THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

‘One of those books that makes you feel good about being alive!’In the imposing Glen Carrick House overlooking Scotland’s famous Loch Ness, lives eighty-eight-year-old Mimi McKinlay, cared for by her three adult sons. Hamish has inherited his mother’s musical talents, Fin is the responsible brother, and Angus has the complicated and brooding personality to match his dashing good looks.But what all the brothers share is a concern that their beloved mother is living in her memories of her days on stage, while letting her present days pass her by.Jess Oliver is at a turning point. Amicably divorced after years of being married, this trip to the Highlands is a first taste of independence. It isn’t long before the beauty and hospitality of Scotland captures her heart.When Mimi and Jess’s paths cross, a friendship is formed that will change both women’s lives. And as together they find ways to look forward instead of to the past, long forgotten dreams are within reach, and every new day is fresh with possibilities.Take a trip to the Highlands with Judy Leigh for an unforgettable story of glorious pasts and fabulous futures, of love, friendship, family and fun. The perfect feel-good novel for all fans of Dawn French, Dee Macdonald and Cathy Hopkins.Readers love Judy Leigh:’Loved this from cover to cover, pity I can only give this 5 stars as it deserves far more.”The story’s simply wonderful, the theme of second chances will resonate whatever your age, there’s something for everyone among the characters, and I do defy anyone not to have a tear in their eye at the perfect ending.”With brilliant characters and hilarious antics, this is definitely a cosy read you’ll not want to miss.”A lovely read of how life doesn’t just end because your getting old.”A great feel-good and fun story that made me laugh and root for the characters.’Praise for Judy Leigh:’Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting’ Miranda Dickinson’Lovely . . . a book that assures that life is far from over at seventy’ Cathy Hopkins bestselling author of The Kicking the Bucket List’Brimming with warmth, humour and a love of life… a wonderful escapade’ Fiona Gibson

‘One of those books that makes you feel good about being alive!’In the imposing Glen Carrick House overlooking Scotland’s famous Loch Ness, lives eighty-eight-year-old Mimi McKinlay, cared for by her three adult sons. Hamish has inherited his mother’s musical talents, Fin is the responsible brother, and Angus has the complicated and brooding personality to match his dashing good looks.But what all the brothers share is a concern that their beloved mother is living in her memories of her days on stage, while letting her present days pass her by.Jess Oliver is at a turning point. Amicably divorced after years of being married, this trip to the Highlands is a first taste of independence. It isn’t long before the beauty and hospitality of Scotland captures her heart.When Mimi and Jess’s paths cross, a friendship is formed that will change both women’s lives. And as together they find ways to look forward instead of to the past, long forgotten dreams are within reach, and every new day is fresh with possibilities.Take a trip to the Highlands with Judy Leigh for an unforgettable story of glorious pasts and fabulous futures, of love, friendship, family and fun. The perfect feel-good novel for all fans of Dawn French, Dee Macdonald and Cathy Hopkins.Readers love Judy Leigh:’Loved this from cover to cover, pity I can only give this 5 stars as it deserves far more.”The story’s simply wonderful, the theme of second chances will resonate whatever your age, there’s something for everyone among the characters, and I do defy anyone not to have a tear in their eye at the perfect ending.”With brilliant characters and hilarious antics, this is definitely a cosy read you’ll not want to miss.”A lovely read of how life doesn’t just end because your getting old.”A great feel-good and fun story that made me laugh and root for the characters.’Praise for Judy Leigh:’Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting’ Miranda Dickinson’Lovely . . . a book that assures that life is far from over at seventy’ Cathy Hopkins bestselling author of The Kicking the Bucket List’Brimming with warmth, humour and a love of life… a wonderful escapade’ Fiona Gibson

