THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Red kites were once Britain’s most common bird of prey. By the early 1900s they’d been wiped out in Scotland and England following centuries of ruthless persecution. When some reintroduced kites began roosting on their 1,400-acre farm at Argaty in Perthshire, Tom Bowser’s parents, Lynn and Niall, decided to turn their estate into a safe haven. They began feeding the birds and invited the world to come and see them, learn about them and fall in love with them.A Sky Full of Kites is the story of the Argaty Red Kite project, and the re-establishing of these magnificent raptors to Scotland, but it is also much more than that. Ill at ease with the traditional rural values of livestock farming, Lynn and Niall’s son Tom, who returned to work on the farm after a career in journalism, reveals his passion for nature and his desire to dedicate his family’s land to conservation.

Private McAuslan was ‘the biggest walking disaster to hit the Army’. Loosely based on his own experiences in a Scottish regiment, and written with rare humour, a sense of the ludicrous and real affection for soldiering, the first volume of George MacDonald Fraser’s McAuslan trilogy now finally comes to life on audio.Private McAuslan, J. – the Dirtiest Soldier in the World (alias the Tartan Caliban) – demonstrates his unfitness for military service in this first volume of stories of life in a Scottish regiment. Unkempt, ungainly and unwashed, civilian readers may regard him with shocked disbelief. But generations of ex-servicemen have hailed him with delight as a familiar friend – because every old soldier can remember a McAuslan!McAuslan first shambled into public view – manfully swinging his right arm in time with his right leg – in George MacDonald Fraser’s THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN in 1970. Greeted with laughter and great affection (and spawning two sequels and a TV adaptation), these hilarious memoirs of life in a Highland regiment after the last war capture the exploits and misadventures of life in the British Army.Based on MacDonald Fraser’s own experiences in the Border Regiment and the Gordon Highlanders, which took him to India, Africa and the Middle East, these stories demonstrate the celebrated author of the swashbuckling FLASHMAN series at his hilarious best.

Selected as a Best Book of 2021 by the Observer, Stylist, Cosmopolitan, Red and the Daily MailHalfway through her PhD and already dreaming of running her own lab, computer scientist Asha has her future all mapped out. Then a chance meeting and whirlwind romance with her old high-school crush, Cyrus, changes everything.Dreaming big, together with their friend Jules they come up with a revolutionary idea: to build a social networking app that could bring meaning to millions of lives. While Asha creates an ingenious algorithm, Cyrus’ charismatic appeal throws him into the spotlight.When the app explodes into the next big thing, Asha should be happy, shouldn’t she? But why does she feel invisible in the boardroom of her own company? Why are decisions being made without her? Gripping, witty and razor-sharp, The Startup Wife is a blistering novel about big ambitions, speaking out and standing up for what you believe in.

Megan Melvick has spent years avoiding her inheritance, the dark and disquieting family estate Benbrae, now home only to her distant, aristocratic father, and her sister Melissa, dying quietly in an upstairs bedroom. Trapped behind her unreliable hearing aids and vulnerable to what others want her to see, Megan is unable to find the answers she wants: why is there a new woman on her father’s arm? And why has their absent mother not returned to say a final goodbye to Melissa?Benbrae has always been a place of loss and misfortune for Megan, but as the Melvick family diminishes still further, she must ask one final question. If there is a curse on the house, will she be its next victim?

In To the Island of Tides, Alistair Moffat travels to – and through the history of – the fated island of Lindisfarne. Known by the Romans as Insula Medicata and famous for its monastery, it even survived Viking raids. Today the isle maintains its position as a space for retreat and spiritual renewal.Walking from his home in the Borders, through the historical landscape of Scotland and northern England, Moffat takes us on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of saints and scholars, before arriving for a secular retreat on the Holy Isle. To the Island of Tides is a walk through history, a meditation on the power of place, but also a more personal journey; and a reflection on where life leads us.

