THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

S. G. MacLean returns to the world of Damian Seeker, but Cromwell is dead and Charles Stuart restored to the throne. Men who supported the Protector must be hunted down as traitors. Perfect for fans of Robert Harris and Andrew Taylor.

‘S. G. MacLean can make any historical period sing with life’ Antonia Hodgson

By the summer of 1660 the last remnants of the Republic have been swept away and the Stuarts have been restored under their king, Charles II. A list of regicides believed to be involved in the death of Charles I is drawn up. Gruesome executions begin to take place and the hunt intensifies for those who have gone into hiding at home or abroad.

Although not a regicide, staunch Republican Damian Seeker is on a list of traitors to the king. Royalist spy, Lady Anne Winter, is employed to find evidence of guilt or innocence among the names on this Winter List. Seeker has fled England but his beloved daughter Manon remains, married to Seeker’s friend, the lawyer Lawrence Ingolby, and living in York.

As the conduit to her father and to others on the Winter List and surrounded by spies and watchers, Manon lives in constant danger and fear of discovery. One of those spies is closer than even she could have imagined.

In Already, Too Late, Carl MacDougall, one of Scotland’s most accomplished and celebrated literary writers, presents a memoir of extraordinary vividness and honesty. Hugely personal and revealing, MacDougall not only recreates a world that increasingly fades from our collective memory, but tells, with remarkable recall and a forensic eye, the heart-breaking story of his traumatic first decade.

Being a Rambling Man was what I always wanted to be, to live the way I damn well pleased. I’ve met the weirdest and most wonderful people who walk the Earth, seen the most bizarre and the most fantastic sights – and I’ve rarely come across something I couldn’t get a laugh at. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad trip. Well, apart from in the 1970s, but that’s a whole other story . . .

When Billy set out from Glasgow as a young man he never looked back. He played his banjo on boats and trains, under trees, and on top of famous monuments. He danced naked in snow, wind and fire. He slept in bus stations, under bridges and on strangers’ floors. He travelled by foot, bike, ship, plane, sleigh – even piggy-backed – to get to his next destination.

Billy has wandered to every corner of the earth and believes that being a Rambling Man is about more than just travelling – it’s a state of mind. Rambling Men and Women are free spirits who live on their wits, are interested in people and endlessly curious about the world. They love to play music, make art or tell stories along the way but, above all, they have a longing in their heart for the open road.

In his joyful new book, Billy explores this philosophy and how it has shaped him, and he shares hilarious new stories from his lifetime on the road. From riding his trike down America’s famous Route 66, building an igloo on an iceberg in the Arctic, playing elephant polo (badly) in Nepal and crashing his motorbike (more than once), to eating witchetty grubs in Australia, being serenaded by a penguin in New Zealand, and swapping secrets in a traditional Sweat Lodge ritual in Canada, Rambling Man is a truly global adventure with the greatest possible travel companion.

A fully illustrated and authoritative guide to herbology by Catherine Conway-Payne, the Course Director for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s Herbology diploma. A full guide to numerous herbology recipes, best practise and history. Organised by season. Fully illustrated with both photography and artwork showing plants in the wild and the end results of numerous recipes.

Winter festivals in Scotland have been going on for a very long time—at least 10,000 years, in fact, which means that they predate traditional Christmas celebrations by some eight millennia! Scots have always loved to party when the days are cold and the nights are long. But what was the basis for all this seasonal merrymaking, and exactly what makes a Scottish Christmas so unique? And wasn’t Christmas illegal in Scotland for 400 years?

In this book, thought to be the first on the subject, popular culture researcher Dr Tom Christie and archaeologist Dr Murray Cook take a look at how Christmas and other winter festivals have been celebrated, banned and reborn throughout Scotland’s long history. As well as considering the cultural impact of Christmas on Scotland over the centuries, the authors also meander into yuletide myths and legends as well as the food, the literature and many little-known facts along the way.

