Cambusnethan Priory

I met my good friend Marie Michlova in Cold Town House and shared our common interest in all things Abbotsford.

Marie whose book Smrt Muz (Death of a muse) Torst 2012 reimagines the home life of Walter Scott and his son-in-law John Gibson Lockhart is now also involved with the friends of ruinous Cambusnethan Priory.

Courtesy Friends of Cambusnethan Priory

Courtesy Friends of Cambusnethan Priory

She has found a family connection with the priory through her academic research on Lockhart and has visited to share her expertise. (And coincidentally this house was also home to family of Scottish astronomer and mathematician Mary Somerville).

Also a chance for nice chat.

If you want to learn more about Cambusnethan or visit it, try https://www.facebook.com/CambusnethanPriory/

Smrt Múz

Marie Michlová's novel ("Death of Muses") about the Scottish poet Walter Scott, his family, J.G. Lockhart, James Hogg, Lord Byron, Benjamin Disraeli etc. was published last week. Read it if you can. There is no English translation on the cards yet so I encourage someone with a good head on their shoulders to get it translated from Czech into as many languages as possible, publish it and make a lot of money. It is a one off. The next Wolf Hall. Don't forget to buy the film rights too...

Michlova herself is a Scott geek - I have learned more from her about his life than anyone else in spite of her youth - and such obsession earns her place here: she says "I had been working on [Smrt Múz] for eight years (since I was 15-years-old) and it was not an easy task at all because I wanted to make all my heroes as real as possible, so for example everything what my heroes say in the novel are their authentic quotes (taken from their letters, journals etc.)." btw it's Lockhart's self-portrait on the cover

You can find more about the novel here:  http://www.torst.cz/czech/detail.php?pk=610