Mairi Hedderwick embarks on a six-month-long journey to 40 islands from Arran to Lewis, recounting her pilgrimage around the archipelago of the Western Isles with which she has had a lifelong love affair.Filled with wit and wisdom that is matched by her spell-binding illustrations, Mairi Hedderwick portrays the islands in all their diversity, with swift and perceptive cameos of everyday life drawn with humour and affection alongside gorgeous landscapes which capture the truly magical beauty of the Hebrides.

First published in 1914 and praised by John Buchan as ‘one of the finest romances of our time’, The New Road is a classic suspense thriller. The new road of the title refers to the military road which General Wade carved into the Highlands to destroy the clans, and it is along this road that events unfold.It is 1773, thirty years after the Jacobite rebellion and the time of the Highland Clearances. When two adventurers, Ninian Campbell and Aeneas MacMaster, travel north on a clandestine mission to investigate rumours of a planned uprising, they find themselves pursued by mysterious enemies and drawn into a web of intrigue and corruption.The New Road was Neil Munro’s last and most accomplished novel.

The Outer Hebrides lie 40 miles to the west of mainland Scotland, forming a barrier to the North Atlantic. Culturally distinct from early prehistory, the islands contain a wealth of historical and archaeological monuments, including the standing stones at Callanish, the magnificent St Clement’s church at Rodel as well as numerous brochs, castles, Pitish houses, croft houses and industrial and military buildings.In addition to descriptions of key historic sites from prehistory onwards and gazetteers covering every place of historical interest, this book also traces the development of the modern environment and landscape of the islands, enabling the visitor to appreciate the sites within their historical and cultural context.

In the autumn of 1644 Colin, heir to the Laird of Elrigmore, returns to his native Argyll after seven years’ service as a soldier of fortune. He finds a land torn apart by bitter civil war, with the complex rivalries of Royalist and Parliamentarian, Catholic and Covenanter set against the ancient feuding of the Clans Campbell and MacDonald.At Inveraray, a town under imminent threat from the forces of the all-conquering Marquis of Montrose, Elrigmore meets the heroic John Splendid – like himself a veteran of the foreign wars and a man of great courage and resourcefulness. As the Royalist army descends on the town, both men find themselves inexorably drawn into the heart of the conflict as their loyalty to the clan chief, the Marquis of Argyll, takes precedence over everything else. But danger and disillusion lie in wait for them in the service of Argyll, as they embark on a series of extraordinary adventures amid the chaos and carnage of civil war in the Highlands.

This is the ideal guide to the whole route, so rich in history and natural beauty. Designed to be used by walkers on the Path or visitors to any point along it, it introduces a wealth of castles, churches, harbours, monuments and red-roofed houses.Hamish Brown gives practical advice on all aspects of walking the Path, whether you are making a seven-day trip along its whole length or walking a short section on a Sunday afternoon. Revising his earlier guide to the route, he explores every part of the Fife coast, including the famous Forth bridges, the charming East Neuk fishing villages of Pittenweem, Elie and St Monans, as well as Anstruther, Crail and St Andrews. Along the way he provides a mass of fascinating information about people and places that can be read for pleasure and kept as the souvenir of a unique and unforgettable part of Scotland.

Get ready for the race of your life…This is what it feels like when I’m running. When I’m running fast, I feel free.12-year-old Lili is determined to defeat her arch rival in front of the Queen during her school’s anniversary celebrations.Adopted from China as a baby, Lili also has personal challenges to overcome, but when her training is thrown into chaos by events outside her control, she realises that she must choose between family and the race of her life.Meanwhile in 1944, Eric Liddell, hero of the 1924 Olympics, finds himself in a war zone. Separated from his family, he is getting ready to run his final race in a prison camp in China when his lifelong principles are challenged by the imprisoned children he is trying to help…Praise for The Race’Not your typical happily ever after, Roy has written a wonderfully relatable and inclusive tale, where all are welcome, and the beauty of sport brings everyone together in the end. There are life lessons to be learned in this inspiring story with friendship at its heart.’SHAUNAGH BROWNInternational Rugby Player and Former Commonwealth Games Athlete

