Jessie Kesson

(born 1916 - died September 1994) - Elgin and Aberdeenshire

Jessie Kesson

Born Jessie Grant Macdonald in an Inverness workhouse in 1916, Jessie Kesson was a novelist and playwright most famous for her first novel, the semi-autobiographical The White Bird Passes. She was raised in an orphanage from the age of eight, finally leaving in 1932 to go into service. However, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to recuperate near Loch Ness, where she met her future husband, Johnnie Kesson.

In the 1930s and '40s Kesson contributed to The Scots Magazine, and wrote over 30 features and plays for the BBC. In 1947 she moved to London to further her writing, supporting herself with a variety of odd jobs. Her heart, however, remained in Morayshire and Aberdeenshire. In the 1980s she was awarded honorary degrees from Dundee and Aberdeen Universities. She died in London in 1994.

  • Cover scan of Another Time, Another Place
    Add to Basket
    £5.99
    Another Time, Another Place - Paperback
    Jessie Kesson's Another Time, Another Place movingly portrays the tragic consequences of a clash of cultures in a haunting tale of love and war. A young farm-worker's wife has forbidden feelings for an Italian prisoner of war billeted in her village.
  • Cover scan of Glitter Of Mica
    Add to Basket
    £5.99
    Glitter Of Mica - Paperback
    Glitter of Mica tells the story of Caldwell, an isolated Scottish farming community. The changing fortunes of the parish over thirty years are seen through the eyes of the Riddel family.
  • Cover scan of Where The Apple Ripens
    Add to Basket
    £5.99
    Where The Apple Ripens - Paperback
    The stories in this volume draw heavily on Jessie Kesson's experiences of growing up in rural Aberdeenshire, and include tales of the mental hospital where Kesson was a patient, and of Christmas one year for some deprived children.
  • Cover scan of The White Bird Passes
    Add to Basket
    £7.99
    The White Bird Passes - Paperback
    Jessie Kesson's The White Bird Passes tells the moving story of a young girl's experiences as she passes from the city streets into a bleak life in an orphanage in Scotland during the 1920s.

Biographies of Jessie Kesson

  • Cover scan of A Jessie Kesson Companion
    Add to Basket
    £5.99
    A Jessie Kesson Companion - Paperback - Jessie Kesson
    This miscellany of Jessie Kesson's writings brings together a variety of her work in different genres, all focusing on childhood and adolescence.
Last modified Thursday 21 May 2009
}