THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

The Scots have always had a reputation for clarity of thought and also for the vigour with which it is put into words.

This collection spans the entire gamut of a nation’s recorded thought and experience from Roman Scotland to the present day. It covers a vast range of subject matter and demonstrates a remarkable variety of moods and tones, from the literary to the colloquial and bawdy. Packed with sharp observation and humour, it sounds other notes too. Meditative, triumphant, tragic, accusing, tender – and often hilarious – it reveals the spirit of Scotland in a truly unique way.

Young children will love these colouring books featuring simple illustrations of a variety of Scottish themes.

Contents feature:

Castles * Unicorns * Scottish Country Dancers * Bagpipes * Loch Ness Monster * Seashore * Farmyard * Boats and trains * Forth Rail Bridge * Woodland and animals * Scottish food and produce * Lochs and rainbows * City scenes * Tartan * Winter sledging

Young children will love these colouring books featuring simple illustrations of a variety of Scottish animals. Contents feature:

Puffin * Ducks * Garden birds * Hedgehog * Hare * Owls * Capercaillie * Wildcat *Geese * Eagle * Scottie Dog * Pine marten * Squirrel * Badgers * Deer * Butterflies * Salmon * Highland Cow * Sheep * Farm animals * Clydesdale horse * Otters * Beavers * Seals * Seagulls * Dolphins * Haggis

Acclaimed historian Alistair Moffat sets off in the footsteps of the Highland clans and their definitive conflicts. In twelve journeys he explores places of conflict, recreating as he walks the tumult of battle. As he recounts the military prowess of the clans he also tells of their lives, their language and culture before it was all swept away.

From the colonisers who attempted to ‘civilise’ the islanders of Lewis in the sixteenth century through the great battles of the eighteenth century – Killiekrankie, Dunkeld, Sheriffmuir, Falkirk and Culloden – this is a unique exploration of many of the places and events which define the country’s history. The disaster at Culloden in 1746 represented not just the defeat of the Jacobite dream but also the unleashing of merciless retribution from the British government which dealt the Highland clans a blow from which they would never recover. Locations included are:

Prestonpans – Glenfinnan – The Isle of Lewis – Edinburgh – Inverlochy – Tippermuir – Mulroy – Killiecrankie – Dunkeld – Sherriffmuir – Falkirk – Culloden Moor – Arisaig & Morar

Investigative journalist Shona Sandison is attending the wedding of her closest friend and former colleague, Vivienne. But the night before the wedding, Vivienne’s reclusive school friend, Dan, jumps from a roof to his death. Shona is the only witness to the suicide – and so the only person who saw the occult tattoos covering Dan’s body, and heard the unsettling, mystical phrases he was uttering.

Compelled to look further into the tragic incident, Shona sets off on a quest to find out why Dan killed himself and what happened to Vivienne’s missing brother 20 years prior. Despite knowing that investigating Viv’s family will mean she could lose her friend forever, Shona travels to a small, forgotten town in the north of England to investigate an insular group of classmates who have held a dark secret for decades.

Haunting and hypnotic, The Hollow Tree is a return to Philip Miller’s dark world of subterfuge, betrayal, and fragile justice.

Are those little voices in our heads our friends, or our enemies? What if they’re neither, what if they’re both?

In this captivating and comic one-person play written by Gary McNair, the classic story of Jekyll and Hyde is turned on its head to reveal the depths of one man’s psyche and the lengths we will go to hide our deepest secrets. What will happen to a curious mind as it’s left to its own devices?

Originally presented at Reading Rep, this edition was published to coincide with the opening of Jekyll and Hyde at The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in January 2024.

Investigative journalist Shona Sandison is attending the wedding of her closest friend and former colleague, Vivienne. But the night before the wedding, Vivienne’s reclusive school friend, Dan, jumps from a roof to his death. Shona is the only witness to the suicide – and so the only person who saw the occult tattoos covering Dan’s body, and heard the unsettling, mystical phrases he was uttering.

Compelled to look further into the tragic incident, Shona sets off on a quest to find out why Dan killed himself and what happened to Vivienne’s missing brother 20 years prior. Despite knowing that investigating Viv’s family will mean she could lose her friend forever, Shona travels to a small, forgotten town in the north of England to investigate an insular group of classmates who have held a dark secret for decades.

Haunting and hypnotic, The Hollow Tree is a return to Philip Miller’s dark world of subterfuge, betrayal, and fragile justice.

Meet Molly the hare, Olive the owl and Dexter the fox, stars of a delightful new series for toddlers from Kate Greenaway Medal-winning artist Catherine Rayner.

Molly the hare loves hide-and-seek. ‘You two hide,’ she tells Olive the owl and Dexter the fox, and then she begins to count: ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – ready or not here I come.’ But when she opens her eyes, Molly finds the pair straight away! Soon Molly announces Olive and Dexter have to hide properly. Now she has the opposite problem: her friends have hidden too well… Wherever can they be?

This is the first in Catherine Rayner’s adorable new picture-book series – delivering the charm of the 100 Acre Wood in an irresistible package for toddlers.