‘One of those books that makes you feel good about being alive!’In the imposing Glen Carrick House overlooking Scotland’s famous Loch Ness, lives eighty-eight-year-old Mimi McKinlay, cared for by her three adult sons. Hamish has inherited his mother’s musical talents, Fin is the responsible brother, and Angus has the complicated and brooding personality to match his dashing good looks.But what all the brothers share is a concern that their beloved mother is living in her memories of her days on stage, while letting her present days pass her by.Jess Oliver is at a turning point. Amicably divorced after years of being married, this trip to the Highlands is a first taste of independence. It isn’t long before the beauty and hospitality of Scotland captures her heart.When Mimi and Jess’s paths cross, a friendship is formed that will change both women’s lives. And as together they find ways to look forward instead of to the past, long forgotten dreams are within reach, and every new day is fresh with possibilities.Take a trip to the Highlands with Judy Leigh for an unforgettable story of glorious pasts and fabulous futures, of love, friendship, family and fun. The perfect feel-good novel for all fans of Dawn French, Dee Macdonald and Cathy Hopkins.Readers love Judy Leigh:’Loved this from cover to cover, pity I can only give this 5 stars as it deserves far more.”The story’s simply wonderful, the theme of second chances will resonate whatever your age, there’s something for everyone among the characters, and I do defy anyone not to have a tear in their eye at the perfect ending.”With brilliant characters and hilarious antics, this is definitely a cosy read you’ll not want to miss.”A lovely read of how life doesn’t just end because your getting old.”A great feel-good and fun story that made me laugh and root for the characters.’Praise for Judy Leigh:’Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting’ Miranda Dickinson’Lovely . . . a book that assures that life is far from over at seventy’ Cathy Hopkins bestselling author of The Kicking the Bucket List’Brimming with warmth, humour and a love of life… a wonderful escapade’ Fiona Gibson

A gripping historical thriller set in Inverness in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden from twice CWA award-winning author S. G. MacLean. Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Andrew Taylor.After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he’s searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him – a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for – and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.

PATHWAYS TO THE PAST, AND THE FUTURETrails and paths are pathways to the past – and serve as a physical and cultural infrastructure of human memory. While they lead the way forward for anyone out walking, they also point backwards, towards history. Walking has been a common denominator for human life everywhere, at all times. While other forms of mobility have grown in importance and changed our societies in dramatic ways, most of us still depend on walking in our daily life. The massive number of human steps throughout history has created a rich and widespread network of trails that cross the globe and connect places. It has also resulted in a vast immaterial heritage through literature, art and music about walking. Paths and trails accommodate both the material and the immaterial, and challenge not only conventional heritage management but also the very essence of the nature/culture divide.In the Anthropocene, traces of people’s movements can be regarded as a distinct kind of cultural heritage, a ‘movement heritage’ that is dependent on continuous use or memory work to remain. It also points to historical and current forms of land use that is sustainable in the most basic meaning of the word, i.e. that these activities can be and de facto has been practiced over long periods of time without causing large- scale environmental degradation. Few other forms of human mobility can make similar claims.The volume formulates an expansion of the landscape heritage through one of its most defining practices, movement by foot. This heritage is physical in the shape of paths, trails and effects on vegetation, but it is also a local memory landscape or life world with great significance, and it is increasingly digital as it appears in computer games and mobile images. It engages in dialogue around several cases in different regions that show how trails and paths can be, and have been, a resource in and for the heritage sector and for sustainable landscape management. It analyses how this movement heritage is articulated, and what type of historical, literary, and mediated accounts that are used in the process.Chapters deal with narrative aspects of walking and trails, through literature, sound and art, often way beyond the beaten track; focus on digital walking, in computer games and walking simulators; zoom in on walking and trails as heritage and as tools for sustainable development; and demonstrate how paths are also part of an endless co-creation of heritage, as we go.

