal melancholy hanging in the air, was more enchanting than I could ever have imagined. And surprisingly, it really didn’t rain that much, so we walked all over the city from one end of the Royal Mile to the other, and also spent a memorable day touring the Highlands, which were dreamy. And I did find a church to set my scene in, though it wasn’t at all what I’d pictured. It was actually a cathedral, Edinburgh’s thousand-year-old cathedral, St. Giles, where the Queen lay at rest in 2022 before she was buried at Windsor.

St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

Inside St. Giles with its heavenly blue ceiling

At first, I thought St. Giles might be too grand, but the more I visited, the more I fell in love with it—and especially its heavenly blue ceiling. Ancient, splendid, and beautiful, it’s an enormous space and yet somehow it still felt intimate and right in the way I needed. It also taught me some important things about my character Angus MacPherson and his relationship to my MC Emma Sheehan, that I hadn’t known before. And it made me more committed to telling their story than ever.

And then there’s Edinburgh, the city itself—and the way the Castle broods over the city on its ancient rock. You catch glimpses of it from different enticing angles depending on where you are—from the Grassmarket on one side, from Princes Street on the other, and straight on as you walk up the Royal Mile. I fell completely in love with it.

The castle from Grassmarket

From Princes Street

Kurt inside the castle gates

Much more than London, Edinburgh retains the feel of its medieval past. I was especially captivated by the medieval wynds, narrow alleys or passageways off the Royal Mile that might lead anywhere—even into other worlds. So beguiling and mysterious—though some definitely too scary for me to venture down, even in the daytime!

Despite the multitude of touristy shops selling every iteration of tartan plaid you could possibly imagine (and then some), the ancient buildings, the statues and monuments and memorials, and the twisty, cobblestone streets are so evocative—I kept thinking, no wonder the Harry Potter stories were born in Edinburgh! We spent a beautiful fall day exploring the churchyard at Greyfriars along with a group of school children on a field trip, all screaming “Voldemort!” as they ran around searching for the grave of Thomas Riddell, whose name famously inspired the name of JK Rowling’s dark lord. (And I hope they found it because we never did!)

Greyfriars Churchyard

I spent a moody, chilly day wandering in and around Holyrood Palace, which felt like a place where history had really happened, and I had an odd experience in the bedroom of Mary, Queen of Scots. There’s a famous story of how her secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered in front of her eyes in a small room just off her bedroom in 1566. Supposedly, the bloodstains remained in the floor for centuries afterwards—though of course they’re gone now (thank heaven). All I can say is that I had a strong visceral feeling that something very bad had happened there. (No photos, because they’re not allowed inside.)

Holyrood Palace

I’ve been reading about Queen Mary obsessively since I came home. Our guide on the Highlands tour told us that Edinburgh is one of the most haunted cities in the world, and I can easily believe it. So, who knows? Maybe the ghost of Mary, Queen of Scots will drift through Emma’s story somehow!

 

Mary, Queen of Scots

There was just the right amount of autumnal mist, and a little rain, the day we toured the Highlands, which somehow made the soft colors of the landscape even more beautiful. It’s a shape-shifty kind of place, where you feel like, if you turn your head, the house or castle you were just looking at might be gone the next time you look. Definitely worthy of a whole post of its own. As a teaser, I’ll just add my favorite photo from that day.

The haunting beauty of the Highlands

I especially enjoyed the afternoons I spent writing and drawing (and resting my tired feet) at the National Gallery of Scotland. And I had a charming encounter with a lovely young woman from Belgium, where we managed to communicate even though neither of us spoke the other’s language—inspiration for another future post!

I’ve been hard at work writing the Edinburgh scenes for The Summerhouse ever since. I’m getting close to finishing a first draft—and feeling really blessed by this fresh dose of Scottish inspiration.

So, I’ll leave you with the haunting refrain from Loch Lomond, an old Scottish folk song. (Enjoy Ella Roberts’s gorgeous version of it here.)

Oh, you take the high road and I’ll take the low

And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye

For me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Last day of the trip at the Oxford Botanic Gardens

Hope you enjoyed Scotland–I’ll be back soon with something more springlike!

 

All photos my own