THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Land of spectacular landscapes, rich history and fabulous legends.With its jaw-dropping beauty, magnificent architecture, superb art and culture, and friendly, hospitable people, Scotland is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best-loved destinations.

Packed full of fabulous facts, as well as wise and witty quotes from famous Scots, The Little Book of Scotland captures the nation at its glorious best. Covering everything from sparkling lochs and brooding castles to spellbinding legends and famous sons and daughters – not to mention tartan, haggis and whisky – it’s a wonderful celebration of this vibrant, extraordinary land.

‘This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.’- Alexander McCall Smith, on Edinburgh

‘There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.’- Billy Connolly

The Edinburgh International Festival is one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world. It attracts over 300,000 people annually.

Scotland has more than 790 islands, 94 of which are inhabited. One of its most famous and spectacular is the enchanting Isle of Skye. It is the second-biggest island, though it has more sheep than people.Scotland’s national dish is the much-loved haggis. It is made with the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, which are boiled in the animal’s stomach.

The folklore of Scotland has gripped the imagination for centuries, with its stories of sublime creatures, high adventures and uncanny spirits of all kinds. The human and fairy realms of Scotland’s mythical heritage blur seamlessly together: knights and clan leaders clash swords in the same lands where brownies and bogles romp; and simple farmers and fishermen frequently cross paths with the enchanting and formidable “fair folk” of both land and sea. Long has been the exchange of culture between Scotland and Ireland, leading to some familiar characters cropping up in both countries’ mythologies. Nonetheless, Scotland’s folklore adds its own flavour to the telling of some well-known Gaelic tales, as well as a variety of stories that are uniquely Scottish.

From legends of siege, chivalry and courage like “Conall Cra Bhuidhe” and “Black Agnes”, to whimsical yarns such as “The Fairies of Merlin’s Crag”; from the frightening stories of “The Haunted Ships” and “The Ghosts of Craig-Aulnaic”, to tales of animals such as “The Brown Bear of the Green Glen” – this gorgeous collection of folk and fairy tales captures the essence of Scotland’s ancient and vibrant folkloric tradition.

The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Along with Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson brought to life the monstrous nature that hides within humanity. For his masterpiece The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the clever manipulator of the dark and gothic mood revealed the duality of human nature with a tale that resonates still today. This new selection gathers together ‘The Body Snatcher’, ‘A Lodging for the Night’, ‘The Isle of Voices’, ‘The Bottle Imp’, ‘Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk’, and many other chilling and thrilling stories for readers who delight in the shadows and the mysterious.

The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

LONGLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2022

Reflecting on family, identity and nature, belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy.

Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson’s artwork and photography throughout, it creatively explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are. It is a book about how we are held in thrall to elements of our past, it speaks to the importance of attention and reflection, and will encourage us all to look and observe and ask questions of ourselves.

No matter where you turn, it seems that the taut lines of borders are vibrating to – or even calling – the tune of global events

Today, there are more borders in the world than ever before in human history. Beginning with the earliest known example, Crawford travels to many borders old and new: from a melting glacial landscape to the conflict-torn West Bank and the fault-lines of the US/Mexico border. He follows the story of borders into our fragile and uncertain future – towards the virtual frontiers of the internet and the shifting geography of a world beset by climate change.

As nationalism, climate change, globalisation, technology and mass migration all collide with ever-hardening borders, something has to give. And Crawford asks, is it time to let go of the lines that divide us?

Be the guy to step up, speak out and create positive change.

Have you ever been in a situation where there’s a loud guy making dodgy comments, cracking jokes that only he thinks are funny or leering at the girls in the room? You can feel the tension, right? That guy is the worst, but no one is saying anything, because the whole situation is intimidating and awkward.

This is a book will show you how to get comfortable calling out bad behaviour. It will help you understand the serious issues facing girls today. And it will make you feel confident navigating relationships, making sure everyone feels safe, heard and respected, while being the best version of yourself.

From how not to approach girls and what staying in the friend zone really means, to the perils of porn, ‘locker-room’ talk and consent, this is a vital handbook for teens and young men who are fed up of that guy, and who want to create positive change.

Recommended for ages 13 and over.

