The Ring of Bright Water Trilogy: Ring of Bright Water;the Rocks Remain;Raven Seek Thy Brother

It seems a long time ago that I first read Gavin Maxwell's trilogy of books relating the development and eventually the destruction of his idyllic existence on the West Coast of the Scottish Highlands.
Despite the fact that I was just a teenager coping with all the excitements and problems that period of life engenders, Gavin Maxwell's descriptions of life in a simple house located on the sea shore of a remote bay made such an impression on my eager young intellect, an impression that has never been subdued or diminished by time or cynicism.
Maxwell was not, in my humble opinion, a great author but his books "Ring of Bright Water" and the subsequent "The Rocks Remain" and "Raven Seek Thy Brother" remain classics of the Twentieth Century.
This trilogy of books has, by necessity, been edited down somewhat to facilitate them being published as a single book and in my mind this does detract from the originals.
This compilation emphasises the nurturing wild otters as pets yet allowing them to live, as near as possible, an existence which at least had similarities to life in the wild. To me the original trilogy was as much about conceiving and attempting to build a dream as the rearing and welfare of adopted wild otters which had been orphaned by man's pointless lust for blood.
I am just one of the many whom, after reading Maxwell's books, had a deep yearning to travel northwards and to discover that storm-blasted, shell sand bay wherein his primitive house, Camusfearna, stood. I have never been to the exact location but I am pleased that I did not become one of the "disciples" that innocently yet selfishly caused more harm to that environment than they could have foreseen.
Apart from describing the sheer joy of living in what at times was almost "Heaven on Earth", The "Ring of Bright Water" Trilogy does contain the elements of melancholia, disappointment and depression caused by the realisation that Camusfearna was (in Maxwell's own words) a myth, an unobtainable illusion. Gavin Maxwell spent a great deal of his life living with the Marsh Arabs in Iraq and it is ironic that an old Arabic proverb sums up his life and dreams so well - "Beware of that which you desire for you shall surely receive it".
Yet despite this, Maxwell's accounts of life on a desolate yet beautiful stretch of Scottish coastline still fill my mind with wonder; I still want to be there, all of the time.

Magical (20/22 people found this helpful)

I am a Gavin Maxwell enthusiast who had to resort to tracking down his books via out of print searches in order to find them. The book is beautifully presented and Maxwell's work is sublime. It is truly a necessity that these books should be again available for general readership. I cannot suggest a similar author. But anyone with any true love for our country's species, and for that matter any animal, could not fail to respond to this book. It also seems to arise at a time when interest in Maxwell is increasing. As a bookseller myself, I know this is a true classic.

Beautifully presented, but it's a shame Ring got abridged. (32/33 people found this helpful)

I'll write just a few words, not a full review. As an admirer of Maxwell's autobiographical works, I'm obviously biased; yet this compilation of the three Camusfeàrna books is a real treat. The whole story is here, with some beautiful photographs that you probably have not seen before, making it a convenient and interesting book even if you already own the individual titles. The foreword by Jimmy Watt is the only example of his writing that I've had the chance to read, and constitutes a small but significant part of the new book's appeal. There's also an afterword by Virginia McKenna, though for a true follow-up to the saga I would suggest Frere's 'Maxwell's Ghost' and Lister-Kaye's 'The White Island' and 'The Seeing Eye', since the adventures set into motion by Maxwell really do continue throughout all three books. The only real criticism I would level at this book is that, while Rocks and Raven were obviously abridged, Ring itself has also received something of a hatchet job in places. A comparison with the original Longmans Green edition reveals the sad truth. While the editor himself laments the necessity of this state of affairs, I would have felt a little better about it had he included a short appendix listing the passages that had been cut. An example of an edit that actually changes the character of Maxwell's account is the part where he points out the irony of the fact that, with his backpack and provisions, he was arriving at Camusfeàrna like one of the hikers he had previously disdained. This has been altered so that now he is simply arriving 'at my new home' - saving so few words that one might almost wonder whether this was the only reason for the change. Nevertheless, the story itself remains intact for the first-time reader, even if that reader might not learn as much about Maxwell's history and opinions in the process. Hence I've awarded it only 4 stars out of 5. In summary, buy this book. If you really want to know what Maxwell had to say, then you'll have more than one of his books anyway; but if you have only one, it might as well be this one.

The Ring of Bright Water Trilogy: Ring of Bright Water;the Rocks Remain;Raven Seek Thy Brother

Gavin Maxwell

Reader Reviews:

A Beautiful Myth (1/1 people found this helpful)

Magical (20/22 people found this helpful)

Beautifully presented, but it's a shame Ring got abridged. (32/33 people found this helpful)

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