Highland Journey

In Highland Journey, Mairi Hedderwick retraces the steps of an obscure Victorian artist, John T. Reid, who made a sketching tour around Scotland in 1876. Hedderwick, a witty and immensely readable author of children’s books, achieves so much more than simply following in Reid’s footsteps; wonderfully realised, her quest becomes obsessional at times as she struggles to understand her mentor and guide with whom she shares a passion to conserve Scotland’s wild places and record them faithfully with exquisite illustration and insightful comment.

Thoughtfully written, intensely personal, and hugely entertaining, Highland Journey interweaves both artists’ texts to provide a valuable social commentary comparing two vastly contrasting eras, written by two complete strangers with a common distaste for tourist hordes and the impact of man’s encroachment in Scotland’s landscape.