A ruined castle. A ruined marriage. Two shattered lives. When love is not enough, who pays the price?...


"Everyone makes mistakes, but I sometimes think I’ve made more than most. Marrying Magnus was one of them. But the biggest mistake I ever made was divorcing him."

A wife is meant to stand by her man. Especially an army wife. But Fay didn't. She walked away - from Magnus, her traumatised war hero husband and from the home he was restoring: Tullibardine Tower, a ruined 16th century tower house on a Perthshire hillside. Now their daughter, Emily is marrying someone she shouldn't.

And so is Magnus...



Please enter this thread with caution if you haven't read the book as SPOILERS will definitely apply......




As quite a few of us have now finished reading Untying the Knot, it would be great to be able to discuss the book in greater detail.

Let the discussion begin ....

Sassanach, thanks for starting this thread.

Where do I begin. A tall, handsome Scottish man dressed in a kilt and full regalia! Whew ! The hospital scene was steamy and a long time coming after five years apart.

I didn't suspect Lachlan as Magnus's real father. Oh the irony of his death and the sadness to think of such a loveless marriage. I loved the flashbacks and felt I was there wit the characters.

Freddie/Rick was also a big surprise- - well done with that twist. I admire him for wanting to come clean and start his marriage without any secrets.

Then the final scene with Magnus stuck in the well was so dramatic. I kept thinking that maybe they would both die, alla Romeo and Juliet, but didn't think Linda Gillard would do that to us. Then Isobel's ghost was so eerie. It seems that Magnus and Fay were destined to be together and saved each other more than once. I was in tears when Fay almost jumped from the tower. The roles were reversed and Magnus was the sensible one in that scenario.

Sorry to ramble on, but I so loved this story.

Thanks, Lady Jayne. So pleased you enjoyed UTK.

I worried a lot about readers guessing the twists. (I always do.) When you're writing, twists seem really obvious and easy to guess. The challenge is to give readers all the info they need to be able to guess, but to make it unlikely that they will, which is largely a Q of distraction and keeping the story moving so they don't have time. Also, readers are very trusting. If you tell them something, they believe you, so the fact that a Rick and Freddie could be the same guy called Frederick would not cross your mind. In conjuring circles this is called "misdirection" and I do it a lot. Perhaps all authors do. It's a very satisfying part of the writing process, but high risk. And some of it the reader will never register unless they read the book twice. For example, when Jessie puts the B & W photo away on the mantelpiece (Ch 4) you think it's her wedding photo. But she's putting the photo of Lachlan away which she keeps behind her wedding photo. The writing is completely misleading, but there's nothing more than misdirection there. I don't cheat! But you won't see what was going on for Jessie (and what I was actually writing) unless you re-read the book.

I suppose I try to craft my books so that they are interesting, even if you do guess. If you'd guessed that Fay's discomfiture on meeting Rick at the gallery was because he was an old flame, you might still have wanted to read on to see how she was going to get out of that deeply embarrassing situation. You might also have asked yourself what Magnus' reaction would be when he found out. (Not to mention Emily's.) So the story could still work at different levels, depending on how much of the plot you guess. There are just different Qs you want answered.

Reading your summary of the various plot elements, Lady Jayne, I see how many different things I crammed into this book. It's a rich mix. I imagine this is one of the reasons why no one wanted to publish it. This book is genre-jumping all the time which must have sounded marketing alarm bells.

I think the mix of elements arises out of the nature of Magnus as a hero - his work, his injuries mental and physical, the reasons for the divorce, the reasons he wanted to restore something as a sort of reparation for the destruction his "father" had wrought. The book is like it is because Magnus is like he is. Even Fay sleeping with Freddy/Rick was largely her devastated response to the phone conversation Magnus inflicted on her in which he drunkenly destroyed all her sexual self-confidence.

It's really a book about Magnus with Fay as collateral damage and it struck me eventually that the only way I could make the book work was to reverse the usual set-up and have Fay rescue Magnus - and it needed to be from death. I suspect this might be another reason the book was deemed unpublishable. OK, we don't need knights on white chargers any more, but having the heroine go to hell & back to rescue the hero (who is pretty damn heroic himself) is unorthodox. I think a lot of editors (and readers?) would have liked Magnus to redeem himself for having fractured Fay's jaw by rescuing her from some terrible fate. (And that would have been sooo much easier to write!)

I had absolutely no idea that when Magnus broke Fay's jaw, a large amount of plot would arise out of that. That was a case of me following my nose. "OK, he's finally hospitalised her... Now what?" So much of the emotional weight of what follows is to do with Fay not being able to speak/being in terrible pain. It's the same as Marianne being lost in the snow in STAR GAZING. Being lost in the snow wasn't a big deal unless you were blind. Fay trying to find Magnus down a well at Tully was only a big deal because she couldn't call out and he didn't know she was there.

