THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

In this moving and lyrical collection of essays, the award-winning poet and novelist Kei Miller explores the silence in which so many important things are kept. He examines the experience of discrimination through this silence and what it means to breach it: to risk words, to risk truths. And he considers the histories our bodies inherit – the crimes that haunt them, and how meaning can shift as we move throughout the world, variously assuming privilege or victimhood.

Through letters to James Baldwin, encounters with Liam Neeson, Soca, Carnival, family secrets, love affairs, white women’s tears, questions of aesthetics and more, Miller powerfully and imaginatively recounts everyday acts of racism and prejudice.

With both the epigrammatic concision and conversational cadence of his poetry and novels, Things I Have Withheld is a great artistic achievement: a work of beauty which challenges us to interrogate what seems unsayable and why – our actions, defence mechanisms, imaginations and interactions – and those of the world around us.

Eleven-year-old Danny Chung loves drawing more than anything – certainly more than maths, which, according to his dad and everyone else, is what he is ‘supposed’ to be good at. He also loves having his own room where he can draw in peace, so his life is turned upside down when a surprise that he’s been promised turns out to be his little, wrinkly, ex-maths champion grandmother from China. What’s worse, Nai Nai has to share his room, AND she takes the top bunk!

Nai Nai can’t speak a word of English, which doesn’t make things easy for Danny when he is charged with looking after her during his school holidays. Babysitting Nai Nai is NOT what he wants to be doing!

Before long though it becomes clear to Danny that there is more to Nai Nai than meets the eye, and that they have more in common that he thought possible …

‘this place was built by migrants / and we have been eating here ever since’

sikfan glaschu is an exploration of identity and authenticity, told through the lens of the city of Glasgow and its restaurants, cafes, languages, histories and lockdowns. By using the city as a starting point, Sean Wai Keung examines his own relationship to food, migration and family, as well as the very notion of ‘belonging’ somewhere in the first place.

Written with honesty and humour, sikfan glaschu is Wai Keung’s exciting debut full-length collection.

When ghosts talk, she will listen…

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker – and she now speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children – leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honour bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.

She’ll dice with death (not part of her life plan . . .) as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets. And in the process, she discovers an occult library and some unexpected allies. Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?

Julia Donaldson’s beloved rhyming picture book story about two monkeys who are as different as night and day – now with shiny cover foil!Night Monkey and Day Monkey don’t think they have much in common. But when they each spend time in the other’s opposite world, they learn to be the best of friends. From master storyteller, Julia Donaldson, and illustrated by Lucy Richards, this warm-hearted story about friendship and difference is pitch-perfect storytime reading.From the multi-award-winning author of a string of beloved contemporary classics, including The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Stick Man, Room on the Broom, The Smeds and the Smoos, Zog and What the Ladybird Heard.

When the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, it created an unprecedented impact around the world, greater than the aftermath of 9/11 or the global financial crisis. But out of such disruption can come a new way of thinking, and in this superb and authoritative book former UK prime minister Gordon Brown offers his solutions to the challenges we face in 2021 and beyond.

In the book, he states that there are seven major global problems we must address: global health; climate change and environmental damage; nuclear proliferation; global financial instability; the humanitarian crisis and global poverty; the barriers to education and opportunity; and global inequality and its biggest manifestation, global tax havens. Each one presents an immense challenge that requires an urgent global response and solution. All should be on the world’s agenda today. None can be solved by one nation acting on its own, but all can be addressed if we work together as a global community.

However, Brown remains optimistic that, despite the many obstacles in our way, we will find a path to regeneration via a new era of global order. Yes, there is a crisis of globalisation, but we are beginning to see the means by which it might be resolved. Crises create opportunities and having two at once shouldn’t just focus the mind, it might even be seen as giving greater grounds for hope. In Seven Ways to Change the World, Brown provides an authoritative and inspirational pathway to a better future that is essential reading for policy makers and concerned citizens alike.

Set in the South of France, a fiendishly clever thriller about the back-stabbing literary world, from the bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther series of prize-winning historical novels.Robert Harris’s THE GHOST meets Patricia HighsmithIf you want to write a murder mystery, you have to do some research… or pay someone else to do it for you.In a luxury flat in Monaco, John Houston’s supermodel wife lies in bed, a bullet in her skull.Houston is the world’s most successful thriller writer, the playboy head of a literary empire that produces far more books than he could ever actually write. Now the man who has invented hundreds of bestselling killings is wanted for a real murder and on the run from the police, his life transformed into something out of one of his books.And in London, the ghostwriter who is really behind those books has some questions for him too…

