Mary Williamina Findlater (28 March 1865 – 22 November 1963) was a Scottish novelist and poet.

Early life

Mary Williamina Findlater was born at Lochearnhead,

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, the second daughter of the Rev. Eric John Thomson Findlater and Sarah Borthwick Findlater. Her father was a minister of the

Free Church of Scotland Free Church of Scotland may refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), seceded in 1843 from the Church of Scotland. The majority merged in 1900 into the United Free Church of Scotland; historical * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), rema ...

; he died in 1886. Her mother worked with her own sister, Jane Borthwick, to compile ''Hymns from the Land of Luther'' (1855), a book of translated German-language hymns, before she married. Writer

Jane Findlater Jane Helen Findlater (4 November 1866, in Edinburgh – 20 May 1946, in Comrie) was a Scottish novelist whose first book, ''The Green Graves of Balgowrie'', started a successful literary career: for her sister Mary as well as for herself. They ...

was her younger sister and lifelong collaborator. Affair at the Inn

Career

Findlater wrote novels and poetry both alone and together with her sister Jane. The sisters made two literary tours of the United States one in 1905. They collaborated with American writer

Kate Douglas Wiggin Kate Douglas Wiggin (September 28, 1856August 24, 1923) was an American educator, author and composer. She wrote children's stories, most notably the classic children's novel ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,'' and composed collections of children's ...

, and were acquainted with Henry James, Ellen Terry, and Mary Chomondeley. Their best-known and most widely admired collaboration is the novel ''Crossriggs'' (1908), re-issued in 1986 by Virago Press. Her heroines are "surprisingly modern", often rejecting the expected path of marriage and motherhood, and preferring female companionship, care responsibilities, or a life in the arts.

Personal life

Findlater moved with her mother and sisters to Prestonpans after Rev. Findlater's death in 1886. They also lived in Devon, for their mother's health, and built a house in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

They returned to Perthshire during World War II. Mary Findlater lived all her life with her sister Jane, until Jane died in 1946. Mary Findlater died in 1963, at St. Fillans. Her grave is in

Comrie Comrie may refer to: Places *Comrie (crater), a lunar crater *Comrie, Fife, a village in Fife, Scotland *Comrie, Perth and Kinross, a village and parish in Strathearn, Scotland People with the surname *Aaron Comrie (born 1997), Scottish footballer ...

Selected bibliography

* ''Songs and Sonnets'' (1895) * ''Betty Musgrave'' (1899) * ''A Narrow Way'' (1901) * ''Tales that are Told'' (1901, with Jane Findlater) * ''The Rose of Joy'' (1903) * ''The Affair at the Inn'' (1904, with Jane Findlater, Kate Douglas Wiggin, and Allan McAulay) * ''A Blind Bird's Nest'' (1907) * ''Crossriggs'' (1908, with Jane Findlater) * ''Robinetta'' (1911, with Jane Findlater, Kate Douglas Wiggin, and Allan McCaulay) * ''Penny Monypenny'' (1911, with Jane Findlater) * ''Tents of a Night'' (1914) * ''Over the Hills'' (1897) ref-copy of book with copyright date of 1897.ref> * ''Seen and Heard before and after 1914'' (1916, with Jane Findlater) * ''Content with Flies'' (1916, with Jane Findlater) * ''Beneath the Visiting Moon'' (1923, with Jane Findlater)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Findlater, Mary 1865 births Scottish women novelists 1963 deaths 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British women writers