Marie McPherson on Dorothy Dunnett
A Riddle wrapped in a Mystery inside an Enigma: How Dorothy Dunnett influenced my writing
I’m ashamed to admit it took me many years to appreciate my fellow Scot, Dorothy Dunnett, whose work I’d assigned to the slush pile of romantic fiction writers like Jean Plaidy or Georgette Heyer without ever reading it. In my youth, I admired the short, sharp, spare technique and dry wit of that other Edinburgh writer Muriel Spark, also an alumna of James Gillespie’s School for Girls a few years before Dunnett. Then, later in life, rekindling my interest in 16th Scottish history, I picked up The Game of Kings and I was hooked. Here was a refreshing, exciting way of interweaving fact and fiction with living, breathing characters in striking contrast to the male-dominated tales of derring-do by Scottish writers from Sir Walter Scott to Nigel Tranter.
By raising the bar in the historical fiction genre Dunnett offered plenty of lessons to this aspiring HF author, not least in character presentation. A protagonist who attempts to burn his mother’s house down – with her inside – is no stereotypical romantic hero, but neither is he a moustache-twirling villain who will surely get his come-uppance. The portrayal of Lymond is much more nuanced than that. This anti-hero is an enigmatic, flawed figure whose actions and motives are often contradictory. He may don a cold, cynical and cruel mask but he is also charming, elegant and highly accomplished with boundless charisma.
Most impressive is the way Dunnett breaks all the rules on that contentious topic of POV by rarely letting her anti-hero’s sneering mask drop to reveal the tortured soul behind it. He is seen through the eyes of others who constantly change their minds about him – as does the reader. One minute you love and admire his bravery, the next you loathe his cynical cruelty. In her meticulously plotted books, Dunnett gives us a master class in narrative pace with the tension of nail-biting melodrama defused by humorous episodes. Lymond is thrown into in a series of complicated plots and a tangled web of relationships that not only engage but mystify the reader. So much so that Dunnett’s technique reminded me of Churchill’s oft quoted phrase about Russia – a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
The wealth of historical knowledge that fills her work is awe-inspiring but Dunnett never descends into information dumping. Painstakingly researched, every detail is seamlessly woven into her astonishing tapestries: the profusion of sounds, tastes, colours, and textures offer a sensory experience. Her painter’s eye for gorgeous detail enlivens descriptions so striking that memories of scenes linger long after reading.
Her books not only offered master classes in every aspect of the writer’s craft: character, plot, setting, narration and language but inspired me to take risks when writing. Dorothy Dunnett is quite simply the historical fiction writer’s writer par excellence.
Marie McPherson, author of the Knox Trilogy
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