Margaret Gardiner: A Scatter of Memories (Inscribed by Margaret Gardiner) (1988)

Inscribed by the author to art historian and critic John McEwen. Throughout a life that spans the century Margaret Gardiner has known some of the most distinguished artists, writers and scientists of our time. In A Scatter of Memories – a fascinating mix of autobiography, reminiscence, political reportage and short stories – she gives us new and memorable insights into D. H. Lawrence, W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, among others.

Also included is her vivid account of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, and her own account of how she gradually built up a collection of modern paintings and sculpture. These are now in the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, which she founded in 1978.

The book opens with a conversation in which she speaks of her background, her experience of progressive education and of Cambridge in the early decades of the century and of the anti-war activity that has been a lifelong concern; from anti-fascism in the 1930s, through the Vietnam War and disarmament campaigns of the post-war period.

Described as having a ‘genius for friendship’, Margaret Gardiner is also someone who has been involved throughout her life. Both qualities are amply reflected in this elegant and moving work.

Margaret Gardiner is the author of Footprints on Malekula: A Memoir of Bernard Deacon, also published by Free Association Books, and the subject of a Channel Four documentary, Time is a Country: The Memories and Friends of Margaret Gardiner.