Was Robert Burns the philanderer and rake he was purported to be? Or was he simply a common man of his time when it came to the female sex? In Robert Burns - The Lassies George Scott Wilkie looks at the letters, poems and songs that Burns penned in praise (and sometimes not!) of the women in his short yet remarkable life. This is a revealing collection portraying over 80 women from his first romantic stirring at 15 to his encounter with a haughty laird's daughter, through some of the women who fathered his children to the delectable, yet unattainable Clarinda and beyond. Burns wrote a great deal to or about women. Some of this took the form of love poems or songs, intended to sway the heart of whoever had caught his eye, some in honour of a more casual acquaintance whose beauty or talents had impressed him in some way. But he also wrote compositions simply as a form of saying thank you for gifts or hospitality that he had received and occasionally he railed against women who had spurned or ignored him. Robert Burns - The Lassies is a collection of all these musings, and each one is accompanied with the background to Burns' relationship with the woman in question. This is an essential part of any bookshelf on Scotland's national bard.

GEORGE SCOTT WILKIE became a fan of Burns as a Leith schoolboy and has retained his passion for the bard throughout his adult life. He is the author of Select Works of Robert Burns and Understanding Robert Burns. He wrote the screenplay for Scotfilms 'In search of Robert Burns' presented by James Cosmo. He is retired and lives near Cambridge.