THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

‘I was raised among women of enormous strength and character.’

So writes Joni Buchanan in the foreword to this celebratory work, filling a long-neglected gap in Hebridean history. With a wealth of detail and intensive research, Joni tells the story of island women – their quick wit and political determination, hands that were deft with the loom and with the gutting knife, strong backs for croft work, endurance through times of tragedy and compassion and fortitude on the frontlines of war and disease.

The women in these pages travel the world, wage war against injustice and nurture their cultural heritage, all the time with two languages on their tongue, a light in their eye and undimmable spirit and humour.

A radical reinterpretation of Adam Smith that challenges economists, moral philosophers, political theorists, and intellectual historians to rethink him―and why he matters

Adam Smith has long been recognized as the father of modern economics. More recently, scholars have emphasized his standing as a moral philosopher―one who was prepared to critique markets as well as to praise them. But Smith’s contributions to political theory are still underappreciated and relatively neglected. In this bold, revisionary book, Paul Sagar argues that not only have the fundamentals of Smith’s political thought been widely misunderstood, but that once we understand them correctly, our estimations of Smith as economist and as moral philosopher must radically change.

Rather than seeing Smith either as the prophet of the free market, or as a moralist who thought the dangers of commerce lay primarily in the corrupting effects of trade, Sagar shows why Smith is more thoroughly a political thinker who made major contributions to the history of political thought. Smith, Sagar argues, saw war, not commerce, as the engine of political change and he was centrally concerned with the political, not moral, dimensions of―and threats to―commercial societies. In this light, the true contours and power of Smith’s foundational contributions to western political thought emerge as never before.

Offering major reinterpretations of Smith’s political, moral, and economic ideas, Adam Smith Reconsidered seeks to revolutionize how he is understood. In doing so, it recovers Smith’s original way of doing political theory, one rooted in the importance of history and the necessity of maintaining a realist sensibility, and from which we still have much to learn.

A Short History of the Apocalypse: your comprehensive guide to the challenges of Armageddon.

Join Frankie Boyle (Saturday Night Swindle; Celebrity Vengeance) and Charlie Skelton (head writer: Ad Naseum; David Suchet’s News Sachet) as they debrief time traveller and bon vivant from the late 21st Century, Alonso Lampe.

Will humanity survive the coming cataclysm? Find out inside, along with helpful tips on cannibalism, thunderdome etiquette, and post-societal dating.

How do you go about joining a militia?
What will life be like in a billionaire’s bunker?
How will people entertain themselves in re-education camps?

All these questions will be fully and satisfactorily answered.

With exclusive illustrations by Hall of Fame comic artist Frank Quitely, A Short History of the Apocalypse is vital to your future survival.

A bold warrior who never expected to marry meets his match in a fiery young widow in this latest installment of New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands’s Highland Brides series, perfect for fans of Outlander.

Graeme Gunn is a warrior through and through. A second son, he left home years ago to battle his way through Scotland as a mercenary. But with his brother William’s death, Graeme is forced to return to his clan—which now includes William’s grieving widow, Annella Mackay. And Graeme is stunned to find that the beautiful, determined woman at the keep is nothing like the meek lass he remembers from William’s wedding years ago…

Annella Mackay once had hopes for a loving marriage, a dream that shattered when her husband abandoned her. Hiding her pain, she embraced the roles of both laird and lady of the Gunn clan with spirit. But with William’s death, she finally has a chance at a new dream, and she won’t let anything deter her plans. Not even Graeme, no matter how strong her attraction to the strong-willed warrior, or how much she enjoys his kisses…

It’s an explosion of passion and clash of wills from the start, especially when Graeme decides to stay and claim his title. And when the threat of a hidden enemy rears its head, Graeme and Annella realize that in fighting for their home they might also be fighting for their love.

A city on the brink of civil war. A madman pulling the strings.
A family is found butchered in a dismal room in the Rookery, London’s poorest district. Not even their small children are left alive.

Most of the authorities pay scant attention, except for Thiefmaster General Jonathan Wild. Intrigued by this development, Colonel Nathaniel Charters tasks his most trusted operative, Jonas Flynt, with discovering why.

When another family is murdered just as brutally, Flynt uncovers evidence of a simmering conflict between rival gangs, with Wild seemingly desperate to keep a lid on the slaughter.

The question for Flynt is how deep is his new friend The Admiral, a gang leader, involved, and is he capable of killing innocents? Or is there someone else in London, more dangerous and more deranged, with blood on their hands?

