Ursula Howard

**THIS IS A PAST EVENT**

Bessie Quinn Survivor Spirit is an unlikely biography. Subtitled From Galashiels Mills to Garden Cities – The Story of an Irish Family in Scotland 1845 to 1922, the life of an extraordinary woman lies at its heart. And the book was written from the heart for Bessie Quinn was an ancestor of Ursula’s and the quest to uncover her past was a labour of love. It is also the stuff of real history – atmospheric, emotional and acutely well observed. The book brings vividly to life the noisy, noisome, busy streets of Galashiels at a time when the mills thrummed and business was brisk. Congested, hardscrabble lives lived in the tenements of Low Buckholmside come right off the page and Bessie Quinn is a captivating figure. This book is a gem.