In the modern age, Christmas has started to have an increasing impact on the popular culture of Scotland, and the book delves into how this celebration has been portrayed across different media such as TV, film, music, computer games and more. On top of all that, Scotland’s Christmas also highlights a series of the worst festive seasons ever to be experienced in fair Caledonia through the years—and as you will read, there’s a fair bit of competition for that infamous title over the ages, from Sir William Wallace to Bonnie Prince Charlie and beyond.

So get ready to discover exactly when Scotland discovered Santa Claus (and vice-versa), why the Wulver is arguably the country’s least conventional festive hero, how Edinburgh influenced Charles Dickens’s creation of Ebenezer Scrooge, where the country’s first deep-fried mince pie was produced, and so much more besides. But whatever else you do, avoid the dreaded Chimney Demon at all costs—it might end up scorching more than your Christmas stocking on the fireplace!

Scotland’s Christmas includes a foreword by actor, comedian, writer and presenter Sanjeev Kohli.

Discover the wonderful world of birdwatching with wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin – as seen on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Journey along with Hamza as he recounts stories of his birdwatching adventures and shares tips and tricks in this beautifully illustrated guide for beginning birders. With practical advice and personal anecdotes, you will learn how to get started in birdwatching and hone your identification skills to become an experienced twitcher.

Whether you need a companion on your next expedition or simply wish to dip in and out as you learn more, Be a Birder is fit for every purpose, and encourages us all to discover the joy of birdwatching. Inside you will learn how to quickly identify birds, what different bird behaviour means, the most useful birding equipment to take and the best places to see the most exciting birds, wherever you are.

Whether you’re spotting common garden birds or hoping to catch sight of the more obscure, Be a Birder invites us all to stop, step outside and listen, and open our eyes to the beauty of these incredible creatures. With Hamza as your guide, you will be able to build your birdwatching confidence and push yourself further afield to find new feathered wonders.

At its inception, the ‘Little Black Dress’, designed by Coco Chanel, was radically modern: a masculine-inspired, anti-traditionalist female attire – yet it has remained a wardrobe staple for almost a century. Bringing together international scholars, curators and fashion writers, this volume explores how black’s paradoxical meanings have made the LBD simultaneously expressive of respect and rebellion, sophistication and dissident sexualities, piety and perversion. The book also looks at the smart technologies which are responding to the demand for the fashion industry to be more aware of sustainability.

Fayne, a vast moated castle, lies to the misty southern border of Scotland, ruled by the Lord Henry Bell, Seventeenth Baron of the DC de Fayne, Peer of Her Majesty’s Realm of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The mysterious Lord Bell keeps to his rooms by day, appearing briefly at night to dote over his beloved and peculiarly gifted child. But even with all her gifts – intelligence, wit and strength of character – can Charlotte overcome the violently strict boundaries of contemporary society and establish her own place in the world?

The Cat Prince & Other Poems is the third collection from prize-winning poet, and author of Boy Friends, Michael Pedersen.

All moggy moxie, Pedersen croons to the beauty and devastation of love, loss, friendship, cats and careless joy. Equal parts tender and trenchant, raw and ribald, plangent and smutty, these poems exhibit an emotionally charged, fantastical playground of language and lore.

From the brutalising death of a cherished friend comes a gut-wrenching grief. And so begins a tenacious quest for light, lustre and survival as Pedersen pays tender tribute to a gorgeous, life-altering friendship. In doing so, he harks back to the hilarity of being young, reckless and petrified: memories of boys showboating in a fishing tackle shop, games of feline metamorphosis, laments for demolished buildings and a case of constipation of the most pernicious stock.

As frisky as it is fierce, The Cat Prince pounces around the poet’s emotional and physical landscapes, past and present, unfankling a Scotland full of gothic splendour and nature’s majesty.

These poems reveal a poet at his bravest and most vulnerable. The Cat Prince & Other Poems purrs with affection, flashes its teeth, then digs in the claws.