Land of spectacular landscapes, rich history and fabulous legends.With its jaw-dropping beauty, magnificent architecture, superb art and culture, and friendly, hospitable people, Scotland is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best-loved destinations.Packed full of fabulous facts, as well as wise and witty quotes from famous Scots, The Little Book of Scotland captures the nation at its glorious best. Covering everything from sparkling lochs and brooding castles to spellbinding legends and famous sons and daughters ? not to mention tartan, haggis and whisky ? it’s a wonderful celebration of this vibrant, extraordinary land.’This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.’- Alexander McCall Smith, on Edinburgh’There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.’- Billy ConnollyThe Edinburgh International Festival is one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world. It attracts over 300,000 people annually.Scotland has more than 790 islands, 94 of which are inhabited. One of its most famous and spectacular is the enchanting Isle of Skye. It is the second-biggest island, though it has more sheep than people.Scotland’s national dish is the much-loved haggis. It is made with the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, which are boiled in the animal’s stomach.

‘It?s a wildly satisfying and moving read … I loved this special book’ ? Graham Norton

Six years ago, Jo Caulfield was about to go on stage when she found out that her big sister Annie had cancer. Not the best way to start a nationwide comedy tour. But the tour turns out to be a welcome distraction for both sisters. As Jo reports back from various hotels and service stations, they revisit their childhood and adolescence while navigating Annie’s illness, learning through trial and error how to behave when someone you love gets sick.

The Funny Thing About Death is a hilarious memoir of two unconventional girls growing up in the 1970s. They didn’t fit in at the Air Force bases they were raised on or the strict convent boarding school they were sent to. The Air Force was obsessed with communists and the nuns were obsessed with the Virgin Mary, neither of which were of interest to Jo or Annie.

Annie was witty, spiky and greedy for life, rushing to be “interesting” and experience adventures. She travelled the world and became a screenwriter and broadcaster.

Jo was equally rebellious but didn’t have a plan. She just wanted to be interesting like her big sister and thought it might involve eyeliner, smoking and being in a band.

Like her stand-up, Jo Caulfield’s caustic wit and razor-sharp observations make her account of life with her sister, even in the worst of times, as entertaining as it is touching and relatable.

The Bookshop in Wigtown is a bookworm’s idyll – with thousands of books across nearly a mile of shelves, a real log fire, and Captain, the bookshop cat. You’d think after twenty years, owner Shaun Bythell would be used to the customers by now.

Don’t get him wrong – there are some good ones among the antiquarian porn-hunters, die-hard Arthurians, people who confuse bookshops for libraries and the toddlers just looking for a nice cosy corner in which to wee. He’s sure there are. There must be some good ones, right?

Filled with the pernickety warmth and humour that has touched readers around the world, stuffed with literary treasures, hidden gems and incunabula, Remainders of the Day is Shaun Bythell’s latest entry in his bestselling diary series.

A beautifully illustrated story with a gentle and encouraging message to help children deal with their worries – from the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal winner Catherine Rayner.

Victor the wolf has lots of worries. He worries that he isn’t brave enough, that he isn’t big enough and that he isn’t fierce enough. In fact, Victor feels anxious about almost everything. But when Victor shares his concerns with his best friend Pablo, he starts to feel a bit better. And with Pablo’s help, Victor learns even more ways to deal with those pesky worrying thoughts. And as the worries grow smaller, Victor feels a bit bigger, a bit braver, and bit fiercer inside!

Victor, The Wolf With Worries is a comforting and reassuring tale that is especially helpful for little ones who have trouble talking about their feelings.

Death is the inevitable fate of every single person on earth.

How do we accept the inevitability of our own death?

How do we live our lives with meaning?

Will money lead us to happiness?

Satish Modi examines these questions is a moving, powerful, thought-provoking work based on his own reflections as well as the experiences of people from all walks of life. The result is a fascinating book that teaches us that whoever we are and whatever our aspirations in this life, it is important for each and every one of us to accept our own passing. In doing so we can free ourselves to live as well and fully as possible, guided by the principles of goodness, love and compassion.

During the long 19th century, Scotland was home to an established body of skilled jewellers who were able to access a range of materials from the country’s varied natural landscape: precious gold and silver; sparkling crystals and colourful stones; freshwater pearls, shells and parts of rare animals. Following these materials on their journey from hill and shore, across the jeweller’s bench and on to the bodies of wearers, this book challenges the persistent notion that the forces of industrialisation led to the decline of craft. It instead reveals a vivid picture of skilled producers who were driving new and revived areas of hand skill, and who were key to fostering a focused cultural engagement with the natural world – among both producers and consumers – through the things they made. By placing producers and their skill in cultural context, the book reveals how examining the materiality of even the smallest of objects can offer new and multifaceted insights into the wider transformations that marked British history during the long 19th century.