Btw I hope you all appreciated the massive phallic symbol of Magnus revealing his location by shining a vertical beam of light upwards through the small aperture at the top of the well. (End of Ch 23.) I even have him position the flashlight in his lap. And, no, none of that was intentional. I just wrote it and then some time later I looked at it and thought, "OMJ, how corny is that?" But I decided to keep it, partly because I'd written it instinctively but also because it seemed completely appropriate. Magnus was - for Fay - sex-on-legs and their relationship was a lot about sexual passion. So I was OK with the not very subtle sexual imagery.

And I bet you didn't even register it.

LG, you are right -- the massive phallic symbol did not register with me at all! I was too anxious for Fay to find Magnus. He is her ray of light, no, so it makes sense that he would light the way for her. I think of that particular scene as a moment of truth for Fay, who finally acknowledges that she has never stopped loving Magnus and belongs with him. She couldn't look past her anger at him to accept that she still needs and wants him. She has seen the light in more ways than one.

I would have loved to read more about their second wedding, but imagine it was much tamer than the engagement party. As for Rick, I can't see how Magnus would be able to tone down his jealousy, but I gather he had to for the sake of his daughter. I would like to know if Magnus and Fay end up living together at Tully. Do they?

I didn't write more because in the end it didn't seem necessary to the story, but my plan was that Magnus would build Fay a studio at Tully, outside in the grounds, so she could live there and work. Fay would have given up her Glasgow flat to look after Magnus since he clearly still needed looking after (and the flashbacks would go on for the rest of his life. That's the nature of PTSD.)

I think Fay's moment of truth - when she realises how things really are for her - is at the hospital when he reads the letter to her. I think she feels it's almost as if a dead man is reading the letter. (She must have prepared herself for years to get a letter like that - rehearsed it in her head.)

Magnus finishes reading it and he thinks they are finished too. But Fay acknowledges what she feels for him and will always feel, yet she can't speak. Even if her jaw weren't broken, how could she find the words to explain how much she loves him and that she's never realised how much he loves her? So they speak to each other with their bodies, as they always did, after so many homecomings, after so many appalling experiences.

But even that doesn't bring them together. Nina still stands in the way, then Magnus' illness, then his accident. I saw it as a series of terrible & agonising trials that Fay has to go through to get Magnus back. And she commits herself to whatever ordeal lies ahead when she's at the station and hears the fox scream (or is it Magnus? My homage to JANE EYRE was quite conscious at this point.) The ghost of Isobel tells Fay that Magnus in danger and so Fay sets off to rescue him, come hell or high water.

The column of light is Magnus' last gesture of despair - he thinks he's going to die - and it's the thing that saves him, the sign Fay is waiting for.

Hopefully it is a heated study. How sweet of Magnus.

Of course, the letter. That did change Fay's mind about getting back together with Magnus, and then she had doubts because he did not return to see her. Little did she know what had transpired with Jessie and that she had revealed the true identity of his father. It was also Fay's desire to return the letter she had written to him -- his good luck charm -- that compelled her to go to Tully.

When the ambulance attendant asks Fay if she is Magnus's wife, she hesitates ever so briefly, but replies that she is. Bravo Fay for finally coming home.

Yes, absolutely. And that is the significance of the title and the epigraph:

"Good knots have no rope
But cannot be untied."

Nina was quite right. There is an "indissoluble bond" between Fay and Magnus. Magnus always knew this but thought he could ignore it. Fay didn't realise it was there. The book is the couple's journey to realising what Nina (and Jessie?) know.

I too loved this book. I liked the juxtaposition of Mangus being the strong war hero with the vulnerability of his PTSD.

I never bought for a minute that he would marry anyone but Fay, not even at the engagement party. They were meant to be together whether they accepted that or not. As for Mangus hitting her, it was an accident, he didn't mean to hit her nor was he aiming for her. She jumped in the way, again trying to save him from doing something he would regret. I think Fay was always trying to save Mangus mostly from himself. At least that is my take.

I loved Fay's relationship with Jesse, it just seemed so natural. I really liked Jesse, no matter what happened between her and her husband. She seemed to spend the rest of her life trying to make up to Mangus the love he didn't have from his 'father'.

What a thrilling read and I didn't guess the twist but I never do. I just don't read books for that. I like the surprise.

Thanks, Tink, for your kind comments. Really glad you enjoyed it and found it "thrilling".

When I was writing the book I wanted the reader to have a sense that this couple were joined together till death did them part (whatever they thought about it!) and I worried all the time that their reconciliation would seem a foregone conclusion, that there would be no suspense. My agent said the suspense would come from the reader wondering how they were going to get back together, how they would overcome the obstacles.

Dealing with Magnus' violence was tricky. It presented quite a challenge. I didn't want to do a whitewash job, but he never intentionally hit her (or if he did, he did it thinking she was someone else - ie the enemy.) Fay put herself in harm's way to protect Magnus from breaking Rick's jaw. She did what she thought was the right thing. Maybe she thought if she got in the way, Magnus would pull back. I think her move was probably instinctive, but I think it was Magnus she was trying to protect - protect from the consequences of his own violence.

