THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Winner of the Bookbug Picture Book Prize

Benny was different… Benny was special… Benny was a robot… Benny had a bright red button in the middle of his tummy. On the button, written in big, bold letters were the words ‘Only Press in an Emergency’. Benny had never pressed his button but often wondered what would happen if he did get to press it… One day he found out!

Winner of the Klaus Flugge Prize

Winner of the V&A Illustration Award

A young boy discusses the journey he is about to make with his mother. They will leave their town, she explains, and it will be sad but also a little bit exciting. They will have to say goodbye to friends and loved ones, and that will be difficult. They will have to walk and walk and walk, and although they will see many new and interesting things, it will be difficult at times too. A powerful and moving exploration that draws the young reader into each stage of the journey, inviting the chance to imagine the decisions he or she would make.

From the streets of working class Scotland, and on occasion, a little beyond our solar system, comes one of the country s most hilarious debut writers. Putting surreal and witty twists on the everyday, Chris McQueer creates recognisable characters you will love and want to avoid like the plague. Peter s earned his night off, and there s not a bloody chance he s covering Shelley s shift. He just needs to find some pals for the perfect cover story. Deek is going to be at the forefront of the outsider art movement and do Banksy proud. Davie loves tattoos and his latest is going to be a masterpiece. Tam is one of the most creative minds in the galaxy (apparently), but creating parallel universes can cause problems. Everybody on Earth wakes up with their knees on backwards. He caught folks imagination on Medium with his stories, had rooms howling with laughter on the spoken word circuit, and now it s time to put Chris McQueer on the page. Are you ready?

Scotland has a stunning tradition of oral storytelling, from the firesides of the nation’s legendary storytelling families to the physical and virtual platforms of today’s narrative performers. Scotland is also a place with a strange, longstanding affinity with that most chilling of genres: the Gothic.

Haunted Voices – a bold and ambitious anthology in both text and audio – showcases some of Scotland’s best oral storytellers, from archived stories of past masters to the work of contemporary performers, and their most disturbing tales of terror.

Expect monstrous tongue-eaters, shadowy demons, haunted video tapes, wicked priests, strange shapes in the darkness, a retelling of Poe’s The Raven… and more!

Scotland may be small, but it has many, many voices. So gather round and listen close. This is Haunted Voices: Scotland’s great Gothic chorus.

Contributors: Fiona Barnett, Paul Bristow, P. D. Brown, Anna Cheung, Pauline Cordiner, Chris Edwards, Fran Flett Hollinrake, Gavin Inglis, Daiva Ivanauskaitė, Sheila Kinninmonth, Kirsty Logan, Seoras Macpherson, Ali Maloney, Daru McAleece, Conner McAleese, Jen McGregor, Paul McQuade, Ricky Monahan Brown, Alycia Pirmohamed, Gauri Raje, Jude Reid, Max Scratchmann, Sean Wai Keung, D. A. Watson, Katalina Watt.

Winner of Scots Bairns’ Book of the Year 2023 at the Scots Language Awards

In Guid Morning! a young boy is awake before his mums and sister. It’s too early to make a sound…but what’s that noise?! Two rumbling tummies need to be fed! The boy and his cat have fun starting their day – all by themselves. In Guid Nicht! a young girl is trying to get ready for bed, but her puppy thinks it’s time to play. Tired of being ignored, the puppy steals her teddy bear. Under the table, over the chair, her dads give chase and try to rescue bear. It seems puppy is getting to play after all!

Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize

After Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.

WINNER OF THE 1996 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE. 

In the early 1990s, Donald McRae set out to discover the truth about the intense and forbidding world of professional boxing. Travelling around the United States and Britain, he was welcomed into the inner sanctums of some of the greatest fighters of the period – men such as Mike Tyson, Chris Eubank, Oscar de la Hoya, Frank Bruno, Evander Holyfield and Naseem Hamed among them. They opened up to him, revealing unforgettable personal stories from both inside and outside the ring, and explaining why it is that some are driven to compete in this most brutal of sports, risking their health and even their lives.

The result is a classic account of boxing that remains as fresh and entertaining as when it was first published 20 years ago. McRae approaches his subjects with wit, compassion and insight, and the result was a book that was a deserved winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize.

Winner of the 2022 Highland Book Prize. A new collection of short stories from the author of Tocasaid ’Ain Tuirc, bringing the same sharp wit and observational skill to this evocation of Lewis life and people from last century intertwined with stories situated elsewhere, and giving as authentic a voice to an angry child’s resentment, a woman’s regret or an old man’s fears. Duncan Gillies is from Knockaird, in Ness, the northern tip of the Isle of Lewis. Fig Tree is his fourth published collection of short stories and the first book of his in which Gaelic and English appear together, side by side.

