Dorothy Dunnett, Operation Nassau

Lisa Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University)

Ed. by
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Gina Lyle (University of York), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1971

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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The third Johnson Johnson book,

Operation Nassau

(originally

Dolly and the Doctor Bird

) came out in 1971, the same year as the fifth book in the Lymond series,

The Ringed Castle

. This time the narrator heroine is Dr B. Douglas MacRannoch; the B stands for Beltanno, a name from Celtic mythology, and has been bestowed on her by her impossible father James Ulric MacRannoch, chief of the clan. Of all the heroines of the Johnson books she is the one who changes the most: at the beginning of the story she is sternly and uncompromisingly Dr MacRannoch, and by its end she has resigned her post and softened into Beltanno. (There is a synergy here with

The Ringed Castle

, which opens with Lymond having become even more emotionally repressed than ever before and insisting on referring to his officers…

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1512 words

Citation: Hopkins, Lisa. "Operation Nassau". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 June 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=42085, accessed 08 July 2025.]

Dorothy Dunnett, Operation Nassau

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