A scintillating serial killer thriller set amidst the dirt and grime of Georgian London, the next thrilling instalment in the McIlvanney longlisted Company of Rogues series.

From Maggie O’Farrell, the multi award-winning author of Hamnet, and the stunning imagination of Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, comes a hopeful and powerful new book, based on Maggie’s own experience on living with a stammer.

Sisters Bea and Min couldn’t be any more different – Bea is neat and tidy; Min is messy and mucky. Together, they are a perfect pair because Min loves to chat and Bea loves to listen. And in their happy differences, they share the attic room at the top of their very tall, narrow house. Then, one day, as Min is chatting, her tongue feels suddenly locked. The words forming in her mouth never make it out. Some days later, still struggling to speak, she sees the most extraordinary thing at her shoulder in a mirror … a creature, a thing, seizing the words as they rise to her lips, and cramming them into its mouth. Min continues to struggle with her stammer – how can she truly be herself, when she cannot do what she loves most: chat! Bea is the only one who truly sees, and understands, her. Together, they go on a journey of discovery – what IS this creature? – and they find not quite a solution, but a way to make peace with themselves and to love and embrace what makes each of them different.

It was the twelfth night of the winter feasts
and giant yule logs had burned without cease . . .

Seeking refuge from a snowstorm, a nameless traveller is welcomed into an ancient hall to warm their bones and fill their stomach, if they will hear the stories of three wise men and judge whom amongst them tells the truth.

What follows are three tales of despair and devotion, of indigence and immortality. A lovelorn youth plies the object of his affections with golden rings, partridges and pear trees. An elderly man, tired of life, finds himself having cheated death and quite unsure of what to do next.

An enchanting festive poem from Carol Ann Duffy, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and adorned with gorgeous illustrations, Three Wise Men is the perfect festive gift for the poetry lover in your life.

‘Racist’, ‘Slave Trader’ and ‘Rapist’ were just some of the phrases that were directed towards Scotland’s national poet during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Whilst Robert Burns has been revered for his evocative poetry and passionate advocacy for social justice, did his actions match his words?

Through meticulous research and a compelling narrative, Clark McGinn examines Burns’ connections to the transatlantic slave trade, highlighting the paradoxes and moral conflicts during the poet’s time. The book does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, presenting a nuanced portrait that challenges readers to reconcile Burns’ literary genius with the ethical ambiguities of his time.

Burns and Black Lives is an essential read for those interested in the intersections of literature, history and social justice, offering a profound re-examination of one of Scotland’s most iconic figures.

‘Here are over a hundred recipes for all the ways I like to eat, from small snacky bites to brunches, big meaty feasts to sumptuous puddings. Some are simple, some a little more challenging, but they’re always about celebrating Scottish produce and the pleasure of sharing food with friends and family.

At the end of each chapter is a seasonal dinner party menu, thoughtfully designed so it’s easy to make a showstopper meal that everyone can relax and enjoy, including the chef.’

Celebrate the best of spring with Asparagus and Roast Chicken Hollandaise or Trout and Spring Vegetable Galette, or imagine summer feasting tables laid with Lamb Rack, Labneh and Sweetheart Cabbage and Chilled Rice Pudding. The gamey flavours of autumn include Mallard Rillettes and Whole Roasted Partridge, and as the nights draw in for winter, turn to Roberta’s signature Braised Beef and Caramelised Onion Pie or her Chocolate Fudge Cake of dreams, served with malt chocolate custard.

Love, Loyalty and Loss Admidst Scotland’s Jacobite Uprising.

In June 1745, the news that Prince Charles Edward Stuart has landed on Eriskay reaches the quiet glen of Tullynessle, Aberdeenshire. Charles Gordon, Laird of Terpersie, and Walter Syme, the parish minister, must make a decision – will they support the Jacobite army in seizing the throne of Britain and restoring it to the House of Stuart? Charles Gordon rushes to the Prince’s banner. The Rev Walter Syme, recently widowed, decides to remain in Tullynessle to look after his family and to support his parishioners.

Meanwhile, in the Brabant, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, is watching events in Scotland with impatience.

As Charles Gordon’s commitment to the Stuarts leads him to Culloden field, Walter Syme is making plans to marry the young housekeeper at the manse. Although the paths of these men are very different, the lives of their two families become increasingly entwined.

In the end of the day, will there be a price to pay? This is a carefully researched historical novel which ponders the effects of the 1745 Jacobite uprising on the people of Scotland.

