Scottish Writers' Centre The Flax Flower Book Launch with Amanda MacLean

The old Scots ballad Mill o' Tifty's Annie comes to vibrant life in The Flax Flower. A true story passed down the centuries is retold in a clear and passionate new voice, by author Amanda MacLean.

A 17th century Scottish 'honour-killing'.Annie, the daughter of a well-off gentleman, is secretly in love with Andrew Lammie, a man below her station. Her ambitious and overbearing father, a miller, sets great store by his own good name and status. He insists that she must marry a gentleman like himself. When the lovers’ secret meetings are eventually found out, the full weight of a religious, moralistic, patriarchal society bears down upon them, resulting in the ultimate punishment.

The 350-year old ballad Mill o’ Tifty’s Annie is retold in The Flax Flower, which relates not only the tragic true story told in the ballad, but the story of how the song itself came to be. The story unfolds against a rich backdrop of songs and singing, folk belief, the cruel power of the Kirk, and the turning of the agricultural year
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Shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize 2011.
‘I think it's a terrific book... I fell under its spell…[It] has a gorgeous sweep and passion about it.' - Alan Bissett.