Today, there are more borders in the world than ever before in human history. In this book James Crawford argues that our enduring obsession with borders has brought us to a crisis point: that we are entering the endgame of a process that began thousands of years ago, when we first started dividing up the earth.Beginning with the earliest known marker which denoted the end of one land and the beginning of the next, James follows the story of borders into our fragile and uncertain future – towards the virtual frontiers of the internet, and the shifting geography of a world beset by climate change. In the process, he travels to many borders old and new: from a melting border high in the glacial landscapes of the Austrian-Italian Alps to the only place on land where Europe and Africa meet; from the artist Banksy’s ‘Walled Off Hotel’ in the conflict-torn West Bank to the Sonoran Desert and the fault lines of the US/Mexico border..Combining history, travel and reportage, The Edge of the Plain explores how borders have grown and evolved to take control of our landscapes, our memories, our identities and our destinies. As nationalism, climate change, globalisation, technology and mass migration all collide with ever-hardening borders, something has to give. Can we let go of the lines that separate us? Or are we fated to repeat the mistakes of the past, as our angry, warming and segregated planet lurches towards catastrophe?

Reflecting on family, identity and nature, Belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy – home to standing dead trees known as snags, which support the overall health of the forest.Belonging is a book about how we are held in thrall to elements of our past. It speaks to the importance of attention and reflection, and will encourage us all to look and observe and ask questions of ourselves.Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson’s artwork and photography throughout, it explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are.

The Party House by Lin Anderson is a deeply atmospheric psychological thriller set in the Scottish Highlands, for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware and Sarah Pearse’s The Sanatorium.Devastated by a recent pandemic brought in by outsiders, the villagers of Blackrig in the Scottish Highlands are outraged when they find that the nearby estate plans to reopen its luxury ‘party house’ to tourists.As animosity sparks amongst the locals, part of the property is damaged and, in the ensuing chaos, the body of a young girl is found in the wreck. Seventeen-year-old Ailsa Cummings went missing five years ago, never to be seen again – until now.The excavation of Ailsa’s remains ignites old suspicions cast on the men of this small community, including Greg, the estate’s gamekeeper. At the beginning of a burgeoning relationship with a new lover, Joanne, Greg is loath to discuss old wounds. Frightened by Greg’s reaction to the missing girl’s discovery, Joanne begins to doubt how well she knows this new man in her life. Then again, he’s not the only one with secrets in their volatile relationship . . .

A Raven and Fisher Mystery: Book 3Edinburgh, 1850. This city will bleed you dry.Sarah Fisher is keeping a safe distance from her old flame Dr Will Raven. Having long worked at the side of Dr James Simpson, she has set her sights on learning to practise medicine herself. A notion everyone seems intent on dissuading her from.Across town, Raven finds himself drawn into Edinburgh’s mire when a package containing human remains washes up on the shores of Leith, and an old adversary he has long detested contacts him, pleading for Raven’s help to escape the hangman.Sarah and Raven’s lives seem indelibly woven together as they discover that wealth and status cannot alter a fate written in the blood.

The first step on the road to change is to imagine possibility.Imagine A Country offers visions of a new future from an astonishing array of Scottish voices, from comedians to economists, writers to musicians. Edited, curated and introduced by bestselling author Val McDermid and geographer Jo Sharp, it is a collection of ideas, dreams and ambitions, aiming to inspire change, hope and imagination.Featuring:Ali Smith, Phill Jupitus, A.L. Kennedy, Alan Cumming, Kerry Hudson, Greg Hemphill, Carol Ann Duffy, Chris Brookmyre, Alison Watt, Alasdair Gray, Leila Aboulela, Ian Rankin, Selina Hales, Sanjeev Kohli, Jackie Kay, Damian Barr, Elaine C. Smith, Abir Mukherjee, Anne Glover, Alan Bissett, Louise Welsh, Jo Clifford, Ricky Ross, Trishna Singh, Cameron McNeish, Alexander McCall Smith, Carla Jenkins, Don Paterson, and many more . . .