In 2016 Scottish writer Iain Maloney and his Japanese wife Minori moved to a village in rural Japan. This is the story of his attempt to fit in, be accepted and fulfil his duties as a member of the community, despite being the only foreigner in the village.Even after more than a decade living in Japan and learning the language, life in the countryside was a culture shock. Due to increasing numbers of young people moving to the cities in search of work, there are fewer rural residents under the retirement age – and they have two things in abundance: time and curiosity. Iain’s attempts at amateur farming, basic gardening and DIY are conducted under the watchful eye of his neighbours and wife. But curtain twitching is the least of his problems. The threat of potential missile strikes and earthquakes is nothing compared to the venomous snakes, terrifying centipedes and bees the size of small birds that stalk Iain’s garden.Told with self-deprecating humour, this memoir gives a fascinating insight into a side of Japan rarely seen and affirms the positive benefits of immigration for the individual and the community. It’s not always easy being the only gaijin in the village.

The first Selected since 1985 and the poet’s death, this looks afresh at the work of one of Scotland’s best loved writers and one of the original Penguin Modern Poets.

White Castle: The evaluation of an upstanding prehistoric enclosure in East Lothian describes the results of a four year research programme of archaeological works between 2010 and 2013, at the later prehistoric enclosure of White Castle, East Lothian, carried out under the auspices of the Rampart Scotland project. The site is a Scheduled Monument, but, despite being subject of mapping and survey for some 200 years, it has never been examined by excavation prior to the Rampart Scotland project’s interventions. White Castle was the first of the series of comparable sites to be excavated in the Lammermuir area. The programme of archaeological evaluation and sequence of radiometric dates furnished evidence for four major phases of activity at White Castle – with the main enclosure period dating to the second half of the first millennium BC. The excavations demonstrated a clear sequence of enclosure development over time, whereby the design and visual impact often appeared to be more important than defence alone. White Castle’s location on the main route through the Lammermuirs with surrounding upland pasture is also highly suggestive to its function and it seems probable that the site’s economy was concerned primarily with controlling access to grazing. The final phase of the prehistoric enclosure appears to combine two key factors: impressing visitors and stock control. While maintenance of White Castle’s enclosure system was abandoned in the closing centuries BC, it is unlikely that the area was deserted and there is also limited evidence for two later phases of activity on site around the Medieval and Early Modern Periods.

This is a fascinating combination of biographical material about the great Scottish engineer Thomas Telford (1757-1834), and a modern travelogue that revisits the places in the Highlands and Islands where he worked over a period of 20 years. Scotland was provided with desperately-needed civil infrastructure – nearly 1000 miles of roads, 1200 bridges, many harbours, and the monumental Caledonian Canal.Telford’s programme of work was one of the greatest sustained efforts by any individual in the years of Britain’s industrial revolution. And yet it is little celebrated in Scotland, let alone the rest of Britain and the wider world. After working in England and Wales for nearly 20 years, Telford was called back to his native land to address huge problems in the Highlands and Islands. These included unemployment, depopulation, Highlanders dispirited by poverty and suppression following the two Jacobite uprisings, compounded by living in mountainous regions almost totally isolated from the rest of Scotland.Thomas Telford has been widely painted as a brilliant engineer totally devoted to his work, a somewhat one-dimensional character. However, the author shows him differently, as a man of the Scottish Enlightenment, a rounded character with a love of poetry and the natural world, a good companion and a generous friend. A Scotsman Returns reveals him as a person who, in spite of the humblest start in life, displayed great social skills in his dealings with Scots both haughty and humble during his 20-year commitment to the Highlands and Islands.The author retraces an extensive Highland Tour made by Telford and the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, in 1819. The two men were drawn together by Telford’s love of poetry and Southey’s admiration of the engineer’s remarkable work in the Highlands. Southey kept a journal of the tour, which remained unpublished for a century and is still not widely known. Comments on the places they visited, the sights they saw, their social interactions, and Southey’s intelligent interest in Telford’s roadmaking, bridgebuilding and, above all, the Caledonian Canal are featured.Telford’s work in other areas of the Highlands and Islands is also covered, principally in Caithness, Sutherland, and the Hebridean Islands. There are further discussions of the social and political environment in which Telford operated, including the Highland Clearances. This travelogue, beautifully illustrated in full colour with over 100 photographs of Telford’s surviving infrastructure, is complemented with modern views of the places where he worked.A Scotsman Returns is a wonderful collection of Telford’s remarkable achievements and will encourage readers worldwide to explore the routes followed by Telford as he developed Highland infrastructure.