An organisation that doesn’t exist.A spy that can’t be caught.Years ago, a spy was born…1989: The Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite is sent to France to gather intelligence on the Lockerbie bombing. What he uncovers is terrifying…Now he faces the deadliest decision of his life…2020: Kite has been taken captive and brutally tortured. He now has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier – or watch his family die.In a battle unlike anything he has faced before, Kite must use all his skills to stay alive.’A spy for the 21st century’Daily Mail, Books of the Year’Wonderfully taut, exciting and up-to-date’Spectator, Books of the Year’An ambitious fusion of coming-of-age novel and gripping espionage thriller’Financial Times, Books of the Year’BOX 88 is so good. Charles Cumming is up there with the very best espionage writers’ Ian Rankin’A wonderful spy novel; Charles Cumming’s most ambitious – and his best – yet’ Mick Herron’Charles Cumming has breathed new life into the spy novel’ Ben Macintyre’Atmospheric and full of sharply realised characters’Sunday Times’A clever thriller’Sun’Intelligence, grace, and stunning verisimilitude’ Gregg Hurwitz’An engaging hero’ James Swallow’All the hallmarks of the finest spy thriller’ Charlotte Philby’Sharp-eyed and satisfying’ Henry Porter’A great new spy hero is born’ Amanda Craig’Ideal for anyone nostalgic for their first love and the whiff of Marlboro Lights’The Times

Moonimal and Boy are ALWAYS together. Until, one terrible day, Moonimal gets lost in the woods.How will he survive all alone in the wild? And will he ever find Boy again?Journey through dense forests, across rushing rivers and to the heights of snow-covered mountains to discover a bond that can never be broken.

When the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, it created an unprecedented impact around the world, greater than the aftermath of 9/11 or the global financial crisis. But out of such disruption can come a new way of thinking, and in this superb and authoritative book former UK prime minister Gordon Brown offers his solutions to the challenges we face in 2021 and beyond.In the book, he states that there are seven major global problems we must address: global health; climate change and environmental damage; nuclear proliferation; global financial instability; the humanitarian crisis and global poverty; the barriers to education and opportunity; and global inequality and its biggest manifestation, global tax havens. Each one presents an immense challenge that requires an urgent global response and solution. All should be on the world’s agenda today. None can be solved by one nation acting on its own, but all can be addressed if we work together as a global community.However, Brown remains optimistic that, despite the many obstacles in our way, we will find a path to regeneration via a new era of global order. Yes, there is a crisis of globalisation, but we are beginning to see the means by which it might be resolved. Crises create opportunities and having two at once shouldn’t just focus the mind, it might even be seen as giving greater grounds for hope. In Seven Ways to Change the World, Brown provides an authoritative and inspirational pathway to a better future that is essential reading for policy makers and concerned citizens alike.

No one in. No one out.

Family can be murder . . .

It’s the 1930s and a mysterious illness is spreading over Scotland. But the noble and ancient family of Inverkillen, residents of Loch Down Abbey, are much more concerned with dwindling toilet roll supplies and who will look after the children now that Nanny has regretfully (and most inconveniently) departed this life.

Then Lord Inverkillen, Earl and head of the family, is found dead in mysterious circumstances. The inspector declares it an accident but Mrs MacBain, the head housekeeper, isn’t so convinced. As no one is allowed in or out because of the illness, the residents of the house – both upstairs and downstairs – are the only suspects. With the Earl’s own family too busy doing what can only be described as nothing, she decides to do some digging – in between chores, of course – and in doing so uncovers a whole host of long-hidden secrets, lies and betrayals that will alter the dynamics of the household for ever.

Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, Agatha Christie and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, LOCH DOWN ABBEY is a playful, humorous mystery that will keep you glued to the page!

Lily Crawford and Jeanie Taylor, from very different backgrounds, are firm friends from their childhoods in Kirkcudbright. They share their ambitions for their futures, Lily to be an artist, Jeanie to be a dancer.The two women’s eventful lives are intertwined. The girls lose touch when Jeanie flees domestic abuse and joins a dance company, while Lily attends The Mack, Glasgow’s famous school of art designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. A chance meeting brings them back together and they discover a city at the height of its wealth and power as the Second City of the Empire – and a city of poverty and overcrowding.Lily’s intense love affair with fellow artist Jack Petrie is shattered by World War I. She is broken hearted when she learns of his death at the front. Grieving, she marries urban missionary Hugh Anderson, who works with the city’s desperate poor, and moves to China with him.The glamour and dissolution of 1920s Shanghai mirrors the vibrant city they have left behind. Hugh loses his battle against his personal demons, putting Lily in peril. Her only hope of survival lies in her old friend Jeanie, as the two women turn to desperate measures to free Lily from her husband’s tyranny.Inspired by the eventful and colourful lives of the pioneering women artists The Glasgow Girls, Daisy Chain is a story of independence, resilience and female friendship, set against the turbulent background of the early years of the 20th Century.

“Beautifully written … as funny as you would hope.”The TimesOLIVE & MABEL: two of the internet’s favourite dogs!ANDREW COTTER: one of our best-loved commentators.Olive and Mabel are the Labradors that broke the internet. With more than 50 million views on social media, Andrew Cotter’s brilliant commentaries on videos of his Labradors have resonated with dog owners and sports fans around the world, giving us all something to smile about in this most testing of years, as Olive and Mabel entertained us with their Dinner Contest, Game of Bones, Zoom Meeting, Online Dating and more over the last six months.Now, in OLIVE, MABEL & ME, Andrew tells the heart-warming story of life with his two famous Labradors. This is the full story of their unexpected rise to internet stardom, their lives together, how the dogs are dealing with their new-found fame (celebrity fans, more offers of biscuits etc), and how trips to the beaches and the mountains help them all find peace and happiness away from a hectic world.Above all, OLIVE, MABEL & ME is a book about the love we have for our dogs and the companionship and joy they bring. And about how we can all benefit from being just a little bit more Labrador…Brilliantly observed, touching and laugh-out-loud funny, OLIVE, MABEL & ME is a treat for dog lovers everywhere.