This prose and poetry tour de force of storytelling has the narrative punch of a novel. It is a new departure for the poet, and for poetry itself. It takes the reader into the not-too-distant future: an artificial intelligence rules the world, and a working-class family use their wits to live off the land. William Letford blends prose and his inimitable poetry: sci-fi and hunter-gatherer are merged into a coherent story in the pages of a stonemason’s journal. ‘You won’t see the best of a Macallum until you put something in their fist,’ says Letford, introducing the family. ‘Joiner, nurse, stonemason, hairdresser, plumber, gardener. Lorna even repairs vintage watches. That’s the quantum mechanics of manual labour.’ We join the Macallum family as they combine their skills to reconnect with the land in a world where the empowered are hell-bent on creating a new utopia. Joe, the stonemason, records in his journal the struggles and successes of a carnival of characters. They hurl grace and humour at a future that is being shaped by a single, powerful entity. Letford’s storytelling is gritty and beautiful. ‘A Macallum, it seems to me now, is made to move, to think on the run. The sofas in our houses were sinkholes. The actors on a fifty-two-inch flat screen – shadows on a cave wall.’

Magnaccioni: (Roman dialect) people who live to eat well.

I know no other word that captures that rare gift, that supremely basic human quality of eating with mind, eyes and heart and radiating uncontainable pleasure in so doing.

In Magnaccioni, Anne Pia wants to make you feel tempted, greedy. She celebrates her heritage, the way of life, food, wine, music and dialect of southern Italy.

Writing as a passionate food aficionada, she shares family recipes and food she has enjoyed in Italy based on la cucina povera, la cucina di terra – the use of fresh produce and simple ingredients to create sumptuous, joyful feasts. This book is a glorious and bold celebration of a very special culture and a fundamental way of looking at life and food which Anne is proud to call her own.

Wine and music are essential in the mix that is southern Italian life. Anne guides you through her own pairings to her food so that you may join her in becoming joyful magnaccioni!

Cosy pubs, vibrant restaurants, world-class galleries and everything in between, Scotland’s lively capital is full of incredible things to do, whatever the weather.

From iconic institutions to local, under-the-radar spots, Rainy Day Edinburgh is the essential guide to 100 of the best things to do in the city when it’s raining (which is a lot of the time).

Whether you’re looking for delicious places to eat, inspiring museums to mooch around or bars serving up creative cocktails, this handy book has it covered.

‘I wasn’t all in one piece last autumn. My jaw was broken and my teeth were knocked loose like peppermints, they rested on my tongue in a liquid of iron and salt.’

Esther’s dreams of a glamorous life in London are shattered when she has a serious accident which leaves her with life-changing injuries. Living in her childhood home in Orkney, she retreats into a silent world until Marcus, a musician down on his luck, comes to stay on the island and reaches out to her through his music.

Described in rich, subtle detail—town, land and sea—in sharply observed and lyrical excitement, Esther’s inner voice—tough, desperate, cutting, hilariously sarcastic, witheringly dry, suddenly tender—explores what it means to have one’s dreams shattered and the impact that facial scarring has on identity.

Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) met at the 2009 Clarion Writers’ Workshop in California and since then have collaborated many times as fans and scholars on panels for SFF conventions and writing retreats.

Working together on this book and combining their experience as SFF writers and as university lecturers in Creative Writing and Literature made perfect sense!

Every year they see new students who want to write SFF/Horror but have never tried the genres, have tried but found themselves floundering, or, worse, have been discouraged by those who tell them Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror are somehow not “real” literature.

This book is for all those future Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writers. Tiffani and Val are approaching these three exciting fields by breaking them down into bite-sized subgenres with a fun, open, and contemporary approach.

Each chapter contains 10 subgenres or tropes, with a quick and nerdy history of each derived from classroom teaching practices, along with a list of potential pitfalls, a description of why it’s fun to write in these subgenres, as well as activities for new writers to try out and to get them started!

