The Saga of Ring of Bright Water - The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell (HarperCollins, London/revised edition, Neil Wilson Publishing, Glasgow, 2000)

The highly-praised biography of the legendary aristocratic Scottish writer and naturalist-explorer (and traveller among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq), famous for his account of his idyll with otters by the Hebridean Sea, Ring of Bright Water. Originally published under the title Gavin Maxwell: A Life, the book was nominated for the Whitbread Prize and was Scots Magazine Book of the Year.

 Wonderfully written.'  (Sir David Attenborough)

 A superb biography.'  (Financial Times)

 An immaculate, masterly, enthralling biography.'  (The Spectator)

 Douglas Botting's excellent and thorough biography makes a gripping story.  His evocation of the West Highland wilderness, the sea and the islands has the magic ring of truth.'  (Mail on Sunday)

 A ripping yarn about a mercurial man told with the verve and romanticism it deserves.' (Sunday Telegraph)

 Botting's achievement is immense.  A fond frank and endlessly absorbing book.'  (Scotsman on Sunday)

 I couldn't put the huge book down but balaned it in my hands late into the night - such fluent, beautiful understanding and empathy, the haunting magic of the landscape - I found it almost unbearable.  The book is superb.'  (Jasmine Rose-Innes, friend of both subject and author)

 You've written a bloody masterpiece  ! Mind-blowingly interesting, absolutely compelling, beautifully written.  What a story !  I'm quite bowled over.  It's the finest biography I've ever read. ('Margaret Hewson, literary agent, London)