THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

It is the late 1980s, the closing years of Thatcher’s Britain. For the Trainspotting crew, a new era is about to begin – a time for hope, for love, for raving.

Leaving heroin behind and separated after a drug deal gone wrong, Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie each want to feel alive. They fill their days with sex and romance and trying to get ahead; they follow the call of the dance floor, with its promise of joy and redemption.

Sick Boy starts an intense relationship with Amanda, his ‘princess’ – rich, connected, everything that he is not. When the pair set a date for their wedding, Sick Boy sees a chance for his generation to take control at last.

But as the 1990s dawn, will finding love be the answer to the group’s dreams or just another doomed quest?

If you were responsible for a miscarriage of justice would you admit it?

The truth can set you free. Or destroy your life.

Blood spatter expert Doctor Claudia O’Sheil’s evidence put a killer behind bars – or so everyone thinks. Since the trial, Claudia has learned a horrific truth: her evidence and her testimony were wrong.

Now as she takes the stage to give a speech before London’s elite specialists, Claudia has to choose: keep lying and leave the wronged killer behind bars or stand up, tell the truth and rip her life apart.

What would you do?

Lies, seduction and secrets await under a Spanish sun…

When Camille Fontaine arrives on the sun-drenched island of Majorca, she’s running from a shattered love affair. But even amongst the palm trees and the golden sands, she can’t forget her past.

Surrounded by the glamorous and the guilty, Camille isn’t the only one with secrets to hide.

Is one sunseeker hiding a dark revelation?

Will a Hollywood actress risk her glittering career?

Can a broken-hearted lover take a last chance at happiness?

As the sun sets on their island paradise, can they escape a lifetime of secrets?

Four close friends.
One big secret.

On a hot midsummer day in the Surrey countryside, close friends Kristin, Vee, Bibi and Hailey are celebrating their Ladies’ Team victory at the exclusive Royal Oaks Tennis Club.

But when their oh-so-charming coach, Jeremy, collapses after tucking into a carefully decorated sponge cake, it seems the season isn’t just ending with a championship trophy – but with a murder.

Off the court, it’s clear that each of the four women has been keeping a dark secret, but surely no one would wish Jeremy dead? Or perhaps revenge truly is a cake best served cold…

A delicious new murder mystery from household name Judy Murray, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Shirley Ballas and Reverend Richard Coles.

Don’t miss this gripping crime thriller, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Val McDermid and Angela Marsons.

A DEADLY DISCOVERY

Enjoying a rare day off, DS Jazzy Solanki’s peaceful spring walk is interrupted when a body is discovered along her path. Instinct tells her it’s not a coincidence.

A HIDDEN THREAT

Could Jazzy’s estranged, vengeful stepsister – consumed by grief over their brother’s death – be sending her a deadly message?

A RACE AGAINST TIME

Then a child goes missing. The crimes appear unrelated, but Jazzy’s gut insists there’s a sinister connection, one that points straight at her. With time running out, Jazzy and her team must uncover the truth before the killer finds them.

Ken Currie: Paintings and Writings provides a unique insight into the thought-world of Ken Currie’s challenging and enigmatic art. For over four decades Currie has created some of the most confrontational and intriguing paintings in the contemporary art world. Throughout this period, he has been acclaimed for the artistry of his technique and the cryptic quality of his imagery.

This book explores his writings, both public and private, to open-out the discourse on his visceral creativity. For the first time Currie has made available his studio journals. These intimate writings, coupled with personal letters and published statements, are juxtaposed to his esteemed artworks. The result is a fascinating dialogue that explores the motives and aspirations of his inscrutable paintings.

Within the field of ‘artist’s writings’ this book offers an inspirational presentation. Compiled and edited by the art historian Tom Normand, it penetrates the creative imagination of a truly visionary artist. Fundamentally, it reveals the intense passions of a primordial human heart.

Published to accompany the major, large-scale exhibition by Andy Goldsworthy (organised by the National Galleries of Scotland) at the Royal Scottish Academy from 26 July 2025 to 2 November 2025.
A wide-ranging interview between Andy Goldsworthy and curational team Patrick Elliott and Tor Scott gives readers personal insight from the artist into the highlights, challenges and processes behind his work, in his own words.
The book is illustrated with works from the breadth of Goldsworthy’s career – from his student days to beautiful proposal drawings for the retrospective exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy in 2025.

Andy Goldsworthy tells the story of his career in his own words – from school art classrooms to the ambitious retrospective exhibition this book accompanies. In a wide-ranging and personal conversation, Goldsworthy recalls the triumphs and tribulations that have shaped his journey to become an artist of global renown. Illustrated by many of his iconic installations and ephemeral works, this book also includes previously unseen drawings for new creations. This is an unmissable account of the life and work of an artist pushing the boundaries of the art world.

