Jenna Hegarty

When a friend thrust a copy of Niccolò Rising at me almost ten years ago, I’d never heard of Dorothy Dunnett and knew little of the worlds of 15th- and 16th-century Europe. Ten years ago Game of Thrones was still at fever pitch and even though I avoided the television series I had given the books a go and found them surprisingly absorbing and fun to read. The downside was that when Niccolò was offered up to me not long after finishing them, my literary palate was still reeling from George R. R. Martin’s vivid imagination and I had to put Niccolò Rising down because I kept expecting dragons to appear. So perhaps six months later, after a palate-cleansing read of something totally different I tried again and this time swiftly realised that Dunnett’s writing is incomparable to any other author’s (although I remain convinced Martin is a fan) and I adored being swept along by a thrilling, if sometimes incomprehensible, storyline and impeccable historical research that does what so many writers fail to do well – authentically evoke an utterly convincing sense of time and place. I swiftly went on to read, and thoroughly enjoy (if also be traumatised by!), The Lymond Chronicles.

My relationship with the Dorothy Dunnett Society began not long after and when I saw an appeal to help with the online shop in Whispering Gallery I thought why not? It was something I was confident I could do alongside a busy career in environmental policy advocacy and raising a family.

I’ve enjoyably spent the last five years or so as volunteer Merchandising Officer, which has given me a good, if not total, insight into the Society’s ways of working, as well as the amazing skills of many of our artist members. As a new trustee, I look forward to learning more and supporting my colleagues on the Board with the Society’s wider development and outreach.