Tribute: Award-winning author behind "John Ross" trilogy dies aged 85
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ISABELLA Iris Bleszynski, a Moray author who chronicled the extraordinary life of a young boy shipwrecked off Africa, who later became a ship's captain and took a prominent stand against slavery, has died at the age of 85.
Following a short illness, Isabella died peacefully at Spynie Care Home on Tuesday, May 16.
She was soon to complete the third book in her epic Scottish/African "John Ross" trilogy – based on the true story of Charles Rawden McLean.
Born in Hopeman in 1936, her first career was in teaching working in Aberdeen and right across Morayshire.
Her adventurous spirit also took her to Zambia, Malawi and Libya where she spent over two decades as a teacher and head mistress.
On retiring from teaching, she pursued what she called her “first love” – writing.
“She had to put her writing dreams on hold to bring up my brother and I," recalled son Nick, "but her time in Africa inspired her greatly.
“Africa was a large, brightly painted canvas, brim full of characters you just couldn’t have made up. When she came across the true, untold story of the Fraserburgh boy, Charles Rawden McLean, famous in South Africa as John Ross she knew this was her story. It became her passion.”
She started work on the project in the mid-1990s, researching the story of how nine-year-old McLean, shipwrecked off the coast of what is now Durban in the 1830’s, came into the Royal court of the feared and revered warrior King Shaka of the Zulus.
Working from McLean’s own written account, Isabella painstakingly re-created the five years he spent in Africa .
She followed the course of McLean’s incredible life through Africa and onto the Carribean where he later became a ship’s captain and owner and the most respected citizen of St Lucia.
His stand against slavery saw McLean published in prominent British newspapers and quoted in Parliament and on one occasion he turned his guns on the American port of Wilmington when the authorities threatened to detain his African crew.
Isabella was a stalwart of Elgin Writers, and won the prestigious Scottish Writers Association's Constable Silver Stag award on two occasions for her work on the trilogy.
“This is our history and heritage, and it is enormously important that we bring these characters to light and tell these stories," added Nick, writer/director of a documentary about another famous Fraserburgh loon, Thomas Blake Glover, for Grampian TV.
“Mum stuck to the task all these years, but unfortunately couldn’t make that final deadline. It now falls to me to finish what she started.”
Nick revealed that the completed trilogy will be developed into a screenplay and offered to television and streaming services as a drama series.
The first two books of the John Ross Trilogy – “A Dance Called Africa” and “A Kingdon of a Thousand Days,” published by Stravaig Books, are available on Amazon. The final book, “Lord of the Red Fire” will be released at the end of the year.
Isabella is survived by her sons Nick and Tim, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will take place at William Watson Chapel, Blackfriars Road, Elgin on Friday, May 26 at 11am. Family and friends are invited.
You can find out more about her work at www.strathvaig-books.com
