THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

She wasn’t born into their world. But she’ll do anything to belong.

Leaving behind her childhood in coastal Scotland, Ivy Graveson arrives at an all-girls college at a prestigious university and throws herself into the deep end of life on campus.

Though her fellow students all seem to come from money and to have known each other their whole lives, outsider Ivy is determined to belong. She embraces the world of secret societies, and as she discovers the legacy of her college, the parallels between its past and her present become striking. Because however hard she tries to ignore it, Ivy has always felt drawn to – and terrified of – the bodies of water that surround her.

In just one life-changing year in these hallowed halls, Ivy will have to decide how much sisterhood means to her and how far she’ll go to become the person she was destined to be.

A richly atmospheric campus novel, perfect for fans of The Secret History and dark academia, These Mortal Bodies is an intoxicating story of obsession, infatuation and toxic friendship in the world of the elites, where rules are made to be broken.

Today, trauma permeates media, from music and television to films and books – my own included. While the increasing openness is welcome, I’ve observed that this rise has been accompanied by a parallel explosion of disinformation and sometimes harmful guidance about how to deal with personal trauma.

In Trauma Industrial Complex, I ask the question: How did we get here? And are the stories we’re telling ourselves liberating us or keeping us trapped? In this revealing and deeply personal book, I’ll pull back the curtain, sharing the hard-won wisdom I’ve gained from the events brought on by telling my own story.

SCOTLAND, 1662.
Hunted, held prisoner and banished for a belief…

As civil war rages and King Charles II tightens his grip on the Church of Scotland, childhood sweethearts Violet and Samuel are swept into a violent struggle for religious freedom. They pledge their hearts to each other – and to a cause that will test their faith, courage and love beyond measure.

Hunted as rebels, imprisoned behind the walls of the infamous Greyfriars Kirkyard and torn from their homeland, Violet and Samuel are sentenced to a life of indentured servitude on the brutal sugar plantations of Barbados. But when their ship wrecks off the coast of Orkney, they become separated.

Alone and captive in a foreign land, Violet must summon every ounce of strength to survive the horrors she faces – and to cling to the hope that Samuel is still alive. Can love endure across oceans, through wars and captivity?

The isolated, salt-soaked isle of Stormcliff is preparing for the annual Firebloom Festival, a famous gathering of thousands of jellyfish and their incredible light show.

Twelve-year-old Tally Smuck is destined to become a Sting Winkler — someone who can communicate with jellyfish — just like her mother and grandfather before her. The Smucks’ special gift means only they can do the vital job of caring for the invaluable jellies that Stormcliff depends on.

But by Firebloom Eve, there’s still no sign of Tally’s abilities, or the jellyfish. Determined not to let everyone down, Tally gathers her friends — anxious Farran, fortune-teller-in-training Colette, and resourceful cliff rat Albert. Together can they bring the island’s secrets to light and find the missing jellies before the Firebloom Festival and Stormcliff are plunged into darkness for good?

This illuminating middle-grade mystery adventure from award-winning author Justin Davies is full of jeopardy, joy and jellyfish! Firebloom is a bright and brilliant standalone novel set in the same imagined world as Haarville.

They got away with murder once . . .

In the shadowy closes of Edinburgh’s Old Town, sixteen people are murdered to feed surgeon Dr Robert Knox’s insatiable need for his anatomy classes. Burke and Hare and their wives, Lucky and Nelly, are all complicit, but only Burke swings for their crimes. Lucky, Nelly and Hare go on the run from the angry mob, reinvention their only means of survival.

Years later, journalist Duncan Fletcher hears rumours of sightings of the two women. Keen to impress his editor, Duncan investigates the aftermath of the murder trial. With cobbler Joseph Campbell in tow, Duncan’s quest leads him to the backstreets of London, where the horrors of the past collide with the present.

The time for retribution has come.

He will stay like this forever, Robert’s arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty.

Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is on his way. After years grafting at Lees Boot Factory, he’s off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls – and never leave his side.

Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow – its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city – all the while loving each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent will take them to Paris, Rome, London. They will become stars as the bombs fall, hosting wild parties with the likes of Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Elizabeth Smart. But the brightest stars burn fastest.

Stunningly reimagined, The Two Roberts is a profoundly moving story of devotion and obsession, art and class. It is a love letter to MacBryde and Colquhoun, the almost-forgotten artists who tried to change the way the world sees – and paid a devastating price.

Things haven’t been easy for Eiley but she’s finally stepping into the light. With a new flat above the local bookshop, Thistle & Thorn, and a job that lets her indulge her bookworm fantasies, Eiley is on the path to rediscovering who she is – until her village of Belbarrow gets an annoyingly self-important new fireman called Warren, who it seems is always there to throw cold water on her plans.

Warren, with his hot looks and cool lines, is the last thing Eiley wants. Cocky, flirty and superior, she’s not about to be another notch on his belt. But when chaos sweeps through Eiley’s life, forcing her and Warren to team up to save the shop, sparks fly in ways she never expected.

