Mairi

Kelly L. Green is a freelance writer living in Ajax, Ontario.

This extremely ambitious first novel is both an adult fairy tale and a
feminist, nationalist allegory, masquerading as a historical romance.
The title character, Mairi, is a young Scots Highlander, exiled from her
home with an old man and a baby. They are among thousands forced to flee
their ancestral homes because they could not afford the increasing rents
imposed by the Scottish landlords. Her two companions dead, Mairi is
taken in at the estate of Gregory Treemaster, a dissolute young English
landowner and devotee of Lord Byron.

The novel follows Mairi’s attempt to regain her memory, blocked by
some experience too painful for her to recall, of her life before her
flight. She is aided by several symbolically beneficent characters,
including a “wild” boy from an unnamed foreign land, a benevolent
witch with powers of prophesy, and a young servant girl who sees in
Mairi a miracle of Christ-like transcendence. The forces of evil ranged
against her are headed by a repulsive doctor, no strict follower of
Hippocrates. The figure in the balance, the one who must decide her
fate, is, of course, none other than young master Gregory himself.

MacIntyre has a clear vision of the message she wants her readers to
receive. She has created a novelistic structure that is almost perfect
in its mutually supporting elements, including a compelling story, a
suitably romantic style, and vivid historical detail, ranging from
Scottish stories and customs to the 19th-century English mania for
collecting foreign artifacts. The weakest element of the book is
characterization, which, as in most fairy tales and allegories, is
one-sided and not fully developed. Each character has a purpose rather
than a personality.

MacIntyre’s sure grip on the reader’s attention falters only when
she stumbles into polemic. Mairi’s complicated psychological journey
occasionally bogs down in the mire of English landlord versus Scottish
peasant, abstract rationality versus intuitive powers, male versus
female. Nevertheless, Mairi is a challenging work, enjoyable on many
levels, that holds the reader in suspense until the end.