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Robert Burns' "Belle of Mauchline" is given a voice in this lyrical and intimate depiction of the life of Jean Armour, known simply as the wife of the infamous poet and mother of nine of his children. Melanie Murray's biographical Should Auld Acquaintance reveals the historical tale of the talented farmer, a forbidden affair, and the tumultuous life of an 18th-century Scottish woman. In Should Auld Acquaintance, Jean Armour comes to life and asserts her place as more than a footnote in poetic history. Without Armour, an educated young beauty and talented singer, as his partner and muse, Burns may never have achieved his prolific collection of songs. Murray traces the footsteps of Armour and Burns through the village of Mauchline, where they met and married, to their failed farm in Ellisland and their final home in Dumfries, attempting to discover the woman who inspired the timeless poetry that brought the lyrical Scottish dialect to the English world.