As autumn leaves swirl and the village gears up for their annual fireworks display, Eiley must navigate the smoking chemistry between them while facing the ghosts of her past. She knows that sometimes love hurts – but other times, it burns…

In a town full of whispers, silence speaks volumes…

When three teenagers track down a missing chihuahua to an abandoned theme park, they discover a corpse strangled by his own camera strap and find themselves caught up in a murder investigation. The victim was supposed to be 400 miles away in London. He’d promised a lot of people a lot of money. And every single one of them has an alibi. Haigh, Cherry, and Sunrise soon discover that their rural village isn’t quite as dull and predictable as they thought it was.

WHEN A CHILD DISAPPEARS, NO SECRET IS SAFE . . .

THE POIGNANT AND BRILLIANTLY CLEVER NEW THRILLER FROM AWARD-WINNING CRIME AUTHOR, LIAM McILVANNEY.

Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with rich, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly community in a picture-postcard town.

Until, one day, Bonnie the labrador comes in from the beach alone. Their son, Rory, has gone – the only trace left behind is a single black sandal.

Their lives don’t fall apart immediately. While there’s still hope, they dig deep and try to carry on.

But as desperation mounts, arms around shoulders become fingers pointed – at friends, family, strangers, each other. Without any answers, only questions remain. Who can they trust? How far will they go to find out what happened to Rory?

And the deadliest question of all: what could be worse than your child disappearing?

When the truth begins to emerge, they find themselves in a world they could barely have imagined.

1857, Glasgow.

A young socialite named Madeleine Smith stands accused of murdering her lover. Thousands wait outside the court to hear the result. The scandalous nature of the affair, detailed explicitly in letters published in newspapers across the world, has made her case a worldwide sensation. But when the jury find themselves unable to decide whether she is guilty, they render a verdict of ‘Not Proven’ – and Madeleine is freed.

1927, New York.

Harry Townsend, a handsome Hollywood film scout believes he has found the woman once known as Madeleine Smith. He wants to tell her story on film for the new ‘talkie’ generation. Since her trial she has lived under many names, as a glamourous society hostess in bohemian Bloomsbury to the likes of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Bernard Shaw and William Morris. Until suddenly, in 1890, when she disappeared off the face of the earth.

Could this quiet, secretive widow of an Irish labourer be the same Madeleine Smith who once stood trial for murder and escaped?

She has one last secret to reveal. Will Harry persuade her to tell it?

This far north, they say the dead are with us… 

Hogmanay, the far north of Scotland. Alone on the shoreline, lobster fisherman Rob Sinclair pours a dram into the freezing waves of the North Sea. It’s a family tradition; an offering to the sea spirit, the Selkie.

That same night, a stranger arrives in Rob’s village. A young woman, Mairi, charged by her dead mother to carry out three acts of vengeance. Bitter revenge for deeds done before Mairi was born.

Lonely and damaged, Rob and Mairi are drawn to one another. Rob is beguiled by Mairi, but she is elusive, frustrating, her personality shapeshifting. The only certainty is that Mairi is not who she says she is…

Acclaimed nature writer Neil Ansell has suffered from progressive hearing loss his whole life. As his world is becoming ever more silent, he suddenly hears something quite unexpected – the haunting call of the great northern diver. It is this extraordinary experience which makes him realise that there might still be remarkable sounds in nature within his reach – if he can only find himself in the right place at the right time.

This moving book charts Neil’s mission to hear rare and elusive creatures that he had not previously encountered. This journey takes him from the mountaintops and islands of the Scottish Highlands to the marshes of England and the hills of Wales. Many of these species are in grave danger of extinction, so the future Neil faces, devoid of their distinctive calls, is one we all must fight to prevent.

 

LOCATIONS AND AND ANIMALS:

Great northern diver (Nether Lochaber, Scottish Highlands), Ptarmigan (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Little Grebe (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Bittern (Morecambe Bay, Lancashire), Natterjack toad (The Wirral), Red-throated diver (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Corncrake (Coll), Snipe (Coll), Black grouse (North Wales), Greenshank (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Puffin (Canna and Sanday), Storm petrel (Mousa, Shetland), Whimbrel (Shetland), Red kite (Perthshire), Otter (Sunart, Scottish Highlands), Manx shearwater (Rum)

Kristie De Garis spent years running – from places, people and parts of herself. But chaos always followed.

When she moved to rural Scotland, she hoped to find peace. Instead, in the space and silence, she was forced to confront everything she had tried to escape: racism, trauma, undiagnosed ADHD, addiction and the stark realities of motherhood.

Then, in the land around her – and in the slow, stubborn craft of drystone walling – she began to see a different life. One that was quiet, deliberate, and her own.

Drystone: A Life Rebuilt is unflinchingly honest and unexpectedly funny. A story about the weight of the past, resilience and the hard work of living on your own terms.

Some things may never change. What matters is the life you build anyway.

Frankly is no ordinary political memoir. Remarkable for its honesty and self-reflection, this is the story of Nicola Sturgeon, one of our most influential and successful leaders.

