THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

?It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood?In 11th century Scotland, Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will become king. Three witches promise Macbeth that he will rise in the military to become Thane of Cawdor before ascending to the throne. But his fellow soldier Banquo receives a message of his own: his sons will, too, become kings.Upon their return, Macbeth is indeed promoted to Thane of Cawdor, and when his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, hears of his promotion, they both become convinced that the prophecy is indeed true, and she vows to help him become King of Scotland – by any means necessary.The Macbeths’ pursuit of power leads them down a dark and bloody path of murder and increasing paranoia, unravelling both Macbeth’s mind and his reign as the witches’ prophecies take hold.STAGED is a beautifully designed, six-part collection of Shakespeare?s most beloved works and the archetypes that they popularised, celebrating the genius of the Bard and the tropes that continue to delight YA readers to this day.

Aaron Alexander Zubia argues that the Epicurean roots of David Hume?s philosophy gave rise to liberalism?s unrelenting grip on the modern political imagination.Eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher David Hume has had an outsized impact on the political thinkers who came after him, from the nineteenth-century British Utilitarians to modern American social contract theorists. In this thorough and thoughtful new work, Aaron Alexander Zubia examines the forces that shaped Hume?s thinking within the broad context of intellectual history, with particular focus on the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus and the skeptical tradition.Zubia argues that through Hume?s influence, Epicureanism?which elevates utility over moral truth?became the foundation of liberal political philosophy, which continues to dominate and limit political discourse today.

The classics heavily influenced many aspects of European modern culture, yet it is not easy to trace their intellectual power on any author. In this volume, Gloria Vivenza takes on the impressive task of examining how philosophy, history, literature, politics, ethics all played a part in shaping Adam Smith?s thought as a scholar, philosopher and economist.This book will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in the history of economic thought, the history of philosophy, moral philosophy, political theory and the Enlightenment.

Life under Brazil?s brutal ?cordial racism? comes painfully alive in this novel of fathers and sons.How do you become the protagonist of your own life? For Pedro, it means searching for himself in the objects his father left behind: the layers that make up his life, and that of his parents, and the circumstances, geographies, and wounds that shaped them all. It?s an archaeology of affections, but also of life in southern Brazil, where being black on the streets of Porto Alegre manifests violences large and small. Where being a young woman, raised by a single mother, may find you seeking security in the untrustworthy arms of men. In Dark Side of Skin , Jeferson Tenório takes on fathers and sons, Shakespeare and Cervantes, and the inescapable bonds and burdens of family and history in one delicately rendered, painfully precise account of loved ones lost and found.

The wages of sin is death.The partial collapse of a disused Edinburgh church reveals a dead body in the rubble, his head badly smashed by falling masonry. Soon identified as an old ex-con – Kenny Morgan – his death is put down to a heart attack and deemed non-suspicious.Tony McLean is approached by a notorious crime lord who suggests the police should be looking into Morgan’s death more closely. Despite struggling with his recent retirement, he is reluctant to involve himself.But when a second man is found dead in another disused church, his forehead branded with a cross, this time it is clearly murder.There’s a killer stalking the streets of Edinburgh. Is it time for McLean to get back to doing what he does best?Praise for James Oswald:’The new Ian Rankin’ Daily Record’Creepy, gritty and gruesome’ Sunday Mirror’Crime fiction’s next big thing’ Sunday Telegraph

Life under Brazil?s brutal ?cordial racism? comes painfully alive in this novel of fathers and sons.How do you become the protagonist of your own life? For Pedro, it means searching for himself in the objects his father left behind: the layers that make up his life, and that of his parents, and the circumstances, geographies, and wounds that shaped them all. It?s an archaeology of affections, but also of life in southern Brazil, where being black on the streets of Porto Alegre manifests violences large and small. Where being a young woman, raised by a single mother, may find you seeking security in the untrustworthy arms of men. In Dark Side of Skin , Jeferson Tenório takes on fathers and sons, Shakespeare and Cervantes, and the inescapable bonds and burdens of family and history in one delicately rendered, painfully precise account of loved ones lost and found.