An illustrated adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery – at an easy-to-read level for readers of all ages! Also includes a QR code for the free audiobook!’Well, Watson, something bad has happened to me,’ Holmes said. ‘It seems I’m not indestructible after all.’Watson’s worst fears have come true: his best friend, Sherlock Holmes, is dying! Watson is desperate to help, but Holmes is being his usual stubborn self and refuses to see a doctor. Yet with deadly traps, mysterious murder plots and a cunning coffee plantation owner to deal with, Watson begins to wonder whether everything is as it seems …

An illustrated adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery – at an easy-to-read level for readers of all ages! Also includes a QR code for the free audiobook!Mr McPherson shook his head, squeezed his hands into tight fists and, using the last of strength, said:’The lion’s mane’.Retired now and living in Sussex, Holmes’ life should be perfectly peaceful. But when a local teacher drops dead in front of him, Holmes is thrown back into the world of dangerous detective work. With multiple suspects, mysterious wounds and no Watson around to help him, Holmes is going to be pushed to his limits to solve this strange case.

An illustrated adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery – at an easy-to-read level for readers of all ages! Also includes a QR code for the free audiobook!’These drawings have a meaning, I am sure. They are hieroglyphics of some kind. If we could crack the code, we could solve the mystery.’When it comes to mysterious pasts, Elsie Cubitt certainly has one. So when she starts receiving secret coded messages around the house, her husband begins to worry and turns to Holmes and Watson to help. But can the genius detective and his trusty sidekick crack the code before these dancing drawings turn deadly?

Charlie Brown and his friends head across the pond to Scotland where the gang plans to participate in an international music festival and Charlie Brown hopes to meet his pen-pal, Morag based on an unproduced, feature-length special, storyboarded by Charles M. Schulz!Good Ol’ Charlie Brown has fallen in love with his pen-pal from Scotland! Now, full of unbridled enthusiasm and confidence, he’s convinced his friends Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, and his faithful dog, Snoopy, to accompany him on an international trip to meet her. Whether it’s golf, music, or the mystery of Loch Ness, everyone discovers something extraordinary about the legendary country…even Charlie Brown, who realizes he’s wishy-washy wherever he may be.Discovered in the archives of the Schulz Studio, Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown is an original graphic novel adaptation of an unproduced, feature-length special, storyboarded by Charles M. Schulz and Bill Melendez; written by Jason Cooper and with art by Robert Pope.

An illustrated adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery – at an easy-to-read level for readers of all ages! Also includes a QR code for the free audiobook!You should write about the case of the Devil’s Foot. I am sure your readers would love to hear about the day we almost died.HolmesAll Watson wants is a nice quiet holiday with Holmes, but that’s not what he’s getting. When Brenda Tregennis is found dead at her dinner table, with no clues as to how or why, all eyes turn to the detective duo to solve the mystery. With deadly experiments, lethal poisons and a suspicious explorer to deal with, there’s no time for relaxation!

Packed full of everyone’s favourite zoo animals, and with a large flap to lift on every page, Who’s at the Zoo? is perfect for fans of the What the Ladybird Heard series.The elephant is fast asleep and the tiger is playing with her cubs, but where are those cunning thieves, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len? Based on Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks’ bestselling picture book, What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday, children will love lifting the large flaps in this bright, colourful board book to find all their favourite characters.Also available: Who’s on the Farm?

Is it possible for books to dream? For books to dream within books? Is there a literary subterranea that would facilitate ingress and exit points through these dreams?These are some of the questions posed by David Keenan’s masterly fifth novel, Monument Maker, an epic romance of eternal summer and a descent, into history, into the horrors of the past; a novel with a sweep and range that runs from the siege of Khartoum and the conquest of Africa in the 19th century through the Second World War and up to the present day, where the memory of a single summer, and a love affair that took place across the cathedrals of Ile de France, unravels, as a secret initiatory cult is uncovered that has its roots in macabre experiments in cryptozoology in pre-war Europe.MONUMENT MAKER straddles genres while fully embracing none of them, a book within a book within a book that runs from hallucinatory historical epics through future-visioned histories of the world narrated by a horribly disfigured British soldier made prophetic by depths of suffering; books that interact with Keenan’s earlier novels, including a return to the mythical post-punk Airdrie landscape of his now classic debut, THIS IS MEMORIAL DEVICE; whole histories of art and religion; books that are glorious choral appendices; bibliographies; imagined films; tape recorded interviews; building to a jubilant accumulation of registers, voices and rhythms that is truly Choral.Written over the course of 10 years, MONUMENT MAKER represents the apex of Keenan’s project to create books that contain uncanny life and feel like living organisms. It is a meditation on art and religion, and on what it means to make monument; this great longing for something eternal, something that could fix moments in time, forever.