The Material Landscapes of Scotland’s Jewellery Craft 1780-1914 brings together a vast array of jewellery objects with a range of other sources – including paintings, engravings, newspaper reports, letters, inventories of big houses and small workshops, sketchbooks, novels, works of literary geology and early travel writings – to provide a detailed cultural history of jewellery production. In doing so, it sets out innovative methodologies for writing about the histories of craft production, the natural environment and the material world.

A remote Scottish estate. A missing teenager.

When a young archaeologist discovers bones at the site of her Bronze Age broch on Gallows Hill, the community of Kilbroch hold their breath. Ex-detective Callum MacGarvey came to work on the estate in order to escape from his past, but when a friend asks for his help, he cannot refuse. Missing teenager Robbie MacBride’s grandmother wants answers. She doesn’t believe what the family tell her, and Callum finds himself reluctantly drawn into a historic missing persons case. He suspects that everyone is hiding a secret, including George Strabane, the landowner whom Callum works for.

While the police believe Robbie ran away from home more than a decade ago, not everyone is convinced. The archaeologist, Laura, ex-detective, Callum MacGarvey and Robbie’s grandmother continue to investigate, while Robbie’s sister, the silent Ruthie, remains haunted by her childhood flashbacks. Sometimes the truth is so dark, it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.

When Loch Morlich freezes over, we cut a hole in the ice and jump in.Tom ‘The Highland Oak’ and Luke ‘The Albatross’ Stoltman are the world’s strongest brothers. Between them, they’ve won everything there is to win in the mighty world of Strongman.

Tom can deadlift a 430kg bar to hip height, equivalent to about seven washing machines. Luke isn’t far behind. Yet for the Stoltmans, being strong is about more than pure muscle. It’s about overcoming adversity. And it’s about honouring their biggest fan: their mother, who died in 2016 leaving the family devastated.

They’ve also transcended the sport, not least through launching the hugely successful online Stoltman Strength Academy. Through it all, they’ve stayed true to their roots in the Highlands of Scotland, giving back to their community, their family, and each other.

But it wasn’t always like this. Back in 2010, Luke worked full time on oil rigs in the North Sea, and Tom was a teenager contending with the challenges posed by his autism. So, how did two lads from Invergordon conquer the world? Simple. They started lifting.

In their autobiography, Tom and Luke Stoltman show you how to lift: how to lift the lid on life with autism. How to lift yourself out of the darkness of bereavement. How to lift the trophy at the World’s Strongest Man.

When Loch Morlich freezes over, we cut a hole in the ice and jump in.Tom ‘The Highland Oak’ and Luke ‘The Albatross’ Stoltman are the world’s strongest brothers. Between them, they’ve won everything there is to win in the mighty world of Strongman.Tom can deadlift a 430kg bar to hip height, equivalent to about seven washing machines. Luke isn’t far behind. Yet for the Stoltmans, being strong is about more than pure muscle. It’s about overcoming adversity. And it’s about honouring their biggest fan: their mother, who died in 2016 leaving the family devastated.They’ve also transcended the sport, not least through launching the hugely successful online Stoltman Strength Academy. Through it all, they’ve stayed true to their roots in the Highlands of Scotland, giving back to their community, their family, and each other.But it wasn’t always like this. Back in 2010, Luke worked full time on oil rigs in the North Sea, and Tom was a teenager contending with the challenges posed by his autism. So, how did two lads from Invergordon conquer the world? Simple. They started lifting.In their autobiography, Tom and Luke Stoltman show you how to lift: how to lift the lid on life with autism. How to lift yourself out of the darkness of bereavement. How to lift the trophy at the World’s Strongest Man.

A beautifully illustrated story with a gentle and encouraging message to help children deal with their worries ? from the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal winner Catherine Rayner.Victor the wolf has lots of worries. He worries that he isn’t brave enough, that he isn’t big enough and that he isn’t fierce enough. In fact, Victor feels anxious about almost everything. But when Victor shares his concerns with his best friend Pablo, he starts to feel a bit better. And with Pablo’s help, Victor learns even more ways to deal with those pesky worrying thoughts. And as the worries grow smaller, Victor feels a bit bigger, a bit braver, and bit fiercer inside!Victor, The Wolf With Worries is a comforting and reassuring tale that is especially helpful for little ones who have trouble talking about their feelings.