Anns an Ògmhios 1745, tha muinntir gleann sìtheil Thulach Neasail, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain, a’ cluinntinn na naidheachd gu bheil am Prionnsa Teàrlach Eideard Stiùbhart air tighinn gu tìr an Èirisgeigh. Feumaidh an t-uachdaran Teàrlach Gòrdanach agus am ministear Ualtar Syme, banntrach le triùir nighean, roghainn a dhèanamh. An toir iad an taic do na Seumasaich ann a bhith a’ glacadh Crùn Bhreatainn?

Aig an aon àm air tìr-mòr na Roinn Eòrpa, tha Uilleam Augustus, Diùc Chumberland, a’ cumail sùil gheur air an ar-a-mach Sheumasach, mì-fhoighidneach gus am faigh e an sàs anns a’ chòmhraig.
Chan fhada gus am bi saoghal nan Gòrdanach agus nan Symes air a thilgeadh bun os cionn.

A man gasping for water at the dawn of humanity.

A eunuch finding love for the first time.

A woman, who dresses as a man, in Hitler’s Berlin.

A Renaissance artist in love with a slave.

All these lives exist inside the brain of dying man, Darius Colvin.

After waking up in hospital following a car crash paralysed from the neck down, and with no memory of the events leading up to his accident, Darius finds his life has been saved by an experimental drug. But the drug has unexpected side effects. It warps time and space, catapulting Darius through a labyrinth of memories that are not his own. As his recall grows wilder, his sanity is questioned. No-one believes him except Lexie Song, a doctor harbouring a secret of her own. Together, they embark on a surreal exploration that leads to revelations that transcend the limits of human experience. But, as the past lives reveal clues to a centuries-old mystery, they remain blissfully unaware of the dangers that are gathering around them in the present.

A varied group of characters in an increasingly dystopian world have to deal with ‘deep fakes’ distorting their very sense of reality.

In a world drowning in a deluge of falsehoods, “Fake Fish” confronts the insidious rise of false news, and unmasks the far-reaching consequences that extend beyond mere headlines. With an unflinching gaze, this novel exposes the alarming impact of deceit on a global scale, as personal and national reputations crumble, and the very fabric of truth is torn apart.

As the story unfolds, the characters navigate the treacherous landscape of a society where nothing can be trusted. “Fake Fish” is a timely exploration of the fragility of reality in an age where truth is being swallowed by technology.

A fascinating and revealing new biography of Mary Queen of Scots in captivity.

For almost two decades before her or execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner. From her chambers, she wrote countless letters, many encrypted using complex ciphers to prevent her communications from being intercepted. In this way, she used language to exert her will and her influence, even while incarcerated.

More than 400 years after Mary’s death, the discovery of further encoded letters has led to renewed interest in the breadth of her encrypted correspondence in captivity.

In Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots, historian and expert on Mary’s correspondence Dr Jade Scott draws on hundreds of Mary’s letters and those sent to her, to paint a vivid portrait of one of history’s most compelling figures. She interrogates Mary’s complex relationships with friends and enemies throughout her imprisonment, illuminating her strategic expertise and bringing Mary’s captivity to life as never before.

The fabric of Dorothy K. Haynes’ weird fiction is truly the stuff of nightmares, where horrors cruel and mundane are interwoven with threads of dark fairy folklore and twisted witchcraft to deliver heady supernatural thrills.

In this new collection, Haynes expert Craig Lamont presents the essential classics of her strange storytelling alongside rarities from obscure anthologies and magazines – and several stories exhumed from the family archive which have never been published before.

Featuring illustrations by Mervyn Peake from the Library’s collections, this volume knits the irresistible pull of Haynes’ unique brand of the uncanny with a rare opportunity to discover new material from one of the great weavers of Scottish horror.

Robert Burns is Scotland’s best known and most influential poet; yet his political legacy also ranks amongst the most contentious. His ambiguous verse, oscillating between patriotic odes, egalitarian lines and royalist songs, lends itself to interpretations from across the political divide. Blending political history and literary studies, this book explores this contested legacy of ‘Scotland’s National Bard’. It follows the transformations of Burns’s image throughout the late modern era, as revolutionaries, nationalists and avant-garde writers co-opted Burns’s myth to subvert their country’s social and constitutional order. From Great War unionism to 1940s socialism and contemporary nationalism, the examination of Burns’s tempestuous afterlives sheds light on the ongoing Scottish question. Overall, it reminds us that poetry is a very shifting ground on which to build a national identity.