The suspense was definitely there. Even after the hospital scene, I wasn't so sure that Fay and Magnus would reunite without destroying one another first. Their love/hate relationship was so intense that it consumed them.

I can't say that I felt terriby sorry for Nina. She had already figured out the truth a year earlier when she and Magnus had the big argument on their first anniversary together. Why would she stay in a relationship where the love was one-sided? I am curious though how Nina escaped Magnus' violent spells. He continued to suffer the flashbacks so perhaps she just left him to his own devices instead of trying to appease and protect him ?

When the book opens Magnus is a whole lot healthier mentally than he has been in a long time. Fay has been to hell and back with him, but that was years ago. The violence will have occurred during flashbacks when M thought he was in a combat situation or was just deeply paranoid. (You see this kind of thinking when he is at Tully before he falls down the well.) I think Nina hasn't had that much to contend with - only his noisy nightmares and reclusivenss - so I think Magnus hitting Fay in public and breaking her jaw comes as a terrible shock. (And presumably he never tells her why he was aiming the blow at Rick! I think Magnus would not have come up with a very good cover story, any more than he does when talking to Emily about Fay & Rick. Magnus isn't good at lying or dealing with people's feelings.)

One of the least enthusiastic reviewers (on a forum and one of my fans) said she didn't warm to UTK much and one of the reasons was she felt sorry for Nina. This surprised me since I don't at any point give Nina any particularly redeeming qualities and I also make it very clear that she's looking for the father of her children more than anything. Readers are meant to assume that Nina is running out of time, she loves Tully, Magnus is a glamourous war hero and good in bed, so he qualifies as husband material. I didn't write any depth into their relationship and I certainly didn't expect readers to sympathise with Nina - not a lot anyway. As Jessie says, she had no idea what she was taking on with Magnus. I don't think she'd have stayed the distance.

Linda, that really surprises me that a reader related so strongly to Nina. I sort of found her a bit desperate if I am being honest. It was always obvious that he loved Fay. I couldn't understand why Nina stuck around but as you point out, he is father material. I think the fact that his daughter stayed with him after he and Fay split, gives us indication of the type of father he was.

Jayne, I never saw them as having a love/hate relationship as I never felt hatred from either of them. I think is was more a matter of love and despair warring against each other.

Hate may be too strong a word in this case. Fay loves Magnus, but resents his high maintenance. After the divorce she is at peace with herself and able to release her tension and anger through her art work, which is described beautifully, by the way. I do think Fay is also angry with herself though for still needing Magnus. I don't know what I would have done in her case.

Today, AOL featured a story about a military wife whose husband was physically and mentally injured. She admitted that the situation was so debilitating she no longer wanted to be his wife. So sad, to see one's hopes and dreams come crashing down and that is what happened in UTK. I must say though, as endings go, UTK left me feeling optimistic and a believer in the power of love.

Yes, I agree it wasn't love/hate, rather an exasperation born of stressful co-habitation and personalities that clashed.

I think Magnus must always have been difficult to talk to because of British army understatement and "stiff upper lip". Fay would never have been able to unburden herself to him. I watched a programme recently about the British army's bomb disposal units in Afghanistan. They interviewed the wife of someone doing Magnus' job and she explained that the code she & her husband used for him getting killed in the line of duty was "Tony having a bad day". So before he went away for another tour of duty, they'd sat down and discussed what would happen to her and the kids if "Tony had a bad day"!

This is the kind of stoicism (and unreality) that Fay would have had to deal with. And Scots would be even more tight-lipped about it than the English! That is why Magnus read the letter to Fay. He could never have told her what he felt for her. He was only able to express it with his body when they were married and finally in that letter.

The divorce was really a huge misunderstanding. Fay, suicidally depressed, believed that they had stopped loving each other. She felt nothing and so assumed there was nothing there any more. Magnus still loved Fay but thought he was killing her slowly with his illness, so he let her go. Then, I think, finding themselves divorced, they had to continue to believe that they no longer loved each other, because the alternative was accepting they'd made a catastrophic mistake.

Even if they'd accepted they had, how could they get together again when nothing had changed, when life with Magnus at Tully might still push Fay to the brink of madness? Time needed to pass, years in which they both healed and became stronger and Fay became more independent.

At the end of the book you're supposed to think they stand a better chance of looking after each other now. But the main difference (and the source of the strength Fay's going to need) is that they now know that they love each other and they always will, whatever happens.

So yes, the ending is optimistic and you should feel that love conquers all.

The emblematic part of Tully intrigues me in this story. For Magnus, someone whose life is centered for so long on blowing things up or not being blown up, rebuilding Tully stood for the opposite: recreation not destruction. Or I suppose, putting back together what was rent apart since Tully began as mostly rubble. Surely this obsession of his is about finding healing in the physical since he is unable or unwilling to express verbally the killing field of his mind? Is this physical manifestation of Magnus's psyche one of the reasons Fay flips our herself? Because she is seeing in that derelict, demanding house the damage to his soul and it rips her own apart?