‘Catherine Rayner has a marvellous gift for capturing the souls of animals in a few, rich washes of colour.’ Daily Telegraph

Follow the adventures of Molly the hare, Olive the owl and Dexter the fox in a delightful series for toddlers from multi award-winning author and artist Catherine Rayner.

Dexter the fox LOVES to play chase with Molly the hare and Olive the owl… But Molly keeps bounding away on her big feet, and it only takes one flap of her wings for Olive to swoop ahead. They’re just so quick: try as he might, Dexter can’t keep up! Whatever can he do? With each story starring a different member of this adorable trio, the Molly, Olive and Dexter books explore big emotional themes with gentle humour and gorgeous artwork; don’t miss the other stories in the series: Molly, Olive and Dexter and Molly, Olive and Dexter: The Guessing Game!

‘Catherine Rayner has a marvellous gift for capturing the souls of animals in a few, rich washes of colour.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Denise Mina is a one-of-a-kind storyteller’ James Patterson

“This is Marlowe.”

“Mr. Philip Marlowe?” She asked.

I glanced at the clock. It was exactly eleven am, as if she had been waiting by the phone for an appointed hour, following someone else’s orders to the letter.

“What, d’you think we’re a troupe of brothers? There is only me.”

It’s mid-September, a heatwave has descended on the parched hills of LA and Private Detective Philip Marlowe is called to the Montgomery estate, an almost mythic place sitting high on top of Beverly Hills. Wealthy twenty-two-year-old Chrissie Montgomery, set to inherit an enormous fortune, is missing.

She’s a walking target, ripe for someone to get their claws into. Her dying father, along with his sultry bottle blonde girlfriend, wants her found before that happens. They’ve hired Anna Riorden, Marlowe’s nemesis, too. The search takes them to the roughest neighbourhoods of LA through dive bars and Skid Row. And that’s before he finds the body at The Brody Hotel. Who will get to her first, Marlowe, Anne, or the men chasing her fortune? And does she want to be found?

Discover the rest of the inimitable Philip Marlowe series – nine classic Chandler adventures, from The Big Sleep to The Long Goodbye, available now in paperback and eBook from Penguin Books.

Readers love The Second Murderer:

‘I must congratulate Denise Mina for bravely stepping into the shoes of Raymond Chandler and continuing the tales of the much loved Philip Marlowe… I think the author has done a great job capturing the essence of Marlowe such as his duelling dialogue with other characters or his descriptions of the heat soaked LA landscape in midsummer. The Chandler sarcastic humour is also present….one line I cant seem to find but from memory was something like…” this place was so sleazy even the rats had to wipe their feet on the way out”. Brilliant! I encourage all fans of the genre to read this book. It is very well written and much like Chandlers books, the descriptions are so vivid you feel you are in each scene.’ Michael N., 5 stars

Throughout its existence, Glasgow has been a city of great complexity. From its tentative origins, under the watchful eye of St Mungo, Glasgow grew from the serene ‘Dear Green Place’ into a bustling trading hub that boomed during the Industrial Revolution and growth of the British Empire. At its peak, Glasgow was a place of unlimited opportunity and wealth creation throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Flip that coin, though, and the city’s streets were home to mass poverty, crime and slum living. In recent decades, these streets – exuding Victorian fortitude still – have provided for and encouraged an inexhaustible line of talented creatives who have left powerful marks of their own on Glasgow’s story.

Through the eyes of a local, The Little History of Glasgow explores the city’s slow and steady economic rise, its calamitous collapse and its 21st-century reinvention as one of Europe?s most characterful cities.

Throughout its existence, Glasgow has been a city of great complexity. From its tentative origins, under the watchful eye of St Mungo, Glasgow grew from the serene ?Dear Green Place? into a bustling trading hub that boomed during the Industrial Revolution and growth of the British Empire. At its peak, Glasgow was a place of unlimited opportunity and wealth creation throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Flip that coin, though, and the city?s streets were home to mass poverty, crime and slum living. In recent decades, these streets – exuding Victorian fortitude still – have provided for and encouraged an inexhaustible line of talented creatives who have left powerful marks of their own on Glasgow?s story.Through the eyes of a local, The Little History of Glasgow explores the city?s slow and steady economic rise, its calamitous collapse and its 21st-century reinvention as one of Europe?s most characterful cities.

From a comic mastermind comes this brilliant collection of stories

Three teenagers believe they are witches.

A woman defaces a local billboard.

A bored landlord tries to influence his son’s best friend.

A cul-de-sac WhatsApp group discusses eggs at length.

A heavily pregnant woman finds a way to time travel and a girl discovers joy on a stolen bicycle . . .

Each tale paints a life in miniature and offers an escape chute from the mayhem of modern life.

