Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush by MacLaren 1895
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush. Ian MacLaren, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1895.
Fiction - Short Stories
A book of short stories. It became a hugely popular bestseller. It is considered to be part of the Kailyard School of Scottish literature. A kailyard or kailyaird (kale) is comparable to a cabbage patch and refers to a kitchen garden as might be found adjacent to a cottage. The title, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, references the Jacobite song "There grows a bonnie brier bush in our Kailyard".
The stories in the book recount some of MacLaren's experiences as a Free Church minister in rural Perthshire and blends humour and pathos with racy Scots dialogue.
Gutter tear at front/rear endpaper hinge otherwise secure with clean pages and a lightly foxed cover with a sun darkened spine. About 6-1/4 x 3-1/2 with 218 pp. 28 ads.