The brand new Scottish spring escape from bestselling author, Julie Shackman

Lexie Dunbar is a book lover. And her favourite place in the world is her local bookstore, Book Ends. So when she hears that it’s going to be sold, Lexie decides she needs to do something to help.

Lexie’s plan to save the ailing shop is fully underway until gorgeous-but-grouchy artist Tobias Black arrives on the scene determined to turn the bookstore into an art gallery. Lexie is horrified, the last thing the quaint town of Bracken Way needs is a pretentious artist, even if he does seem to charm everyone but her.

Tensions continue to rise until Tobias discovers a shocking secret that shows they might have more in common than they realise. As sparks fly, can Lexie and Tobias work together, or will opposing ideas get in the way of them finding their very own happy ever after?

Praise for Julie Shackman

‘A true page-turner’ Chat Monthly

The brand new Scottish spring escape from bestselling author, Julie Shackman

Lexie Dunbar is a book lover. And her favourite place in the world is her local bookstore, Book Ends. So when she hears that it’s going to be sold, Lexie decides she needs to do something to help.

Lexie’s plan to save the ailing shop is fully underway until gorgeous-but-grouchy artist Tobias Black arrives on the scene determined to turn the bookstore into an art gallery. Lexie is horrified, the last thing the quaint town of Bracken Way needs is a pretentious artist, even if he does seem to charm everyone but her.

Tensions continue to rise until Tobias discovers a shocking secret that shows they might have more in common than they realise. As sparks fly, can Lexie and Tobias work together, or will opposing ideas get in the way of them finding their very own happy ever after?

Praise for Julie Shackman

‘A true page-turner’ Chat Monthly

‘One hat-loving lady,Two pipers with puff,Three grandads in pinnies,They’ve all had enough!She sprints to the field — it’s time for a play,But some cumbersome cabers get in the way.CRASH! SMASH! BANG!”Stop, ye WEE RASCAL!” the four strong folk cry.’Uh-oh! There’s a great Highland Games chase afoot when Wee Rascal, a cheeky Scottie dog, runs off with a delicious-looking hat!Dodging out-of-puff pipers, cake-covered grandads, runaway coos and dizzy Highland dancers, Wee Rascal leads an increasingly hilarious pursuit through a Scottish Highland Games. Can anyone catch the mischievous puppy?This quirky counting and rhyming picture book is full of chaotic charm. With humorous text from author Kate Abernethy and lively illustrations from illustrator Laura Darling, The Great Highland Games Chase is a fun, memorable read that’s perfect for children from Scotland and beyond.

From the Big Bang to the abundance of life that surrounds us today, this beautiful book – the third by the award-winning duo Gill Arbuthnott and Chris Nielsen – is the story of evolution, from the very first cells to ourselves.How old exactly is the Earth? How do we know what was here before us? Are we still evolving? From Cells to Ourselves is the story of the beginnings of life around 3.8 billion years ago, to the millions of species alive today, including humans.Learn about mythology giants who formed the Earth, analyse fossils, walk with the dinosaurs, join Charles Darwin on his exploration of the Galápagos islands and marvel at some of the random and bizarre acts that have shaped our world in this beautifully illustrated book.Created by the author and illustrator duo of the award-winning Balloon to the Moon.

An ocean-drenched, atmospheric horror debut! Liv’s best friend disappears on their first night aboard their dream semester-at-sea program – but is he really sick, like everyone says, or is something darker lurking beneath the water?

It should have been the trip of a lifetime.

When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury cruise ship the Eos for a semester, she can’t believe her luck. Especially since it will offer her the chance to spend time with Will, her ex-best friend, who’s barely spoken to her since the night their relationship changed forever.

But as soon as she steps on board, Liv realizes just how out of her depth she is. With Will, with the rest of the Seamester students – including the brittle and beautiful Constantine, who may be hiding his own ties to the Eos – and most of all, with the Sirens, three glamorous and mysterious influencers who seem to have the run of the ship.