‘My life sentence had actually started the day I left my mother’s womb…’

Jimmy Boyle grew up in Glasgow’s Gorbals. All around him the world was drinking, fighting and thieving. To survive, he too had to fight and steal… Kids’ gangs led to trouble with the police. Approved schools led to Borstal, and Jimmy was on his way to a career in crime.

By his twenties he was a hardened villain, sleeping with prostitutes, running shebeens and money-lending rackets. Then they nailed him for murder. The sentence was life – the brutal, degrading eternity of a broken spirit in the prisons of Peterhead and Inverness. Thankfully, Jimmy was able to turn his life around inside the prison walls and eventually released on parole.

A Sense of Freedom is a searing indictment of a society that uses prison bars and brutality to destroy a man’s humanity and at the same time an outstanding testament to one man’s ability to survive, to find a new life, a new creativity, and a new alternative.

Polkadot Wounds is a delight, wrestling with life in our restless times. Capildeo entices us to enter conversations with others (dead and living), amongst glimpsing reflections of encounters. Landscapes become ‘landskips’, playing on traditions of travel and nature writing, childlike spontaneity and movement across gaps. Dante’s Divine Comedy frames untimely deaths and breakthroughs of joy, during the pandemic and in queer and far-flung communities. The title of the book is inspired by the stones of the ruined Norman castle in Launceston, Cornwall, and the local martyr, St Cuthbert Mayne, where Capildeo was writer-in-residence with the Charles Causley Trust.

Spanning the life of Frederic Chopin, Nocturne focuses particularly on his last years through the eyes of an extraordinary parade of well known names, Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt, George Sand, and the lonely and faithful Scottish woman, Jane Stirling, who loved him best of all.

Famous and feted, Chopin storms his way though Paris, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. His music becomes more beautiful, his love affairs wilder and his spending completely out of control. Chopin burns too bright and too fast against a background of unrest and revolution. The people who love him best can only watch
helplessly as his flame threatens to burn itself out.

AN INTER-GENERATIONAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN TWO GREAT POWERS

The conflict between China and the West is vividly told through the lives of four generations of a family of Chinese gangsters and spies.

Benny Hu is a man looking for a past. British born but orphaned, he is recruited by the UK security services. Tasked to combat a resurgent China in the Far East and Africa, he is also determined to find his mother, a Hong Kong film star in the 1970’s, who disappeared under mysterious and brutal circumstances. This journey of discovery links him to the gangster warlords of Shanghai in the early 1900s and the toxic interplay between the western world and China.

When the terrible toll this has taken on his family is revealed, he is left with a final, desperate decision.

LIFE AND DEATH.

SEX AND MURDER.

CLIMATE CHANGE, GODS, MASS DESTRUCTION, FRATRICIDE AND MONSTERS.

AND THAT’S ONLY THE BOOK OF GENESIS…

Beelzebub’s Bible is no less strange. Gods and devils abound. From ancient Babylon to twenty-first century Hollywood, strange forces and mysterious powers are out to prey on mere mortals.

Stephen Zoltan’s darkly delicious vision takes us all the way from Eden to Revelation via the half-forgotten Holy Lands of the imagination, while ancient storylines mingle with heathen visions and pagan revelations in an unholy canon that could have been convened by Beëlzebub himself.

The only thing to fear about the past is it may destroy the future…

‘Fun, romantic and heartbreaking. Serious Outlander vibes with a fresh new twist.’ Pim Wangtechawat, author of The Moon Represents my Heart

2005: While researching her Japanese ancestors, Isla travels from Scotland to Kagoshima. There, a vicious typhoon hurls her through a strange white gate and back to 1877, amid the dawn of the Satsuma Rebellion – the conflict that ended the samurai.

When she meets Keiichiro Maeda, a samurai who introduces her to a way of life only previously encountered in books, Isla begins to wonder if she has found her true home. But as the samurai fight a losing battle, she is increasingly distraught. Should she forewarn Keiichiro and save the man she loves or let him die the glorious death he so believes in, proud to the end that he remained a faithful warrior?

And what will become of Isla? Is she willing to leave the past behind, knowing her future will forever be changed?

‘Refreshingly original… A stunning debut.’ Jason Ayres, author of The Time Bubble series

Explore the enchanting islands of Scotland with this absorbing and beautiful guide.

Around the coast of Scotland there are hundreds of islands, from bare, rugged skerries to lush dominions of history and deep-rooted culture. Each offers a unique haven to explore, whether you enjoy sparkling-white sandy beaches, miles of untouched land beneath your feet, nature-spotting among otters, puffins, seals and more, sampling the finest whisky and cheeses, or learning more about Scotland’s history.

Exploring Scotland’s Islands describes the main island groups in all their moods, and focuses on what gives these islands such magical and lasting appeal. This book is a glorious celebration in words, maps, illustrations and photographs of some of the most superb scenery in Scotland. Discover why these unique isles draw those lucky enough to find them back to visit whenever they can.