Why are feet so hot? Why did feet show up in poetry written during a medieval outbreak of gonorrhoea? When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, what kind of love was he showing? What do different cultures tell us about feet? How did early sexologists convince us that loving feet is deviant? These are just some of the questions explored through this history of toe-botherers. With his trademark curiosity, Zmith time-travels through sex archives, online forums and millennia of art, exploring why even common fetishes are seen as weird. His essays take care to remove shame and disgust from foot fancying, inviting readers to dip a toe into our deepest desires. From Tarantino films to Bible stories, Renaissance paintings to OnlyFans, Solemates is the rich, messy, and often surprising history of our love of an overlooked body part, climaxing in an argument for pleasure.

Nature poetry has been redefined through the centuries, shapeshifting through the major upheavals of our relationship with the landscapes, plants and non-human species with whom we share the earth. As our environment is destabilised and threatened by the climate crisis, we can once again find new meanings, causes for hope and catalysts for action in these poems.

Arranged by season – and full of surprises – this anthology shows the vast breadth of writing on the natural world, and challenges homogenous ideas of what a nature poet can look like. The choices in this anthology see beloved poets celebrated alongside new and emerging writers, whose voices echo the urgency of the crisis we now face. Together, they show what we have in common across countries and centuries: an undeniable kinship with nature, and a fierce will to protect it.

HAIRAN is a new anthology of poetry by Iranian women, compiled in the face of violent attacks on life and liberty that began with the death of Mahsa Amini in Tehran in September 2022. Amini was arrested and killed in police custody for not covering enough of her hair in public. ‍ Here are 75 poems from a diverse cross-section of contemporary Iranian voices, accompanied by ‘hair portraits’ taken by the poets. ‍ Alongside Sobati and Sarhandi-Williams, HAIRAN was edited by Sepideh Jodeyri, Sepideh Kouti, Anna Krasnowolska, Anahita Rezaei, and Abbas Shokri.

‘Gavin has not married me in church with stained glass saints looking down in judgement and me wearing shop-bought jewellery that will soon become tarnished. He has not married me on paper, inking out scribbled signatures as if I am a woman to acquire on hire purchase and he a man too busy read the fine print. He has married me with all of this: a marriage of minds and souls, conceived in the beating heart of nature where we share one consciousness and one calling. One otter, most important of all. Instead of white lace, we have rowan blossom. Instead of pungent florist bouquets, we have a flourishing carpet of wildflowers.’

‘If hate were love, if love were hate, it could not make our tale untold’

Divorced and living apart from her two children as she strives against the odds to carve out a career in 1940s London, poet Kathleen Raine is initially unimpressed when she meets Gavin Maxwell, a would-be portrait painter struggling to recover from a recent breakdown. Nevertheless, the pair soon bond over childhood memories and a profound love of nature, epitomised by a mysterious vision they share of a rowan tree.

When Gavin confides that he is ‘more of a man’s man’, Kathleen remains determined that their connection can survive. They share a cottage in the wildest reaches of the West Highlands, where they care for Gavin’s beloved pet otter Mij and for each other. But when tragedy strikes, love soon turns to hate, and Kathleen finds herself being written out of her own life.

Inspired by the true story of Kathleen Raine and Gavin Maxwell’s ‘some-requited’ love, Remember the Rowan illuminates their extraordinary relationship and shines a light on the woman behind Ring of Bright Water.

Despite the hardships Kathleen faced in her relationship with Gavin, she went on to become a well-respected and successful poet.

A gothic tale of family, the legend of the selkies – shapeshifting mythological creatures – and a young woman who is offered an impossible choice.

The only daughter in a family of Scottish seal-hunters, Kier Sealgair is becoming a burden. She cannot kill, and the family are facing hard times now that her father is ailing.

On the neighbouring cliffs stands Erskine Manor, home to a mysterious and wealthy family. Servants arrive in town to buy supplies, but the family is never seen, and waves of rumour spread in the struggling small-town community.

Then, one day, after a chance encounter, Lady Erskine finds Kier and offers her a bargain that could save Kier’s father and change the town’s impending fate. But questions remain. Who lives in the five towers of the manor? Is the Lord of the house alive? And are the children of the manor even human, or are the tales of spine-toothed monsters who roam the grounds true?

A period gothic tale of legends, secrets and monsters in the deep, weaving myth and folklore, The Bone Diver is perfect for fans of Jenni Fagan, Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry.