The Saga of Ring of Bright Water: The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell

by Douglas Botting

Gavin Maxwell was one of Scotland's greatest natural history writers and gained worldwide fame when he wrote Ring of Bright Water, embracing the life of the otter. This biography traces his life from his earliest days in Galloway, through school and army service, and on to his career as a writer.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Scotland

624 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 1994

Reviews

[Diana Ashworth]

Couldn't put this biography down, Gavin Maxwell such a complex character. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written with great psychological insight. Watching this chap who had so much energy and talent but who was so self-destructive was compelling, if nerve-wracking... A fascinating book.

[Kenneth Wright]

As good as it gets without being there in the first person? Otters steal the show though!

[Victoria Sigsworth]

This is the best biography I have ever read, very comprehensive and fills in all the gaps. It covers the books in the order Gavin wrote them. It's an honest book, not in an awful way but shows both his good side and his bad side. It's a sad ending. It was through Gavin that I found my love of Otters and I feel even more the need to go to these places in Scotland and hope to fulfill that ambition. Beautifully written and one of those books that takes several days to get over. Highly recommended.

[Tim]

A very thorough and interesting biography of Gavin Maxwell who was the very interesting, if not always likable author of RoBW.

A long read and not an easy page turner but an interesting and well written book nonetheless.

What seemed to be missing was any input from Raef Payne or any better explanation of his relationship with Maxwell.

[Roz Morris]

Once I'd run out of Gavin Maxwell's own writing, I dived into this. Fascinating portrait of a troubled man.