Gemma Hardy p.440
Gemma references Maes Howe in her conversation with Mr. Sinclair when on the airplane returning to Scotland. I couldn’t find a previous reference to it so I think she used it as a metaphor to symbolize all the hard work she had put in to take the exams at university.
Maes Howe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around 2800 BC. In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney. Maeshowe is a significant example of Neolithic craftsmanship and monumental in size.Estimates of the amount of effort required to build Maeshowe vary; a commonly suggested number is 39,000 man-hours, although Colin Renfrew calculated that at least 100,000 hours would be required