Notes from the north - Emma Wood

Sickened by the English jingoism that surfaced in rampant form during the 1982 Falklands War. Emma Wood started to dream of moving from her home in East Anglia to the Highlands of Scotland. She felt increasingly frustrated and marginalised as Thatcherism got a grip in the southern English psyche. The Scots she met on frequent holidays in the highlands had no truck with Thatcherism, and she felt at home with grass roots Scottish anti-authoritarianism. The decision was made. She uprooted and headed for a new life in the north of Scotland. She was to discover that she had crossed a border in more than the geographical sense. In this book she sets a study of Scots-English conflicts alongside personal experiences of contemporary incomers lives in the Highlands. Her own approach has been thoughtful and creative. Notes from the North is a pragmatic, positive and forward looking contribution to cultural and political debate within Scotland.

English 'white settler' Emma Wood is a freelance journalist and writer living in Ross-shire. Emma was sickened by the English jingoism that surfaced during the 1982 Falklands Conflict. But moving to Scotland - where she had holidayed for many years - was to prove an education in the needs, aspirations and feelings of the Highland communities where she hoped to make her home.

This is an intelligent and perceptive book. It is calm, reflective, witty and sensitive about an issue which can sometimes generate more heat than light. It should certainly be read by all English visitors to Scotland, be they tourists or incomers. And it should also certainly be read by all Scots concerned about what kind of nation we live in. They might learn something about themselves.
- THE HERALD