Jessie Grant Macdonald
was illegitimate, born in the workhouse in Inverness and brought
up in the backwynds of Elgin. "The lane was home and wonderful".
When her mother contracted syphilis Jessie was moved in 1924 to
Proctor's Orphanage, near Skene, Aberdeenshire, "a cold place
for the heart". These childhood experiences form the basis
of her novel The White Bird passes (1958), later televised by the
BBC. The novel is eloquent about Jessie's anquish
at being seperated from her mother, who for all her problems was
still a figure redolent with magic and whose love of music and literature
was the source of her daughter's unique literary talents and determination
to be a poet and writer.
Deprived of the university education she craved,
she left the orphanage in 1932 to go into service, but suffered
a nervous breakdown. Sent to croft near Loch Ness she met Johnnie
Kesson, a cattleman, whom she married in 1934. The couple
had a son and daughter. Abreachan was the backcloth for The
Road of no return a story in Where the apple ripens
(1985).
Johnnie's career took them to Rothienorman which
formed the setting for Glitter of mica (1963) and during
the war to the Black Isle where the presence of Italian prisoners
gave the idea for the novel and film Another Time, another place
(1983) .
In 1940 her poem Fir Wud caught the attention
of Neil Gunn and she became a contributor to The Scots Magazine.
Encouraged by Nan Shepard she entered a short story
competition which she won, and this was followed by an invitation
to write for BBC Aberdeen, over 30 features and
plays subsequently being broadcast.
Jessie Kesson lived in London from 1947, the move
being essential to permit her to write unfettered by temptation
of the Kailyard. She carried her country with her "Morayshire...the
heart, Aberdeenshire...the mind" and it was with enourmous
pride that she excepted honorary degrees from the Universities of
Aberdeen and Dundee in the 1980's. She produced Women's hour
and also wrote over ninety plays for radio and TV, notably You
never slept in mine.
Jessie Kesson's writing was of of the highest
quality, pared to poetic essence. The White Bird passes
in its story of Janie is a triumphant poetic tale of a spirit that
poverty cannot diminish. Glitter of mica relays the changing fortunes
of the isolated parish of Caldwell as seen through the tragic story
of the Riddel family, while the stories in Where the apple ripens
depict those who haunt the fringes of society, the old, the homeless,
the lonely.
Jessie Kesson combined regional interests with
larger themes and although adopting Scottish idiom and character
her writing is universally accessible. She gave a genuine voice
to the experiences of woman and painted an honest depiction of the
rigours of life. It is her authenticity, her earthy humour, her
extraordinary memory and intellect, her deep feelings for her childhood
and the human condition that make this author outstanding and important
to the development of Scottish writing. Jessie Kesson died in London
on 26th September 1994.
