Barbara Henderson

Originally posted on Just Geeking By.


Scottish by Inclination is a heart-warming, hilarious and so very Scottish account of what it is like to be an immigrant living in Scotland. The book is Barbara Henderson’s biographical account of her time in Scotland, starting with her first deciding to study at a UK university instead of one in her home country, Germany and ending with her applying for British citizenship in the aftermath of Brexit. She takes us through the whole process of applying to an institution in another country, and I’m sure the whole experience will be of interest to international students thinking about studying abroad because Barbara is so genuine in how she writes. I was immediately taken back to filling out my very first UCAS form, an experience that was so complex and alien to us 17/18-year-olds that my sixth form college had actual classes for it. It was terrifying for us and we were British!

From filling out her application to a hilarious arrival at Edinburgh Airport, she recalls every step of her journey as a student studying English Language and Scottish Literature. Despite there being twenty years between our journies I found myself laughing and nodding my head with a knowing smile as Barbara talked about encountering the Glaswegian dialect for the first time and beginning to study Scottish Literature. When I started my English Literature degree at Glasgow University I too had wanted to learn more about my new home; twenty years prior Barbara had done the same!

“On a whim I had decided to choose it over the mainstream English Literature. If I was going to be a part of this country, even if only for four years, I felt I should take the opportunity to immerse myself in it’s back catalogue a little. How hard could it be?” - Scottish for Inclination, p. 43.

I may have facepalmed at that point, I most definitely chuckled knowing what came next!

It is this wonderfully authentic conversational tone that continues throughout the book, whisking you away through time to follow Barbara along her journey. You don’t feel as though you’re reading a biography, you feel as though you were there with her. A little friendly reader sprite perched on her shoulder. You saw the good, the bad and the ugly which is told in a manner that I can only describe as Scottish; it’s over now so I’m going to laugh about it. And laugh you will because while Scottish by Inclination will tug at your heartstrings it will make you laugh so much more.

There’s a story about meeting one of the most famous Scottish poets of our generation, many stories about being a teacher and one about an interview where Barbara gets the wool pulled over eyes which is by far one of the funniest stories I have ever heard. I retold it to my fiance and before I could even finish it he knew what had happened which just reaffirmed to me that only the Scots can have a sense of humour like that.

Dispersed between Barbara’s own journey are profiles with a wide variety of Europeans who have moved to Scotland and are now “Scottish by Inclination”. These profiles contain details about how they first came to Scotland and extracts from Barbara’s interviews with them. Some of them are educators, others are artists, entrepreneurs, athletes and there’s even a book blogger (The Book Witch who is also taking part in the blog tour and she’s next on the list tomorrow!) which I thought was lovely. I hadn’t realised that the president of my alma mater, The University of Glasgow, is European; his name is Sir Anton Muscatelli. Another person Barbara interviewed, Daniela Sime, is a professor at my other alma mater, the University of Strathclyde, and having been to both these institutions it was great to see both of them represented in the pages of Scottish by Inclination. As I mentioned before both have thriving International Student communities and it feels important that share their stories, as individuals not as academics, to help the next generation find their way. I also appreciated that photographs were included, giving each voice a face rather than them being just faceless words on a page.

These profiles were written with the same laidback spirit that Barbara wrote her own story, interlacing facts with humour and she lets the individual voices of each person shine through in the interview extracts she has included. The stories they share about Scotland are so vibrant and so real, and I really loved the closing question she poses to them; what would you say to Scotland? Their answers are all so different and unique, and it was in those quotes that I saw the exquisite beauty in cultures coming together to make something bigger and better.

Barbara’s story is one of determination and courage, and Scottish by Inclination will grab you by the heartstrings, make you laugh, cry and then make you laugh some more. It is a book of stories, and the great thing about these stories is that every single one of them is real. From Martin Cingel, a Slovakian ice hockey player who now coaches the UK under 18s team and won gold with them in their World Championship division in 2018, to Tania Czajka a French Early Years specialist and puppeteer who is currently studying for her Master’s degree in education so that she can become a fully-fledged Teaching-Artist. And of course, Barbara herself who went on to become an English teacher, a puppeteer and is now an award-winning children’s author.

Every single one of them is an inspiration, and they are all EU Nationals who have made Scotland their home. We are lucky to have them, and I think Barbara sums it up best at the end of the book:

“The immigrant voice matters. It is my lived experience, and the many interviews with EU nationals included in these pages only attest to the fact that there are many stories, like mine and unlike mine, which have become part of the warp and weft of Scottish society. Like threads, some shine brightly. Others are almost invisible but lend the tapestry its stability.”- Scottish by Inclination, p. 197.

The image of a society woven together with threads really sticks with me. There are so many different coloured threads in modern society, not just nationalities but race, sexualities, religions and disabilities. We are all important and integral to the stability of society. Some of us may not be so bright, we may not seek to shine so brightly on purpose for whatever reason, but we’re still important, we’re still needed. And if you think of a tapestry made of just one coloured thread it has no pattern, it’s dull and lifeless.

This is a book of the threads of life. I cannot recommend it enough especially if you want an outsiders perspective of this beautiful country I have come to know as home or to learn more about what it is like to be an immigrant – or both!

For more of my reviews please visit my blog!… (meer)