In this guest post from Scottish Book Trust, in celebration of Book Week Scotland 2016 (21-27 November) and the theme of Discovery, we explore some great books by Scottish authors that are definitely worth seeking out.

1. All the Little Animals by Walker Hamilton

First published in 1968 and recently republished by Freight Books, All the Little Animals is the story of Bobby, a 31-year-old man with the emotional development of a ten- year-old boy, the result of a childhood car accident that killed his father. After the death of his mother, he runs away from a privileged but abusive life with his stepfather in London to Cornwall, where fate draws him to Mister Summers, a strange little old man who has inexplicably dedicated his life to burying roadkill. Bobby finds his true calling and the pair embarks on an idyllic but all-too-brief life together before the past catches up with shattering consequences.

2. The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau by Graeme Macrae Burnet

The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau is the debut novel from Man Booker shortlisted Macrae Burnet, written before His Bloody Project.  Manfred Baumann is a loner. Socially awkward and perpetually ill at ease, he spends his evenings quietly drinking and surreptitiously observing Adele Bedeau, the sullen but alluring waitress at a drab bistro in the unremarkable small French town of Saint-Louis. But one day, she simply vanishes into thin air. When Georges Gorski, a detective haunted by his failure to solve one of his first murder cases, is called in to investigate the girl’s disappearance, Manfred’s repressed world is shaken to its core and he is forced to confront the dark secrets of his past.

3. Chronicles of the Canongate by Sir Walter Scott

A collection of short stories published between 1827 and 1828.

Set within a framing narrative told by Chrystal Croftangry, these three stories are set in the years following the Jacobite defeat and all feature characters who are leaving Scotland to seek their fortunes elsewhere. In ‘The Highland Widow’ and ‘The Two Drovers’, two young men find themselves torn between traditional Scottish loyalties and the opportunities offered by England. And ‘The Surgeon’s Daughter’ follows three young Scots to India during the first phase years of the British Empire.

4. Espedair Street by Iain Banks

A little-known novel exploring rock pop excess in the seventies and eighties by the hugely popular writer of fiction. Daniel used to be a famous, not to say infamous, rock star. At 31 he has been both a brilliant failure and a dull success. He’s made a lot of mistakes that paid off and a lot of smart moves he’ll regret forever. Contemplating his life, he realizes he has only two problems: the past and the future.

5. Skye: the Island and its Legends by Otta F Swire

Otta F Swire was the author of three books on Hebridean Folk Tales, all highly acclaimed as sources of folklore. Her most famous fan is Neil Gaiman, who cites her as a big influence, and who got the title of his novella, The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains, from Swire’s account of a cave in the Cuillin mountains. Skye: the Island and its Legends, is a fabulous treasury of legend and wonder; tales of monsters who dwell in lakes, of small people who trap humans in earthen mounds where time stands still; of dark, shape- shifting spirits whose cloak of human form is betrayed by the sand and shells which fall from their hair. In the absence of a written tradition, for generations of Skianachs, these tales, handed down orally, contained the very warp and weft of Hebridean history.

6. The Raiders by SR Crockett

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Galloway-based SR Crockett was a very successful writer. His popularity has necessarily declined over the years, but his best-known book, The Raiders, was republished in 2002 by Canongate Classics and is well worth seeking out. Caught up in the strife between smugglers on the Solway Coast and the gypsies of Galloway, young Patrick Heron is flung into a society of social outcasts, outlaws and downright murderers. But this world of moonlit confusion and bloody horror offers a kind of freedom, too, as Patrick travels far beyond the conventions of his day to enter a world made anew by fear and desolation and courage and energy. Crockett’s raciest narrative is full of the wild Galloway landscape which he knew so well and loved so much, informed at every turn of the plot by his delight in local history and old folk tales of the region.

7. A Den of Foxes by Stuart Hood

Described by freelance critic Stuart Kelly as “work of supreme ingenuity”, A Den of Foxes was written by a former controller of BBC television and investigates what happens when Peter Sinclair, a writer and academic, receives an invitation to take part in a “war game”. The invitation comes from a man who writes from a part of Northern Italy Sinclair himself knows well – a part where he saw killing behind enemy lines during World War II. Sinclair decides to join the game.

8. The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps by Michel Faber

A little-known novella from the author of the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps follows the story of Siân, troubled by dark dreams and seeking distraction, joins an archaeological dig at Whitby. The abbey’s one hundred and ninety-nine steps link the twenty-first century with the ruins of the past and Siân is swept into a mystery involving a long-hidden murder, a fragile manuscript in a bottle and a cast of most peculiar characters. Equal parts historical thriller, romance and ghost story, this is an ingenious literary page-turner and is completely unforgettable.

9. The Comforters by Muriel Spark

In Muriel Spark’s fantastic first novel, the only things that aren’t ambiguous are her matchless originality and glittering wit. Caroline Rose is plagued by the tapping of typewriter keys and the strange, detached narration of her every thought and action. She has an unusual problem – she realises she is in a novel. Her fellow characters are also possibly deluded: Laurence, her former lover, finds diamonds in a loaf of bread – could his elderly grandmother really be a smuggler? And Baron Stock, her bookseller friend, believes he is on the trail of England’s leading Satanist.

10. Caged by Theresa Breslin

Carnegie Medal winner Theresa Breslin explores the dangerous world of cage-fighting in this dark and powerful novel. Escaping from a troubled home and struggling to survive on the streets, the abandoned tunnels of the London Underground are a perfect sanctuary for Kai. Along with other teenagers running from their pasts, he finds somewhere to belong in this strange community of outcasts. But Kai is now facing a very different kind of fight. Every night, led by the enigmatic Spartacus, the runaways must become cage fighters, each fight broadcast to the outside world via YouTube. With gambling profits from these videos racking up, Kai and his friends hope to be able to start a new life. Yet treachery and danger are never far behind, and a new arrival threatens the order that Spartacus has worked so carefully to maintain. And then there is the looming finale, the last battle between Kai and his nemesis Leo: the Kill Fight…

There are hundreds of free book events running right across the country during Book Week Scotland (21 – 27 November). Events include ‘Design by the Book: A Scottish Publishing Showcase’ and literary afternoon tea with historical novelist Sara Sheridan both at Edinburgh Castle. Check out www.bookweekscotland.com for details of these events and more.