Speak Still confronts colonial silencing by asking aloud: why do we, as speakers of English as a second language (ESL), feel estranged from the language, despite having known it since childhood? Taking the author’s bilingual experience in Hong Kong and the UK as a point of departure, the book reimagines a more inclusive sense of belonging for all through a fusing of personal narrative and cultural criticism, reclaiming silence as an interlocutor that interrupts cultural homogeneity, and opens up the time and space for subdued voices to be heard. Speak Still shows that this silence, indeed, speaks volumes.

CAT WUMMAN, is Stevenson’s second short story collection – nine different stories presenting contemporary Scottish life inspired by folk tales from around the world, Scots ballads and the poetry of Coleridge and Hugh MacDiarmid. These dark tales (which include four weddings but no funeral!) will irresistibly draw the reader in.

In the dim morning light, Orkney’s Skaill Bay is the backdrop for a calamity of nature’s making. When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod joins the rescue efforts as a volunteer, she uncovers more than she bargained for: a human skeleton entombed in a stone crypt.

The grave is believed to hail from the Viking Age, but Rhona’s analysis of the content points to more recent and sinister evil. And a shadow is thrown over the investigation when the skeleton is finally identified – and unsettling connections emerge between the victim and the very people trying to solve.

As forensic clues lead Rhona to a second, horrifying discovery, the question looms: how many more secrets are concealed in the sand?

When Aussie Dylan Bailey walks away from her tenth grand slam without a title, she decides to call in for early retirement. But after spending time with fellow pro and British player Oliver Anderson, he convinces her she still has one last title fight left in her.
Together, they embark on a journey of rediscovery and second chances, as Dylan and Oliver navigate the highs and lows of professional tennis while falling deeper in love with each passing match.

Jacobitism, the cause championed by the exiled Stuart royal house, endured from the Revolution of 1688–91 until 1807, fuelled by plots, propaganda and uprisings – especially in Scotland. As the movement shifted from exiled courts in France and Italy to a wider diaspora, Jacobites spread across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. From soldiers in European armies to settlers in British American colonies, Jacobites left a global impact: aiding Native American resistance yet also engaging in the enslavement of Black Africans. Their experiences abroad influenced European Enlightenment and Romanticism. This book offers a critical yet sympathetic view of Jacobitism, revealing its complex legacy across the world.

The enduring popularity of Nicola Sturgeon, the first female and longest-serving First Minister of Scotland, was a rare constant in an era marked by Brexit, Covid and five different UK prime ministers. Previously, as ‘Yes Minister’ and Deputy Leader of the SNP, she helped to bring Scotland to the brink of independence, overseeing the Yes campaign in the independence referendum of 2014.

In this deeply personal memoir, Sturgeon recounts her journey from working-class Ayrshire to the steps of Bute House. Revealing the person behind the politician, she explores the schism between her private and public personas: one painfully shy and self-critical, the other a consummate public performer. And yet, she pulls no punches, candidly recounting her interactions with figures including Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and Alex Salmond – her mentor and, ultimately, her staunch adversary.

Full of the verve and wit that made Sturgeon one of the most high-profile politicians in the UK, this is a unique blend of personal insight and captivating vignettes. Infused throughout with a love of Scotland and its people, it discusses Sturgeon’s mistakes, her battles, and her triumphs with candid honesty. Frankly is the compelling story of no ordinary politician.

Sometimes a rabbit just wants to go for a swim! But is that the best idea when the sign says “No Swimming”?

Packed with Ross Collins’s characteristic humour, No Swimming is a hilarious cautionary tale – a perfect read-aloud picture book for children and adults to enjoy together, again and again!

When a rabbit meets a sneaky sea monkey trying to get him into the water, he has questions; lots of them! What are carrots doing in a lake? Why are there no fish? Is the water cold? And, most importantly, is the sea monkey really a sea monkey? He certainly is a strange-looking fellow . . .

Enjoy more adventures from this unwise but determined rabbit in No Climbing.

When the Faerie folk flee their world and come to ours, running from the nightmare of war, nobody in the everyday knows what to do. So they are locked away.