The Party House by Lin Anderson is a deeply atmospheric psychological thriller set in the Scottish Highlands, for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware and Sarah Pearse’s The Sanatorium.Devastated by a recent pandemic brought in by outsiders, the villagers of Blackrig in the Scottish Highlands are outraged when they find that the nearby estate plans to reopen its luxury ‘party house’ to tourists.As animosity sparks amongst the locals, part of the property is damaged and, in the ensuing chaos, the body of a young girl is found in the wreck. Seventeen-year-old Ailsa Cummings went missing five years ago, never to be seen again – until now.The excavation of Ailsa’s remains ignites old suspicions cast on the men of this small community, including Greg, the estate’s gamekeeper. At the beginning of a burgeoning relationship with a new lover, Joanne, Greg is loath to discuss old wounds. Frightened by Greg’s reaction to the missing girl’s discovery, Joanne begins to doubt how well she knows this new man in her life. Then again, he’s not the only one with secrets in their volatile relationship . . .

In this new collection from Don Paterson, ‘The Arctic’ is the bar frequented in the backstreet of a post-apocalyptic world. Under its echoey aegis are gathered poems about men and women, polemical responses to a pandemic, microdot poems, odes to dogs, to movies and the male anatomy, and, in the chill undertow, a series of poems that mourn the poet’s musician father. Other poets are drawn in from the cold, including the Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral, whose verses are magically transformed to Paterson’s native Scots; there are versions, too, of Cavafy, Montale and Unamuno. And in the fourth part Paterson’s ongoing long poem ‘The Alexandrian Library’, travelling from a weather station at the top of Ben Nevis to the cellar back at The Arctic Bar, we are witness to the imminence of man-made extinction. By turn, urgent, railing, tender, these are poems for our times, by one of our most celebrated and formally adventurous poets.

Meet George, a resident at the Four Seasons care home in a Scottish seaside town.

Meet Carrie, an occupational therapist at the Four Seasons care home.

Join them as they form an unlikely friendship.

Immerse yourself in their story as they discover second chances in life.

Cheer for them as they find laughter in the face of adversity.

Support them as they both finally learn to bury the ghosts of their pasts and learn to live again.

Most importantly, allow George and Carrie to take you on a journey where you might just end up looking at the world differently.

George Bunce and The Black Wave of Fear is an extraordinary and poignant tale full of hope and humour.

Inequality and unfairness still stalk Scotland after more than twenty years of devolution. Having done little to shield against austerity, Brexit and an increasingly right-wing Westminster agenda, calls for further constitutional reform to solve pressing political, economic and social problems grow ever louder. The debate over further devolution or independence continues to split the population.

In A New Scotland, leading activists and academics lay out the blueprints for radical reform, showing how society can be transformed by embedding values of democracy, social justice and environmental sustainability into a coherent set of policy ideas.

Structured in two parts, the book takes to task the challenges to affect radical change, before exploring new approaches to key questions such as healthcare, education, public ownership, race, gender and human rights.

An aspiring writer from the Southside of Glasgow, Wendy is in a rut. She tries to brighten her call-centre job by shoehorning as many long words as possible into conversations with customers. But her manager isn’t amused by that and, after a public dressing-down, Wendy walks out. Jobless and depressed, she finds consolation in a surprise friendship with another disgruntled ex-colleague, wild-child painter Cat, who encourages her to live more dangerously. It’s just what Wendy needs and it’s also brilliant for her creative juices. But a black cloud is about to overshadow this new-found liberation, as well as to put Wendy on the wrong side of the law. Fresh, insightful and funny, as well as unflinchingly honest about the tougher side of life, Kenny Boyle’s debut novel takes us deep into the psyche of a likeable misfit who treads a fine line between reality and fantasy – and just wants the world to see her true self.

Bringing the work of three exciting contemporary poets together in each volume, the Tapsalteerie Modren Makars series showcase the richness, diversity and power of the Scots tongue, and have been designed to provide an essential introduction to the best in contemporary Scots language poetry.

