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Marching in Scotland, Dancing in New York

Margaret M. Dunlop

Published by
Melrose Books
St. Thomas Place, Ely, Cambridge CB7 4GG
Tel: (+44) 01353 646608

A review (©, 2007) by the author Margaret M. Dunlop
Original Copyright by Margaret M. Dunlop.  Used by permission of the author.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission of the author.

Margaret M. Dunlop

Margaret M. Dunlop is a Scot, living and writing in Scotland.  Her book Marching in Scotland, Dancing in New York is set in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland in the 1920's and 30's and in New York.  Another Scottish novel is pending.

Marching in Scotland, Dancing in New York is about two large families who grow up alongside each other in the village that was sucked into the industrial melting-pot of Central Scotland to form part of the great city of Glasgow.  A parallel story is played out in New York.  The protagonists are the Dennys, a Scots family of partly Irish descent and the Drydens from England.  The Dennys are not well off but with a fun-loving, somewhat devil-may-care attitude to life and a love of books and politics.  The Drydens are home-loving, refined and cultured, for whom domestic skills and respectability are priorities.  The families are thrown together socially through the marriage of Honor from the English side and Edward from the Scottish side.  It is a journey through hard times and good times, but with fun and humour never far away.  Tragedy strikes in a heart-rending, desolate way while love and amorous encounters are ever present.  How do Honor and Edward and their respective families react to the events that surround them?  Are they trapped by their circumstances?  What lies ahead for them?

Susan Denny, Edward's sister, leaves Glasgow to take up a post as a nanny in New York. but will she cope with a dramatically different, fast and hedonistic lifestyle and with temptations far removed from her strict upbringing?  Susan's time in New York provides a parallel story to that played out in Scotland.  Her wealthy employers, her liberated companions, and the tensions generated by the ties to home make Susan's story gripping.

The story is drawn on facts from Margaret Dunlop's family and friends in Glasgow where she was born and brought up.  It has as its background many of the historical events and some of the real-life characters of the time, and as a backdrop some of the well-known landmarks of Scotland and New York.  It is a story of a generation that founded ours and to which many of all ages will relate. It is a book of contrasts and brings to life the atmosphere of the time.

The novel appeals to those with an interest in or connection with Scotland and thus very particularly to those in the USA with Scottish forebears or with their own family memories.  For this reason we welcome visitors to Margaret's website.

More information about the book can be found at Marching in Scotland, Dancing in New York, but briefly, the novel concerns the fortunes, with highs and lows, of two large families, one Scots and one English, against the backdrop of those eventful years which included the aftermath of one world-war and the run up to the next with the political discussions of the time, a general strike in Scotland and the stock-market crash in New York.  Part of the story is played out against the very different lifestyle of New York where one of the Scottish family members found work as a nanny.  The book brings to life historic events and mores of the times.  Through the lives of the members of the two families it shows up  contrasts in their aspirations, attitudes and indiscretions.  And the dual setting of Glasgow and New York provides another contrast.

ISBN 1-906050-19-8
Pages T.B.C.
Price, UK: £13.99, US$19.99, CAN$21.99, AUS$25.99, NZ$25.99
234mm x 156 mm hardback
Publication Date: 3rd August 2007
To Order: First email sales@melrosebooks.com for a favorable price quote, postage and handling and any related ordering instructions  The Melrose accounting system associated with the on-line ordering is at present geared only to £ sterling.
You may be directed to order on-line.

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