Fiction  ·  Memoir  ·  Essay

Islay Corwin

writing as & written by

Mary Ellen Gambutti

Lyrical tales of gardens and families formed in liminal spaces, where identity is shaped through memory, ceremony, and chance.

Islay Corwin

The Silverton Estate Duology

The Rosemere Records

Through the Yew Hedge cover Book One

Through the Yew Hedge

A Tale of Identity Magic

A modern fairy tale set within an enchanted estate garden where the boundaries blur. Rooted in folklore and inheritance, the tale invites readers into a world shaped by hidden archives, living landscapes, and the enduring ties between human and otherworldly realms.

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Through the Iron Gate cover Book Two

Through the Iron Gate

The Rosemere Records

A layered tale of hidden histories, archival mysteries, inherited memory, and the moral ambiguities embedded within place and family. Gothic mystery and archival elegy — for readers of Diane Setterfield, Emily Tesh, and the Gothic tradition of Brontë and du Maurier.

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Blending magical realism with botanical Gothic, the Silverton Estate Duology explores identity, inherited memory, and the hidden systems that shape belonging.

— The Silverton Estate Duology

Featured Review

"This is a masterful and unusual work for those who love stories of family, myth, and the reclamation of self. The story is told in a voice that's both poetic and intimate, capturing the perspectives of several generations of women and fae guardians. The prose is notable for its sensory detail — botanical, seasonal, and emotional — and for lines that shimmer with metaphor and insight. An unforgettable, healing journey. Highly recommended for fans of literary fantasy and emotionally layered contemporary fairy tales."

— Julie Ryan McGue, Adoptee & Author of Twice a Daughter

On Through the Yew Hedge

Mary Ellen Gambutti

Memoir & Essay

Memoir & Essay Collection

Three Linked Works

Adoption · Identity · Belonging

Three works woven from the same threads of adoption, displacement, and the search for home.

Permanent Home

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Neither Here Nor There

Always arriving, never belonging. In twenty-two lyrical essays, vignettes, and verses, Gambutti connects threads from her early life — the newborn left in the nursery, the Air Force transfers, the suitcases, the temporary homes. For readers of memoir, adoptee narratives, and the literature of severance, loss, and belonging.

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I Must Have Wandered

An Adopted Air Force Daughter Recalls

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Personal Essay

Fortitude's Footing

Coming to Terms With Stroke

One moment, a gardener, a writer, a craftsperson — and the next, unable to speak, unable to move her right side. A hemorrhagic stroke changed everything in an instant. Written in lyrical prose and poetry, this is Gambutti's intimate account of ten weeks of grueling rehab, the slow return of her words and footing, and the brain's remarkable capacity to rewire itself when met with fierce will to heal. For stroke survivors, caregivers, and anyone who has faced sudden, life-altering loss.

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Two Voices, One Writer

About

Islay Corwin Botanical Gothic · Magical Realism

Islay Corwin writes lyrical tales of gardens and families formed in liminal spaces, where identity is shaped through memory, ceremony, and chance.

She is the pen name of Mary Ellen Gambutti, an adoptee, horticulturist, essayist, and memoirist. Her Silverton Estate Duology explores adoption from inside the adoptee's experience: sealed records, the unnamed void, the systems that determine who is rescued and who is not.

Behind the Hedge →
Mary Ellen Gambutti Memoir · Lyric Essays · Hybrid Forms

Mary Ellen Gambutti is an adoptee and memoirist whose work crosses genre boundaries — memoir into poetry, personal essay into the lyric. Her writing engages deeply with adoption, identity, displacement, and the slow work of belonging.

She has published in literary journals and anthologies, and is the author of I Must Have Wandered, Permanent Home, Neither Here Nor There, and Fortitude's Footing.

Roots & Branches →
On Substack

Two Publications

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Behind the Hedge Islay Corwin's Substack

Craft essays on magical realism and gothic fiction, novella excerpts from the Silverton Estate, and reflections on writing at the edge of the garden.

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Roots & Branches Mary Ellen Gambutti's Substack

Personal essays and memoirs exploring identity, adoption, belonging, and the nature of home — written from the intersection of memory and place.

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