Dorothy Dunnett
   

Dorothy Dunnett 1923-2001

'We have reached the open sea, with some charts, and the firmament'

Dorothy Dunnett

Photograph by Alison Dunnett ©

These pages are a celebration and commemoration of Dorothy Dunnett - the finest writer I have ever come across or ever expect to, and one of the most vibrant, generous and open-hearted people I have ever known. It was a privilege to be associated with her and an honour to be able to call her a friend.

Dorothy Dunnett is best known for her two superb series of historical fiction - The Lymond Chronicles, and The House of Niccolo - set in the 15th and 16th centuries and ranging all over Europe and the Mediterranean while being anchored in Scotland, and for King Hereafter, the 11th century story of Earl Thorfinn of Orkney whom Dorothy believed was also King Macbeth.

She was also a portrait painter and sculptress, as well as being involved in many aspects of Scottish public life and business alongside her husband Alastair. This website gives details of her life and work and is intended to provide a focus for the many readers who continue to avidly read and discuss her books and have made friends worldwide because of them.

Features

Biography of Dorothy Dunnett

Book News
All the latest news about Dorothy's books

Dunnett Blog
Read Bill's latest thoughts and ideas about the books

Dunnett Links and Contacts

Dunnett Places to Visit
If you're coming to Scotland to see some of the sites mentioned in the books, or just on a general holiday but would like to give it a Dunnett flavour, then this page is for you.

Questions to Dorothy
This feature was especially for those of you who never had the opportunity to hear Dorothy speak about her books, and allowed people to ask some of the questions that you might have asked at one of these events. These archived answers will hopefully give you the sort of insights you might have got by being at one of these appearances.

Book Covers Gallery

Dorothy at the Edinburgh Book Festival 1999
A report on the talk at the 1999 Festival

Talks and Pictures
Details of the talk that Dorothy gave just after the release of Gemini

Edinburgh 2000 Gathering
A report on this wonderful event with photographs

1st DDRA AGM 2001

3rd DDRA AGM 2003

Dunnett Newsletter Archive
All the newsletters I've sent out since 1996

Bibliography
The definitive listing of Dorothy's books - which ones are available and how to get hold of them

Dunnett Places to Visit in Europe
A feature looking at European Dunnett site contributed by fellow readers. Currently includes Bruges, France, Malta, and Venice.

Scottish Pronunciation
A helping hand with the pronunciation and meaning of some of the Scottish words in Dorothy's books.

Mary Queen of Scots
A glimpse of the background and family of Mary Queen of Scots and the French court

Casting the Imaginary Film
A bit of fun with the great casting game!

The Chess Game
A reconstruction and analysis of the first part of the fateful game from Pawn in Frankincense.

Scottish Links
Some links that will be especially useful if you are coming to visit Scotland

Background Reading
Further reading on the history of the periods in which Dorothy's books are set.

Paintings
Her portrait of Archie and some others.

Publishing News article
The text of an article I was asked to write for Publishing News when Gemini was published.

Previous News Items
For those of you new to the pages, a chance to catch up on some of the relevant news items from the last few years

Edinburgh in the Spring 2006

The sixth Annual General Meeting and Mini-Gathering of the Dorothy Dunnett Readers' Association took place in April 2006 at The Royal Overseas League in Edinburgh. During the weekend a stone was unveiled in the Makars' Court outside the Scottish Writers Museum commemorating Dorothy's life and work. This took place in the presence of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the unveilling was performed by Dorothy's grandchildren. A full report on the weekend will follow shortly.
Pictures of the unveilling

 

The Newsletter is changing to a Blog

For many years I sent out a newsletter about all things Dunnett. However the need to concentrate on work matters meant that no new newsletters went out between Dec 2003 and August 2006. In order to fit in with the shorter time periods I have available these days but still allow me to send out news and thoughts on the books I have now decided to start a Dunnett blog. Since this has RSS feed capability as well you can get immediate notification of any new items in the blog without my having to send out newsletters by email. Please have a look and tell me what you think of it. If you need help with RSS feeds then I've added an RSS explanation page in the blog area.

I'll still be happy to hear from you on this or any other Dunnett topic - use the button below

Book of Condolence

It was with immense personal and professional sadness that I had to announce the death of Dorothy Dunnett on Friday 9th Nov 2001. For those of you who were not in contact with me at the time and would like to read it, here is a copy of the announcement and the archive of the many wonderful messages which were sent to the online book of condolence in the days which followed. They are a perfect testimony both to Dorothy's writing and to her humanity.

Text of the email announcement sent out to the Dunnett Newsletter list

Book of Appreciation and Condolence - large file, may take a while to download.

 

 

This site is designed, written, and maintained by Bill Marshall.
Readers may also be interested in my personal site at www.billmarshall.co.uk which contains more photographs of Scotland, and in the site for my web design business in Edinburgh or my search engine optimisation site.


Dorothy Dunnett Home Page - Biography - Paintings - Book News - Bibliography - Book Covers - Dunnett Links - Dunnett Places to Visit - Places to Visit in Europe - Questions to Dorothy - Scots Pronunciations - Mary Queen of Scots - Past News Items - Casting - Chess Game - 1999 Book Festival Talk - Background Reading - Scottish Links - Talks - Publishing News article - Edinburgh 2000 Gathering - Newsletters - DDRA AGM 2003 - Whispering Gallery - Fanfic - other links