At BooksfromScotland, we’ve long known the magic of Wigtown. Now, Kathleen Hart has shared her journey to starting over in Scotland’s Book Town in her inspiring memoir Devorgilla Days. We chatted to her about her book and on the power of new beginnings.

Devorgilla Days
By Kathleen Hart
Published by Two Roads

Devorgilla Days is your own personal story of beginning life again – could you tell our readers a bit more about your own story, and why you wanted to write about it?

Devorgilla Days began as a personal journal, a daily record logging my new life in Scotland. This new life came about following an extended period of ill health. I was diagnosed with breast cancer ten years ago, and there followed lengthy hospital stays and associated bouts of sickness, at one stage I was told to prepare for the worst, and the idea of a book became a legacy for my children. Eventually my health began to improve and I decided I could no longer live the life I’d been living.

My road to Damascus moment came at a very low point, sick, penniless, and with my relationship in tatters, I knew drastic changes would have to be made. I also knew that my story would resonate with others facing mid life challenges of their own.

Your cottage is a central point, bought on the same day that you came across it – what was it about that cottage that drew you in? Why Devorgilla as the name / homage?

I was visited by the pain management team each day during one particularly tough hospital stay, they were struggling to keep my pain levels in check, and one medic suggested visualisation as an alternative to drugs. I was asked to imagine my happy place and remembered a picture I’d kept from a magazine cutting, a quintessential cottage by the sea, painted white, with roses round the door. You can imagine my excitement, when months later, scrolling through properties for sale in Scotland I came across its doppelganger. A few weeks later I drove up from Cheshire to view the house and knew straight away that it would be mine. It was in a terrible state, semi derelict, no kitchen or bathroom, ivy growing through the ceiling, but I could see beyond the damage. I knew it could be restored and brought back to life, and that we could get better together.

Months later, after I moved in, the Post Office suggested I should give the cottage a name, as my post was being misdirected. I had come across Devorgilla during a talk at the local library about the ancient Galloway Pippin apple. Devorgilla was Lady of Galloway, a Scottish princess of the 13th century, and she appealed to me as a strong, determined woman with oodles of moxie. I hoped some of that moxie would rub off on me, and thus the cottage was christened.

Wigtown is – of course! – Scotland’s book capital. What is it about Wigtown in particular that makes it so special, do you think?

Wigtown is a very special place. The town of just 950 people sits proudly at the foot of the Galloway Hills on the Machars Peninsula in south west Scotland. Yes, we have book shops galore, but within a ten minute drive, we also have mountains and forests, waterfalls and beaches. Being on the cusp of the Dark Sky Park means gazing at night at the Milky Way and Northern lights. The town is on a Pilgrim route, and within Europe’s largest local nature reserve. The annual migration of pink footed geese is a wonder to behold. But it’s the people here who make Wigtown so special. The epigraph of my book features the following quote from William M’Dowall:

The characteristics of the Gallovidians is hospitality. The nobility are very condescending in their manners, and the Gentry extremely affable; in short the Gallovidians, high and low, rich and poor are as hospitable, polite, and well informed; if not superior to the inhabitants of any district in Great Britain.

The community here have been nothing but kind and welcoming, and I’m proud and humbled to call Wigtown my home.

On the topic of community, you have a large support on Instagram @PoshPedlar – how has online connection shaped or supported your journey?

I began my Instagram account a few years ago to pass the time following surgery to my spine. My daughter downloaded the App on my phone with me railing against it, at the time allergic to any form of social media, but within days I was hooked. My experience of Instagram has only ever been positive. I now have over 120,000 followers from Toronto to Tokyo, all likeminded folk who are supportive and encouraging, particularly when I was at a very low ebb. I would receive care packages from across the globe, honey from Texas, chocolate from New Zealand, books, cards, and flowers all willing me on, and wishing me well.

The book is one of renewal, of leaving the past behind and starting anew – what are some highlights from your journey, or key lessons you’ve learned in the process?

One of the main lessons learnt over the last few years is don’t look back, you’re not going that way. Try each day to keep moving forward, however small the steps, however painful, and always remember that some of the best days of our lives haven’t happened yet. Nothing really matters, nothing stays the same, hold things lightly, be spontaneous and connect with nature. Get outside, pay attention, look at the stars, swim in the sea, wander in the woods.

If you could give one piece of advice for someone perhaps looking to start over themselves, what would you say?

At any given moment in our lives we have the power to say – this is not how the story is going to end.

What do you hope people take from your story?

That it’s never too late to take the plunge. It’s fine once you’re in.

What are you reading now? What are you looking forward to reading this year?

I’m currently reading Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a production of which is soon to be staged at the Swallow Theatre, Scotland’s smallest theatre, located just outside Wigtown. Hardy’s ‘Pure Woman, Faithfully Presented’ is a favourite literary heroine.

Devorgilla Days by Kathleen Hart is published by Two Roads, priced £16.99.