In Three Fires, award-winning author Denise Mina re-imagines the ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’, a series of fires lit throughout Florence at the end of the fifteenth century – inspired by the fanatical Girolamo Savonarola.

Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar living in Florence at the tail end of the fifteenth century. An anti-corruption campaigner his hellfire preaching increasingly spilled over into tirades against all luxuries that tempted people towards sin. These sermons led to the infamous ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ – a series of fires lit throughout Florence for the incineration of everything from books, extravagant clothing, playing cards, musical instruments, make-up and mirrors, to paintings, tapestries and sculptures.

Railing against the vice and avarice of the ruling Medici family, he was instrumental in their removal from power, and for a time became the puritanical leader of the city. After turning his attention to corruption in the entire Catholic Church, he was first excommunicated and then executed by a combination of hanging and being burnt at the stake.

Denise Mina brings a modern take to this fascinating historical story – drawing parallels between the febrile atmosphere of medieval Florence and the culture wars of the present day. In dramatising the life and last days of Savonarola she explores the downfall of the original architect of cancel culture and in the process explores the neverending tensions between wealth, inequality, and freedom of speech that so dominate our modern world.

This book by Rodge Glass, the award-winning novelist, short story writer and biographer, is the first ever detailed assessment of Michel Faber’s life and work across genre and form. It draws on intimate, wide-ranging interviews with the author over a two-year period and investigates previously unexplored archival material, from the Canongate Books records to Faber’s own personal archive, to bring fresh perspectives to light. Glass presents detailed interrogations of unpublished texts, including a novel, A Photograph of Jesus, as well as providing deep dives into Faber’s most celebrated works such as Under the Skin and The Crimson Petal and the White.

Known for his hybrid creative-critical approach, Glass uses Faber’s interest in generosity and compassion in writing as a focus for this study. Grouping his works by ‘World’, the book ranges across poetry, short stories, novels and novellas to make an argument for Faber as a writer who has consistently sought to explore narrow emotional territory, that of the human instinct to seek connection with others, even if genuine connection seems unlikely or impossible. Glass draws on individual case studies across Faber’s hugely diverse body of work in a way that will be both – interesting for fans and informative for students of Faber’s writing.

I’m relieved to find such things are there,
in spite of hunger and carnage
under the same moon, and my place
in their terrible chain;
glad that my mother’s hands,
after long years of sustaining us all,
will place on her table, once again,
her annual offerings at tomorrow’s feast.

From Late Night Christmas Shopping

Tomorrow’s Feast is Stevenson’s third poetry collection and reflects the challenges of today’s world. At the forefront of the poet’s consciousness here is the legacy faced by the next generation.

In many ways, as the title implies, the book is a tribute to youth. Its scope is wide and deep, profoundly personal as well as political, employing a range of poetic forms, including a virtuosic libretto in verse, a contemporary retelling of Coleridge’s epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner set during the refugee crisis.

In the year 1900, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the height of his success as a qualified doctor, keen sportsman, writer of historical novels, champion of the oppressed and, most notably, the creator of that honourable, fearless, and eminently sensible master-detective Sherlock Holmes.

Every new Holmes story was greeted with great anticipation and confidence in the knowledge that, however complex the crime, the supremely intelligent and logical detective would solve it. But in 1916 Conan Doyle surprised his readers by declaring that he believed in spiritualism. And when, in 1922, Doyle published a book in which he professed to believe in fairies, his devotees were nonplussed. How could the creator of the inexorably logical Sherlock Holmes claim to believe in something as vague, esoteric, and unproven as the paranormal?

In this fascinating study of the life of the creator of one of the greatest detectives of all time, Dr Andrew Norman traces the origin of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s strange beliefs. Can it be that Doyle’s alcoholic father holds the key to the unanswered questions about his son? What was Doyle’s involvement in the notorious ‘Cottingley Fairies’ affair?

By delving into medical records and the writings of Doyle himself, Dr Norman unravels a mystery as exciting as any of the cases embarked upon by the great Sherlock Holmes!