Thirteen-year-old Samm Wolfback lives in Glass Forest, a sprawling Faerae refugee camp in England. Life in Glass Forest is hard, poisoned by disease and crime and poverty. But Samm has a unique gift that lines his pockets – he can find lost things.
When Samm is thrust into the centre of a plot to escape Glass Forest and return home, he must use his gifts to unearth two treasures lost in the everyday: a relic that will end the war back in Faerae; and the only person with the power to reopen the door between worlds – the Locksmith. The task will take Samm to dark places filled with danger, from a grimly enchanted circus of nightmares to a museum housing a murderous exhibit, and he will have to use all of his skills to stay alive.
Meanwhile, in the human world, a kidnapped boy with a dark secret begins to realise that he might hold the key to the Faerae folks’ fate. Before all is said and done, destiny’s web will entangle him with Samm and send them spinning towards a showdown with the great evil that lurks in the world beyond the door.

When 16-year-old Adina accidentally destroys the biodome that she and over 14,000 other people live in, it’s down to her to lead a small group of survivors to safety in this explosive dystopian YA survival story.

It’s the year 2123, and 16-year-old Adina has just accidentally killed 14,756 people.

Raised in the eco-bubble of Eden Five, Adina has always believed that the Amonston Corporation’s giant greenhouse would keep her safe forever. But when her own careless mistake leads to an explosion that incinerates Eden Five, she and a small group of survivors must brave the barren wastelands outside the ruined Dome to reach the Sanctuary before their biofilters give out and their DNA threatens to mutate in the toxic air.

They soon discover that the outside isn’t as deserted as they were made to believe, and the truth is unearthed on their dangerous expedition. As time runs out, Adina must tackle her guilty conscience and find the courage to get everyone to safety. Will she make it alive, or will the Nomalies get to her first?

An internationally acclaimed writer, broadcaster and food anthropologist with fingers in several pies, Ghillie Başan is renowned for her work on Turkish, Middle Eastern and Moroccan food. She has travelled the world extensively to research and write over 50 books on different culinary cultures and has unparalleled expertise on the use of spices.

Inspired by Scotland’s fantastic produce, wild food and whisky, Food Whisky Life offers mouth-watering recipes that shine a new light on local ingredients and open up fantastic new worlds of flavour.
While each recipe is infused with her vast knowledge of spices and food pairings with whisky, Ghillie also writes honestly, from the heart, to paint an inspirational picture of family life and what it takes to grow a successful hospitality business in one of the wildest and most beautiful corners of Scotland, sharing her story of how whisky saved the life that she and her two children love.

“In the quiet attic of a large house lives a little ghost.
Alone.
Just as he likes it.”

The little ghost spends long nights swooping up and down, and round and round — having fun, all by himself. He has no need to leave his dark and dusty attic; in fact he’s actually rather worried about leaving.

Until one day his peace is disturbed by a curious girl. The little ghost sulks: why won’t the annoying and slightly scary child leave him alone? So, the grumpy ghoul decides to do what ghosts do best…

But this little girl isn’t easily frightened.

This wryly funny story about adapting to change, facing your fears and having the courage to open yourself up to others is brought to life by Japanese author-illustrator Mamiko Shiotani’s beautifully soft and textured artwork.

This book anthologises selected key works from the oeuvre of Colin McArthur, a pioneering figure within Anglophone Film and Scottish cultural studies since the 1960s.
Collecting together thirty-seven essays written between 1966 and 2022, twenty-one of which were hitherto out-of-print, the book identifies and illustrates the central strands of scholarly interest that have defined one of British Film Studies and Scottish Cultural Studies’ most influential careers: critical investigation and legitimisation of mid-twentieth-century Hollywood cinema and popular American film genres; the cinematic representation of Scotland and the gradual development of a Scottish film production sector; and Scotland’s status as a distinctive visual and material cultural signifier within a diverse range of international popular cultures from the eighteenth century to the present.

This historical biography of Chrystal Macmillan, one of Scotland’s most prominent campaigners for women’s equality, justice and peace in the early twentieth century, is the first account of her life and work. It describes her early life in a comfortable home in Edinburgh, her school and university years in Scotland, and her rise to prominence as the main appellant in the ‘Scottish Women Graduates’ Case’ when it went to appeal in the House of Lords. She was an important figure in the suffrage movement both in Scotland, and in England where she lived from 1913, becoming influential in several national and international women’s organisations. She used her legal skills and training to scrutinise, draft and suggest amendments to legislation that had direct impact on women’s lives, including their right to their own nationality, to become members of the legal profession and to be treated equally with men in the workplace. In 1915 she was an organiser of the International Women’s Congress at The Hague, which urged political leaders to use mediation to stop the war. In 1924, she qualified as a barrister in London and was active on the Western Circuit and London courts. Although she left no diary, the recollections of friends, obituaries and memorials provide a vivid image of a woman of considerable ability, commitment and courage.