Among captivating descriptive text and beautiful photography, Exploring Scotland’s Islands also provides the reader with essential visitor information such as transport links, the most inspiring visitor attractions and sights to see, cafés and restaurants not to be missed, and where you can stay to make your visits all the more special.

A warm, witty, passionate cry for living, vital, indigenous languages and the people who speak them.

Despite the more than 200 Indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, including 63 that are officially recognized and celebrated by the Mexican government, linguistic diversity is and has been under attack in a larger culture that says bilingual is good when it means Spanish and English, but bad when it means Nahuatl and Spanish. Yásnaya Aguilar, a linguist and native Mixe speaker, asks what is lost, for everyone, when the contradictions inherent in Mexico’s relationship with its many Indigenous languages mean official protection and actual contempt at worst, and ignorance at best. What does it mean to have a prize for Indigenous literature when different Indigenous languages are as far from each other as they are from Japanese? What impact does considering Tzotzil ‘cultural heritage’ have on our idea of it, when it is still being used, and refreshed, and changed (like every other language) today? How does the idea of Indigeneity stand up, when you consider Indigenous peoples outside of the frame of colonialism?

Personal, anecdotal, and full of vivid examples, Aguilar does more than advocate for the importance of resistance by native peoples: she offers everyone the opportunity to value and enjoy a world in which culture, language, and community is delighted in, not flattened.

‘We have sacrificed Mexico in favor of creating the idea of Mexico’ she says. This Mouth Is Mine is an invitation to take it back.

15 of the best short walks on the Shetland Islands. Most walks are under 3 hours in duration and between 2km and 9km, so they’re perfect if you’re new to walking or are looking for something that the whole family can enjoy.

Easy-to-read OS maps, clear route descriptions and lots of images

Includes Sumburgh Head, St Ninian’s Isle, Bannaminn, Culswick Broch, Ward of Clett, Lerwick, Eshaness and Hermaness

Many routes are accessible by public transport, but some require private transport

Information on local beauty spots and refreshment stops

GPX files available for download

Prepare to be spellbound by Jim Kay’s inspired reimagining of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Harry is unexpectedly chosen to compete in the legendary Triwizard Tournament, he finds himself facing death-defying tasks, dragons and Dark wizards. Although his friends do their best to help him prepare, Harry must navigate each treacherous test alone, pushing his courage and quick-thinking to their limits. But while the attention of the wizarding world is focused on the Tournament, a much bigger challenge is lurking in the shadows. Lord Voldemort is plotting his return…

This irresistible smaller-format paperback edition has been beautifully redesigned with selected full-colour illustration highlights, bringing J.K. Rowling’s storytelling genius and Jim Kay’s artistic wizardry to a new generation of readers. Experience the excitement of the Quidditch World Cup, the cheery comfort of The Burrow and the festive grandeur of the Yule Ball, and meet such unforgettable characters as Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum. Fizzing with magic and brimming with humour, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will captivate wizards and Muggles alike.

*Please note: the fully illustrated edition is still available in hardback.

Drones, gangland vendettas, a missing choir singer, disturbances in the cemetery, PTSD, panpsychism, and secrets from the past – this can ONLY mean one thing! The Skelfs are back, and things are as nail-biting, tense and warmly funny as ever!

‘Hurroo! The Skelfs – Edinburgh funeral directors and part-time private eyes – are back – the persistence of love in the Skelf household, no matter what fate flings at it, is reassuring and life-affirming’ The Times Book of the Month

The Skelf women are back on an even keel after everything they’ve been through. But when a funeral they’re conducting is attacked by a drone, Jenny fears they’re in the middle of an Edinburgh gangland vendetta. At the same time, Yana, a Ukrainian member of the refugee choir that plays with Dorothy’s band, has gone missing. Searching for her leads Dorothy into strange and ominous territory. And Brodie, the newest member of the extended Skelf family, comes to Hannah with a case: Something or someone has been disturbing the grave of his stillborn son. Everything is changing for the Skelfs – Dorothy’s boyfriend Thomas is suffering PTSD after previous violent trauma, Jenny and Archie are becoming close, and Hannah’s case leads her to consider the curious concept of panpsychism, which brings new danger – while ghosts from the family’s past return to threaten their very lives. Funny, shocking and profound, Living Is A Problem is the highly anticipated sixth instalment of the unforgettable Skelfs series – shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Novel and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Book of the Year – where life and death become intertwined more than ever before…

The world’s most evil comic book character is back! Who is Nemesis and why does this eccentric billionaire who dresses up in a mask and cape want to terrorise people instead of helping them? Isn’t that how this is supposed to go? Trigger warning: Too violent and just too cool for some! Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Collecting the entire arc by superstar creative team Mark Millar and Jorge Jiménez. Collects NEMESIS: RELOADED #1-5