Katie Donald is learning the ropes at the Perfect Passion Company, which provides help to the lovelorn citizens of Edinburgh. Katie is assisted in her matchmaking endeavors by William Kidd, a talented knitwear designer in the office next door with a sympathetic ear, a playful interest in the business of matchmaking and a long-distance fiancée in his native Melbourne.

George Fane, a thirtysomething hotelier tied to his family business and an overbearing mother, arrives one day asking for Katie’s assistance in finding a romantic partner – and for a little distance from his mother to boot. As Katie searches for the right match for George, she discovers there is more than one way of looking at the Fane family’s story and that the work of the Perfect Passion Company may have to be a little broader in its scope than she had previously thought.

Meanwhile, the Perfect Passion Company’s original owner, Katie’s cousin Ness, is away in Canada surrounded by pristine forest in a small lakeside town full of intriguing neighbours. As Ness did before her, Katie must learn the principles of romantic chemistry with the very simpatico William at her side. This is the job after all – bringing great happiness to people. And as she labors, she just might discover something about her own compatibility and future happiness.

Alexander McCall Smith’s second volume in The Perfect Passion Company series, A Labourer in the Vineyard of Love, casts new light on the psychology of family relationships, the desire for friendship and romance, and the thrill of possibility when two people meet at just the right time in life.

‘Immersive from the start and satisfying to the finish, a faultless tale from one of our best writers of historical crime fiction’ JESS KIDD

In the darkness, her face glimmered like polished bone, white, but with a bluish tinge. Her lips were dry and cracked. I saw them move; a black tongue pass over them as if she was trying to speak, but she made no sound.

A plague is coming to London. Dreaded more than the Devil himself, cholera – the ‘blue death’ – spares no one. As fear grows across the city, Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain are called to the bedside of a dead man, murdered, and with his throat torn out, in the back room of a brothel. When an innocent man is taken to Newgate, Jem and Will have until execution day to save him. The search for the identity of the corpse, and the killer, takes them to the gates of Blackwater Hall, home to the secretive, and corrupt Mortmain family. With the approach of autumn, no one is safe, for the fog brings with it an evil and poisonous sickness – the perfect shroud for murder.

When family secrets are prised out into the open, people begin dying. But who, or what, is the cause? Searching for answers, Jem and Will are driven underground, to the passages and tunnels beneath the city’s teeming streets. Here, their adversary proves to be more elusive, and more deadly, than ever.

PRAISE FOR UNDER GROUND

‘From the outset every image, every metaphor and simile reflects the central themes of corruption and disease, poverty and decadence. The plot is complex and substantial and the final denouement has a feeling of perfect inevitability’ ALIS HAWKINS

‘I LOVED it. Fantastic characters – I never guessed! So good … Under Ground is brilliantly steeped in the lore of Victorian London, I couldn’t take my eyes off it!’ SARA SHERIDAN

PRAISE FOR E.S.THOMSON

‘Another gripping page-turner, add Nightshade to your reading list now.’ Edinburgh Evening News

‘Vivid, pungent and perilous’ CHRIS BROOKMYRE on Beloved Poison

‘Evocative…brilliant plotting’ REBECCA GRIFFITHS on Beloved Poison

‘A dark gripping atmospheric thriller’ Dundee Courier on Nightshade

‘Superb’ Sunday Express

‘Gothic. Gory. Glorious . . . E. S. Thompson’s Jem Flockhart books are the best I’ve read in years. Jem is just my kind of heroine: scarred, smart, complex, and unapologetically queer’ Kirsty Logan, author of The Gloaming

‘Love evocative descriptions of Victorian London and brilliant plotting? Then grab a copy of this!’ Rebecca Griffiths, author of The Primrose Path

‘Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable’ Daily Express

‘A marvellous, vivid book’ Janet Ellis

‘Jem Flockhart is a marvel . . . This vivid journey into the dark side of the human soul is a thoroughly engrossing tale’ Mary Paulson Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker

Unknown in Scotland upon his arrival and unheralded in the English game, Ange Postecoglou revels in his status as an outside agitator. After transforming a Celtic team in turmoil into serial winners, sweeping up five trophies over the course of two spectacular seasons, his appointment by Tottenham Hotspur made him the first Australian manager to take charge of a Premier League club.