Modren Makars: Yin includes work by the award-winning poets Irene Howat, Ann MacKinnon & Finola Scott.

Two travelling musicians attempt to come to terms with a nightmare scenario at home; restless teenagers run riot during lockdown, with drastic consequences; Albert Einstein’s reputation grows, as does his absence as a father; a cantankerous ninety-nine year old contributes to the chaos of a night ward….

Dilys Rose has been compared to Katherine Mansfield. An accomplished novelist and short-story writer, Rose’s long-celebrated mastery of the form allows her to draw through lines of loss and longing, uncertainty and hope. She conjures the essence of a situation with insight, economy and dark wit, and vividly presents an uncompromising view of the world where everyone is searching but few find what they hope for. Each story vividly creates the inner world of a compelling, yet disparate cast of characters, and these brief glimpses into the lives of others leave a lasting afterglow.

A faceless man stalks a woman’s nightmares in Hollywood. A Kanontsistóntie is summoned to seek revenge in a monastery. A move from the projects to Manhattan leads to ominous shadows closing in. Two sisters discover a secret room in their farm, unearthing a sinister power.

When Other People Saw Us, They Saw the Dead is an anthology of dark, unsettling writing from some of the most exciting contemporary BIPOC writers. Blending Gothic, horror, folklore, fantasy and fairy-tale, these eerie short stories will disturb, move and humour you. Death is ever-present in the pages of They Saw the Dead, blending with notions of home, memory, grief and belonging, as well as gentrification, white supremacy and colonisation.

From the moment six-year-old Eva wakes up, her day is full of questions. Her Peruvian Papá says she has billions of questions, but really Eva has balloons full of questions that she carries around until she can find the answers.

She has big questions like “What can I do about all the plastic in the ocean?” and small questions like “Dónde está Peru?” She has bright questions: “¿Los unicornios existen?” and warm questions: “Could I invent a hug that would last all day long?” She has funny questions like “Do bats get dizzy hanging upside down?” and confusing questions: “Why are oranges orange?!”

Sometimes Eva’s bunch of balloons grows so big that it feels overwhelming, but she’s learning that it can take time to find out all the answers, and that’s OK.

This funny and heart-warming story by Scottish author Amy Moreno inventively captures the joy and busyness of young children’s minds and encourages families to ask questions — even when they don’t have the answers. Coming from a bilingual family, Amy gives authentic insight into how Eva communicates, with a lively story in English and Spanish. Mexican illustrator Carlos Velez’s wonderfully vivid artwork is full of warmth and humour.

In the summer of 1818, John Keats and his friend, Charles Brown, headed north to Scotland on a walking tour to visit Burns country and the rugged, Romantic landscape beyond. They planned a route that would first take them through Northern England, the Lake District and Wordsworth country. Their goal was to reach John o’Groats and return by way of Perthshire. This journey came at a time when Keats rejected a career of medicine, having practiced as a surgeon at Guys Hospital, and resolved to devote himself solely to writing poetry. The journey was to be a “Prologue” to his reimagined life.

Keats’s letters offer an affecting narrative thread of his relations to his siblings-George, who was emigrating to America with his new bride; Fanny, the youngest, who was in the care of an unfriendly guardian; and most of all Tom, alone in Hampstead, dying of consumption. Keats never made it to John o’Groats. The serious sore throat contracted on the Isle of Mull forced him to return to London where his first task on return was tending to Tom.

Capturing the landscapes, landmarks, poetry and letters of Keats’s epic walk, Carol Kyros Walker retraced Keats’s footsteps originally in 1978-1979 and again in the autumns of 2015 and 2016 allowing readers to ‘walk’ alongside him. This updated edition documents photographically both the original and the later journeys, reassessing the cultural picture of Scotland, and providing an intimate glimpse into Keats’s life, friendship and family ties.