When Frank’s hiccups just won’t STOP, they get him into all kinds of trouble in this madcap caper from comedy genius and bestselling author Jo Simmons.A case of incurable hiccups leads to hilarity in this hilarious caper from comedy genius and bestselling author Jo Simmons.Frank has a big day ahead of him, with a trip to the dentist, a trumpet exam, a swimming contest and, most important of all, he has tickets to see his knitting hero on stage right here in his hometown! But all that is put at risk when Frank wakes up with the hiccups. And they just won?t STOP! Helped by his new friend Daisy, Frank tries ever more madcap ideas to get the hiccups to go away. But will the whole day end in disappointment and humiliation, or will Frank manage to turn calamity into a dramatic triumph?

Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen returns with a stunning tale about a fractured bond between father and son ? and the injured bird that helps to heal it.Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen returns with a stunning tale about a fractured bond between father and son ? and the injured bird that helps to heal it.When Noah?s dad visits from New York, he and Noah come across an injured nightjar during a walk in the countryside. Noah is determined to save the bird, but his dad believes they should leave it alone to let nature take its course. As father and son argue, it becomes clear that Noah is angry about more than just the bird. He feels abandoned and misunderstood by his dad, who has moved to the US and started a new family there that doesn?t seem to have room for Noah. Can they find a way to build a new relationship and rediscover the common ground between them?

A WATERSTONES NATURE AND TRAVEL BEST BOOK OF 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT NATURE WRITING PRIZE 2023

‘Modern, revealing and restorative, a coastal treasure’ Amy Liptrot

‘Like its talismanic title, Huband’s voice is distinct and singular. A gorgeous reckoning with the sea, islands and mythology’ Sinéad Gleeson

‘A wild melding of body and landscape. A deep, immersive, storm-tossed read’ Helen Jukes

‘As vital and complex as the oceans themseleves’ Joanna Pocock

A powerful journey of sea and self, trial and hope on the islands of Shetland

On the storm-tossed beaches of the Shetland Archipelago, Sally Huband is searching. A message in a bottle, a mermaid’s purse, a lobster trap tag, each find connects her more deeply with our oceans. But it is Sally’s quest for a fabled sea bean that unlocks the myths of these islands and carries her through chronic illness towards a new and more resilient self.

THE FIRST NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF WORD-OF-MOUTH BESTSELLER IF WOMEN ROSE ROOTED

‘You and me against the world, you used to sing. In the days before it became you and me against each other.’

Cat Munro – who has never taken a day off in her working life – quits her corporate job and starts flying lessons in a small plane over the Arizona desert, confronting her fear not only of death, but of life. Her mother, Laura, moves back to the Scottish village where she spent the first years of her marriage to Cat’s abusive father. Though they are apart, the past connects mother and daughter, haunts them, binds them.

From the excoriating heat of the Arizona desert to the misty flow of a Highland sea-loch, Sharon Blackie’s soaring first novel presents us with the transformative power of landscape, and of storytelling, in women’s lives.

Above all, The Long Delirious Burning Blue is a story of courage, endurance and redemption.

‘It is that rarity, a first novel that smacks of not merely confidence, but authority … The ending is powerful, filmic, and achieving the kind of symmetry that novels often aspire to, but rarely reach.’ The Scotsman

What can one girl do to fight back against the Nazis? Multi-award-winning author Tom Palmer shines a light on life under wartime occupation, in a beautifully told story inspired by the childhood of Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn.As the brutal Second World War stretches on with no end in sight, life for ordinary Dutch people in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands is fraught with peril and hardship. There is very little to eat and the population lives under the constant threat of arrest and enslavement.After the murder of her beloved uncle and the capture of her brother by the Germans, Edda is determined to do anything she can to help the resistance fight back against their oppressors. But what can a teenage girl do and how much risk is she willing to take?Award-winning author Tom Palmer shines a light on the incredible work of the WWll Dutch resistance, in a story inspired by the childhood of Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn.

Noah has felt misunderstood and abandoned since his dad moved away, but can they find a way to build a new relationship? Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen returns with a stunning tale about a fractured bond between father and son ? and the injured bird that helps to heal it.Carnegie Medal winner Katya Balen returns with a stunning tale about a fractured bond between father and son ? and the injured bird that helps to heal it.When Noah?s dad visits from New York, he and Noah come across an injured nightjar during a walk in the countryside. Noah is determined to save the bird, but his dad believes they should leave it alone to let nature take its course. As father and son argue, it becomes clear that Noah is angry about more than just the bird. He feels abandoned and misunderstood by his dad, who has moved to the US and started a new family there that doesn?t seem to have room for Noah. Can they find a way to build a new relationship and rediscover the common ground between them?

After a devastating accident, a special new friendship helps talented musician Annie heal and rediscover her love of music through the joyous song of a blackbird nesting near her home. A stunning new novella from Katya Balen, the Carnegie Medal winning author of October, October.The blackbirds? song uplifts and restores in this captivating novella from one of the most exciting voices in children?s fiction.After a devastating car crash, Annie is unable to play her flute and retreats from the music she?s always loved.She exists in a world of angry silence ? furious with her mum and furious she can?t seem to play her beloved flute any more.Then she meets Noah, who shows her the blackbirds? nest hidden in the scrubland near their flats. As their friendship grows, the blackbirds? glorious song reignites Annie?s passion for music. But when tragedy strikes again, will her fragile progress be put at risk?