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 self-rule, overseeing the Yes campaign in the Scottish 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 honestly discusses Sturgeon’s mistakes, her battles, and her triumphs. Frankly is the compelling story of no ordinary politician.

This is a collection of short stories. Some of them are very short, some of them are even shorter than that, and a few are quite long. What they all have in common is that they are a bit odd. There’s science fiction, there’s horror, there’s at least one fairy tale, and there are some Christmas stories, not all of which are heart-warming. None of them are entirely conventional.

David wrote all of these stories for his own entertainment, He wrote them to see if he could write them, or because he had an interesting idea, or because he wanted to see what would happen if the dead could talk to us through car stereos, if gerbils were cell phones, or if if time was an ocean.

Now you can see what he sees, too. We hope you like it.

You better. David knows people, and not all of them are very nice.

Bel’s joined the tiny Manchester office of a national paper from her indie podcast.

Thirty-something Connor is going to back to the start as the new intern.

The latest office news? They can’t stand each other.

So of course Bel bumps into Connor when she’s working undercover on the biggest scoop of her career. And of course she’s forced to improvise, pretending they’re a couple. A couple deeply in love.

Two rivals. One fake romance. The headline writes itself…

A one woman show

A one night stand

A one star review

Theatre critic Alex Lyons made his name from his brutal, brilliant reviews.

So when he sees Hayley Sinclair’s dismal one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe, he thinks nothing of dashing off another of his trademark one-star pans for the newspaper. He also thinks nothing of taking her home after the performance, failing at any point to mention who he is.

What he doesn’t expect is for Hayley to revamp her show into a review of Alex’s entire life, exposing what an awful person he really is. Worse, the show is a smash hit, and Alex is about to become national news. But can Hayley bring the establishment down without taking herself with it?

Funny and thrilling, Bring the House Down gives you a front row seat to the downfall of the people who tell us what to think. It’s about art, performance, female rage, and how while revenge may be sweet, it can also be perilous.

Jon Attenborough, a visually impaired football fan, embarked on an extraordinary journey across Scotland with his guide dog, Sam, visiting every single one of the 42 Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) grounds. Jon and Sam made each journey by public transport – legends!

This memoir chronicles their shared experiences, blending Jon’s love for football with the profound bond he shares with Sam. As they travel the length and breadth of Scotland, Jon navigates the challenges of accessibility, the unpredictability of live sports, and the warmth of Scotland’s football community. From the bustling cities to the remote, windswept stadiums, Jon and Sam experience the rich tapestry of Scottish football culture, encountering passionate fans, legendary players, and unforgettable moments along the way.

Through candid reflections, Jon shares the emotional and physical hurdles they overcame, the joyous milestones they reached, and the unexpected friendships they formed on this journey. The memoir also delves into Jon’s life before Sam, his struggles with vision impairment, and how Sam not only became his guide but also his closest companion and a symbol of resilience and hope.

This is more than just a football travelogue; it’s a story of perseverance, the power of companionship, and the unbreakable bond between a man and his dog. It celebrates the spirit of the beautiful game and the communities that thrive within it, while also highlighting the importance of inclusivity in sports and society.

This inspiring and heart-warming memoir will resonate with football fans, dog lovers, and anyone who believes in the power of following one’s passion against all odds.

Willie Orr continues his masterful exploration of love, resilience, and the fight for justice in the Scottish Highlands. In the wake of Calum and Catherine MacGillivray’s deaths, the novel follows their daughter Mary, who leaves Scotland to work for the wealthy Buchanan family in Jamaica. Against a backdrop of rebellion and starvation among freed slaves, Mary’s compassion and her father’s legacy of resistance to oppression shine through.
Returning to her homeland years later, Mary is drawn into the political struggles of the crofters, fighting exploitative landlords and pushing for fair rents. She becomes a force of change, embodying her father’s fierce rejection of authority and her mother’s quiet endurance.
Set against the sweeping beauty of the Highlands, Shiaba No More is a richly detailed continuation of the MacGillivray family saga, blending themes of love, hardship, and the unstoppable force of justice. Willie Orr’s deep understanding of the period and the crofters’ struggles shines through, making this a compelling and heartwarming chapter in the fight for their rights.

When one of their own is found unconscious in the boot of her car, Scotland’s Sierra Leonean community is cast into a state of shock. And the young woman’s death a few days later sparks a murder investigation.

Though Hawa Barrie lives on the fringes of that community, which revolves around the Lion Mountain Church, the disappearance of a second woman – her childhood friend Othella Savage – draws her in.

But as the police investigation drags on, Hawa grows increasingly suspicious of the charismatic Pastor Ronald Ranka – and increasingly fearful for her friend, Othella. Desperate, she launches her own search, which will take her from Scotland to Sierra Leone and back again, revealing the true nature of Ranka’s church whilst exposing dark secrets within the fabric of both countries she calls home.

A darkly compelling read inspired by a real incident, The Search for Othella Savage is an engaging and compulsive debut which examines the insidious nature of corruption – both religious and political – whilst also exploring the enduring power of friendship.