Revolution charts the dramatic story of Postecoglou’s instant impact on British football with Celtic and explores his life and times in the sport, through the eyes of those who know him best. Could a track record in Australian, Japanese and Scottish football transfer to the unique landscape of the English game? Would a man without a playing track record in Europe command the respect of a dressing room packed with international stars?

Examining the traits that set him apart from his playing peers and the coaching education that has prepared him for his biggest challenge, Revolution provides an insight into the making of a man and the unique football philosophy that has reinvigorated teams and transformed playing styles at a succession of clubs across the globe.

Great Scottish Walks by Helen and Paul Webster, founders of Walkhighlands, is a comprehensive guide to the 26 best long-distance hiking trails in Scotland.

Whether you’re keen to experience classic trails such as the West Highland Way, discover more accessible trails like the Forth & Clyde Union Canal Towpath in the Central Belt or yearn for the remote wilderness of walks like the Cape Wrath Trail and Skye Trail, this book offers inspiration for long-distance walkers of all experience levels who want to challenge themselves on Scotland’s greatest trails (and even those who wish to tackle the trails as day walks or in shorter sections).

The walks are illustrated with stunning photography, showcasing the incredibly varied Scottish mainland and island landscapes that you can discover, from the remote mountains and glens, coastal sea stacks and beaches, to the lush farmland and canals of the lowlands. There are countless towns, villages and historical sites that you’ll want to stop and visit along the way, rich in Scotland’s heritage and culture. This book provides everything you need to inspire you to explore further, including an overview of what to expect from each route, logistical information about tackling the routes over a number of days, overview mapping, and practical information about access, public transport, accommodation and local amenities.

With Great Scottish Walks, let Helen and Paul equip you to take on your own long-distance adventure and discover the amazing trails that Scotland has to offer.

Great Scottish Walks by Helen and Paul Webster, founders of Walkhighlands, is a comprehensive guide to the 26 best long-distance hiking trails in Scotland.

Whether you’re keen to experience classic trails such as the West Highland Way, discover more accessible trails like the Forth & Clyde Union Canal Towpath in the Central Belt or yearn for the remote wilderness of walks like the Cape Wrath Trail and Skye Trail, this book offers inspiration for long-distance walkers of all experience levels who want to challenge themselves on Scotland’s greatest trails (and even those who wish to tackle the trails as day walks or in shorter sections).

The walks are illustrated with stunning photography, showcasing the incredibly varied Scottish mainland and island landscapes that you can discover, from the remote mountains and glens, coastal sea stacks and beaches, to the lush farmland and canals of the lowlands. There are countless towns, villages and historical sites that you’ll want to stop and visit along the way, rich in Scotland’s heritage and culture. This book provides everything you need to inspire you to explore further, including an overview of what to expect from each route, logistical information about tackling the routes over a number of days, overview mapping, and practical information about access, public transport, accommodation and local amenities.

With Great Scottish Walks, let Helen and Paul equip you to take on your own long-distance adventure and discover the amazing trails that Scotland has to offer.

One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story.

Helen Duncan – known since childhood as ‘Hellish Nell’, for her uncontainable nature – was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest the spirits of the dead.

What happens when we die? It was the question of the age for a generation which had endured one world war and now was living through another. Mrs Duncan’s seances offered an answer. But when she started foretelling naval disasters, she also attracted the unwelcome attention of the secret service. And so just weeks before the Normandy landings, absurdly, anachronistically, she was prosecuted for witchcraft and jailed. Was Nell a conjurer, a martyr or a security risk?

Hellish Nell was first published in 2001 to widespread acclaim. It remains in this revised edition a fascinating window into the unsettled spiritual and psychological mood of the times: a sensational tale of spectacle, credulity and cruelty, and of Britain’s last witch.