“Out of alchemy, feminism, the Highland Clearances and some of the great philosophical discourses of the 18th century comes an unforgettable first novel of power and insight. Mairi is a tale of a primitive Highland woman cast by fate onto English shores and into the arms of an intellectual English aristocrat. It is also a metaphysical argument, a lyric cry and a passionate denunciation of the heedless male urge to use and destroy the created world.” – The Ottawa Citizen
Fleeing the violence of the Highland Clearances of the early 1800s, when clan lairds evicted the people to make way for sheep, Mairi, a young Scotswoman, escapes in a small boat. Adrift, she comes to shore near the coastal estate of a wealthy Englishman, Gregory Treemaster, where she attempts to regain her memory of her traumatic past. The love affair between Mairi and Treemaster ends ultimately in a wrenching betrayal that mirrors the rupture of centuries-old trust between the Scottish lairds and the clansmen and women who looked to them for protection.