Set in 1930s Dundee and St Andrews, investigating the murder of a Punch and Judy puppeteer, THE MIRROR DANCE is the latest in the Dandy Gilver series from Catriona McPherson.

A world without telephones? Impossible for most young readers to imagine. Find out how you can thank inventor Alexander Graham Bell for every ringtone! Filled with facts and photos, Bell’s story highlights the scientific process he followed, failures and all, from identifying a problem to getting his communication technology into the hands of users.

When Gal Veres is almost assassinated and his identity as the secret Umber heir is uncovered, it sets off a dangerous battle for power that could crumble the galaxy. In a desperate attempt to claim his throne and put an end to the fighting, Gal teams up with his best friend, Ettian Nassun, and a street savvy troublemaker, Wen Iffan. During their mad dash through the stars, Gal and Ettian are drawn together, finally admitting to their years-long attraction. But their relationship is put to the test when they encounter the Archon rebellion Ettian s supposedly defeated and destroyed people and Gal is captured. Now a political hostage in a newly-reignited war, Gal must choose between the man he loves and the empire he s sworn to lead.

‘Utterly charming…an uplifting and optimistic story’ Hot Brands Cool Places on New Beginnings at Rose CottageIf you love Lucy Diamond, Phillipa Ashley, Sue Moorcroft and Holly Martin, you’ll LOVE Erin Green’s novels of love, life and laughter!’A perfect story full of hope, love and friendship’ 5* reader review’An uplifting, engaging and heart warming book. Loved it’ 5* reader review’An amazing book and makes you really think that your dreams of changing your life can really happen’ 5* reader review’The author has the knack of making her characters spring off the pages so real that you’ll care about them’ Peterborough TelegraphFriendship can blossom in the most unexpected places…When Jemima loses her beloved grandfather, keeping his allotment alive seems like ideal way to feel close to him. She’s never fitted in before – is this her chance to find where she really belongs?Finally Melissa has the allotment she’s been longing for to distract her while her husband works away – even if it is chest-high in weeds. But when she looks for help in the wrong place, she finds she’s the hottest topic of gossip.For Dottie, her allotment and part-time job of ‘a little light dusting’ at Lerwick Manor keeps a spring in her eighty-year-old step – and her ears open for secrets.Though generations apart, these three women are about to find a common bond in a new-found passion and that true friendship can grow anywhere.Spend your holiday season at gorgeous Lerwick – look out for From Shetland, With Love at Christmas!You are invited to holiday at gorgeous Rose Cottage – where friendship, home comforts and romance are guaranteed… look for New Beginnings at Rose Cottage – out now!If you don’t ask you’ll never know… don’t miss Taking a Chance on Love – out now!

On December 28th 1879, the night of the Great Storm, the Tay Bridge collapsed, along with the train that was crossing, and everyone on board…This is the true story of that disastrous night, told from multiple viewpoints:The station master waiting for the train to arrive – who sees the approaching lights simply vanish.The bored young boys watching from their bedroom window who witness the disaster.The dreamer who designed the bridge which eventually destroyed him.The old highlanders who professed the bridge doomed from the outset.The young woman on the ill-fated train, carrying a love letter from the man she hoped to marry…THE HIGH GIRDERS is a vivid, dramatic reconstruction of the ill-omened man-made catastrophe of the Tay Bridge disaster – and its grim aftermath.