Martin MacIntyre

Books by Martin MacIntyre

Gymnippers Diciadain (Wednesday Gymnippers)

This contemporary novel explores and celebrates male/female friendship and intimacy through the relationship shared by its two central characters, Donald James (DJ) Currie and Caroline Robertson.

DJ (49), a taxi-driver, is from South Uist but worked for many years in London. He moved to Edinburgh in 1998 with his wife Susan, shortly after the death of her father. Susan Currie was brought up in the Clermiston area of the city. DJ is from a traditional, crofting family whose roots in Uist extend back for many generations. He left home at 17 and returns infrequently. Only his mother and an unmarried twin-brother now live on the island.

Caroline (39) spent her childhood in Inverness and Perth and has been living in Edinburgh since coming to University in 1983. She has a French mother and her father, now deceased, came from Sleat in Skye. Caroline is an only child. She worked initially in Arts Administration and then as a Primary School teacher and is currently looking after her two young daughters and working from home as a singing tutor. She is married to David who is from Edinburgh and works in the financial sector.

DJ and Caroline first meet on Wednesday 7 January 2004, in their local Leisure-Centre Café while their two youngest children, Brian and Oidhrig enjoy an hour of Gymnippers (structured fun and education in the Gym for under fives). The Café is staffed by support-worker Henry and two learning-disabled volunteers, Willie and Mary who both enjoy befriending regular customers.

DJ and Caroline meet on a weekly basis and so their friendship grows. They share and examine aspects of their pasts; meanwhile their present realities are sometimes too intrusive or else readily suspended for this ‘free’ hour. Gaelic affords privacy and opportunities to explore their respective cultural backgrounds and current identities. Their futures will undoubtedly be affected by this unplanned rather circumscribed relationship.

Weeks and months are marked by the Gymnippers sessions and move forward in their lives and in those of some key family members.

So how does it all end? Who said it does?

Publication date : August 2005
Gaelic language : CLAR/Gaelic Books Council
English language rights : Jenny Brown Associates