Liv quickly discovers that the only reason she was invited to join the trip is because another girl disappeared shortly after enrolling-and no one seems to know what happened to her. When further disappearances rock the ship and strange creatures begin haunting Liv’s dreams, she wonders: Is the Eos hiding a dark secret within its shadowy decks?

The truth will come at a price . . . only, how much is Liv willing to pay?

The Bowerbird is the irresistible tale of Bert ? a small bird with a very big heart, from Number One bestselling Julia Donaldson and Catherine Rayner, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration.Bert the bowerbird has made the most perfect bower nest, complete with a pretty purple flower, and is hoping it will help him to meet the bird of his dreams. But will all his efforts to create a beautiful display be enough to win over Nanette?A stunningly illustrated book with a wonderful rhyming tale for little ones, from the creators of The Go-Away Bird.

Meet Rosie the Shetland pony in this unique novelty shaped board book!Rosie likes splashing and showjumping, but she does not like loud noises. Rosie likes hugs, but she does not like tangles in her mane. And Rosie LOVES her friends!Young ones will enjoy spending time with a sweet Shetland pony in this colourful and sturdy board book, which is full of bright and dynamic illustrations and lots of fun details to spot.

A killer stalks the streets of Leeds. Every man is a suspect. Every woman is at risk. But in a house on Cleopatra Street, women are fighting back.It?s the eve of the 1980s. PC Liz Seeley joins the squad investigating the murders. With a violent boyfriend at home and male chauvinist pigs at work, she is drawn to a feminist collective led by the militant and uncompromising Rowena. There she meets Charmaine ? young, Black, artistic, and fighting discrimination on two fronts.As the list of victims grows and police fail to catch the killer, women across the north are too terrified to go out after dark. To the feminists, the Butcher is a symptom of wider misogyny. Their anger finds an outlet in violence and Liz is torn between loyalty to them and her duty as a police officer. Which way will she jump?Ajay Close combines the tension of a police procedural with the power and passion of the women?s lib movement. By turns emotional, action-packed and darkly funny, What Doesn?t Kill Us reveals just how much the world has changed since the 1970s ? and how much it hasn?t.

Aonghas MacNeacail (1942?2022) was a major Scottish writer from Skye. He composed poetry, songs, journalism, scripts, librettos and translations. Among Gaelic-speakers he was known as Aonghas Dubh ? Black Angus. Among his many accolades, he won the 1997 Stakis prize for Scottish Writer of the Year, and also received the Saltire Society’s Premiere Award for contribution to the arts in 2005. His New & Selected Poems, ‘Laughing at the Clock / Déanamh Gáire Ris A’ Chloc’, was published by Polygon in 2012.Aonghas grew up in a croft in Uig, on Skye. His first encounter with the English language was at school: while Aonghas spoke Gaelic at home, English was his language of education, and the first language that he wrote poetry in. While studying at Glasgow he became part of Philip Hobsbaum’s famous Glasgow Group of creative writers, alongside Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, James Kelman and Alasdair Gray. He became involved with the Poetry Society while working as a housing officer in London: he later became the writer in residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college on Skye, and this reinvigorated his desire to write in Gaelic also. Latterly Aonghas became famous as a Gaelic-language writer, though in fact he composed work in all three native languages of Scotland. He was a founding member of the Scottish Poetry Library.’beyond’ is a posthumous collection of his English-language poems, edited by his widow, Gerda Stevenson with Colin Bramwell.

The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness, picking and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant something. Once, the town provided, it was important, it had purpose. But what is it now?Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex, is now in his middle age, and must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to mask. Simon is the only child of Alex and had practically no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre, he derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs.Set across three generations of South Yorkshire mining family, Andrew McMillan’s short and magnificent debut novel is a lament for a lost way of a life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.

The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness, picking and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant something. Once, the town provided, it was important, it had purpose. But what is it now?Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex, is now in his middle age, and must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to mask. Simon is the only child of Alex and had practically no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre, he derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs.Set across three generations of South Yorkshire mining family, Andrew McMillan’s short and magnificent debut novel is a lament for a lost way of a life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.

