My Margaret, Your Toshie

About the Book: 

A novel based on the intertwined lives of Margaret MacDonald & Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

War has broken out and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh is in self-imposed exile from his native Glasgow, painting wildflowers in watercolour in a sleepy Suffolk village.

As a man from ‘foreign parts’, however, he falls prey to the suspicions of apprehensive villagers, even finding himself accused of spying. With tensions running high, it is his wife Margaret who comes to the rescue by engineering their escape to Chelsea. There they find themselves in a burgeoning artistic scene where old friends encourage them to seek out a completely new life in a rather different part of the world.

Will this be the turning point? Can Margaret’s continuing love and support be just the leverage Charles needs to reinvent himself as an artist?

Reviews: 

An extraordinary achievement, and, very refreshingly, the story is told from dark to light.  RICHARD EMERSON, art historian

Beautifully written with great economy and a wealth of well-researched detail. KARA WILSON, actress

It would appeal as much to someone with little prior knowledge of Mackintosh’s life, as to those who are well-versed in the subject. PETER TROWLES, former curator, Glasgow School of Art

I've longed been fascinated by the lives of the magnificent Mackintoshes & their contemporaries, which makes this a perfect read. ALISTAIR BRAIDWOOD

Adamson skilfully weaves fact with fiction to tell the story of their collaboration in life and work and to shine light on Mackintosh the man. NIA CLARK, The Bottle Imp

About the Author:

KEITH ADAMSON is a retired architectural technician, living with his partner in south-west Spain after having worked for over fifty years in the construction industry in Glasgow. An appreciation of Mackintosh is in the blood of anyone associated with architecture in Scotland, and Adamson considers himself no exception. Writing has always been his main other sphere of interest and this is how he continues to spend his days, having a number of unpublished novels on his hard drive. In the 1980s and ’90s he had some success with a few short stories included in various anthologies such as Oranges and Lemons, The Freezer Counter and Borderline, the Mainstream Book of Scottish Gay Writing. My Margaret, Your Toshie is his first published novel.