The border between Scotland and England is rich in history. It has been the site of battles, treaties, castles and crossroads. It is also a place where both countries display their nationalism: Saltires flying in the north, the Cross of St George to the south. But it can also be a lens through which to look at the changing history and identities of these two countries. Alistair Moffat is a life-long borderer and the ideal guide on this one-hundred-mile journey. We begin just north of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Already the battlelines have been drawn – the town having been grabbed by the English from Berwickshire in 1482 and never given back. From here we will head west as our tour travels backwards and forwards through history. In all, we will walk through eight centuries before we reach journey’s end at the mouth of the River Sark.

Between Britain is a history book, a travelogue, a personal reminiscence and a gently prodding examination of national identity. But above all it is a celebration of a place and the people who live there.

The border between Scotland and England is rich in history. It has been the site of battles, treaties, castles and crossroads. It is also a place where both countries display their nationalism: Saltires flying in the north, the Cross of St George to the south. But it can also be a lens through which to look at the changing history and identities of these two countries.Alistair Moffat is a life-long borderer and the ideal guide on this one-hundred-mile journey. We begin just north of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Already the battlelines have been drawn – the town having been grabbed by the English from Berwickshire in 1482 and never given back. From here we will head west as our tour travels backwards and forwards through history. In all, we will walk through eight centuries before we reach journey’s end at the mouth of the River Sark.Between Britain is a history book, a travelogue, a personal reminiscence and a gently prodding examination of national identity. But above all it is a celebration of a place and the people who live there.

Full-cast BBC adaptations of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s classic Scottish novel and its sequel – plus a bonus programme about the story’s evocative settingScottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon is best-known for A Scots Quair, a trilogy of novels comprising Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite that are considered to be among the most important works of the 20th century Scottish Renaissance. Featured here are the BBC Radio dramatisations of the first two novels, as well as a special documentary feature exploring the landscape and legacy of Sunset Song.Sunset Song – Set in north-east Scotland before and during the First World War, this moving adaptation tells the story of Chris Guthrie, a farmer’s daughter growing up in the crofting village of Kinraddie. With a domineering father and a mother worn out by childbirth, Chris’s upbringing is painful, and she is torn between her love of the land and her dream of becoming a teacher. When she falls in love with Ewan Tavendale, she decides to remain on the farm – but the outbreak of war brings devastating change to her family and community… Starring Lesley Hart as Chris Guthrie.Cloud Howe – The Great War is over, and Chris is starting a new life with her husband. When she and her family move to the mill town of Segget in Aberdeenshire, they find themselves embroiled in the small town’s epic class struggle during the run-up to the General Strike. Amy Manson stars as Chris, with Robin Laing as Robert.Sunset Song: Return to the Mearns – On the 75th anniversary of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s death, Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith explore the Mearns, asking how the people who live there regard the landscape today and whether Gibbon’s masterpiece Sunset Song lives on.First published 1932 (Sunset Song) and 1933 (Cloud Howe)Sunset SongChris Guthrie – Lesley HartJohn Guthrie – Liam BrennanJean Guthrie – Bridget McCannWill Guthrie – Gordon BrandieMistress Munro – Estrid BartonLong Rob – Matthew ZajacChae Strachan – Douglas RussellKirsty Strachan – Shonagh PriceMargot Strachan – Sally ReidEwan Tavendale – Finn den HertogRev Colquohoun – Fraser SivewrightRev Gibbon – Keith HutcheonDramatised by Gerda StevensonDirected by David Ian NevilleFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-22 March 2009Cloud HoweChris – Amy MansonRobert – Robin LaingElse – Pearl ApplebyDalziel – Liam BrennanAlec – Philip CairnsJock – Stephen DuffyEwan – Roderick GilkisonLeslie – Ralph RiachAke – Iain RobertsonMiss M’Askill – Wendy SeagerMowat – Nick UnderwoodDramatised by Donna FranceschildDirected by Kirsty WilliamsFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 January-1 February 2015Sunset Song: Return to the MearnsPresented by Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraithFirst broadcast BBC Radio Orkney, 6 February 2010© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd