THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Soldier. Farmer. Felon. Writer. Father. Lover.One man, many lives.Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives: joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss. Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace. He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days. As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is. This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic.From one of Britain’s best-loved and bestselling writers comes an intimate yet panoramic novel set across the nineteenth century.’Picaresque, big-hearted and moving, this is Boyd at the top of his game’ Guardian’There are few reading pleasures as great as giving in to a William Boyd novel’ Sunday Times’One of our best contemporary storytellers’ Spectator’Simply the best realistic storyteller of his generation’ Sebastian Faulks

Susan is worried about her mum. She’s struggling with long hours at her job in the factory and it’s a long time since they’ve heard from Susan’s dad, who’s on the front line in North Africa. Everything is in short supply in London, but Susan decides she’s going to cheer her mum up by getting her a treat, and what could more rare at that time than a sweet, delicious banana? But what lengths will Susan have to go to find one? Let Operation Banana commence!

Little Women, the charming story of the brave and resilient March sisters, has been adored by generations of readers who have identified with the struggles of kind and pretty Meg; gentle, delicate Beth; precocious, artistic Amy; and of course wild, tomboyish Jo, determined to forge her own path and become a writer. Follow the girls as they come of age during the American Civil War and fall in love with the story all over again in this retelling by award-winning writer Laura Wood.

Susan is worried about her mum. She’s struggling with long hours at her job in the factory and it’s a long time since they’ve heard from Susan’s dad, who’s on the front line in North Africa. Everything is in short supply in London, but Susan decides she’s going to cheer her mum up by getting her a treat, and what could more rare at that time than a sweet, delicious banana? But what lengths will Susan have to go to find one? Let Operation Banana commence!

The Vikings were a terrifying force that changed history across the globe – from Canada all the way to Iraq. But they were merchants as well as marauders, explorers as well as adventurers. The greatest seafarers and shipbuilders of their age, they were also skilled metalworkers and artists, farmers and fishermen, healers and herders. They were even democrats who established the world’s oldest surviving parliament. Award-winning writer David Long’s concise but wide-ranging account brings their fascinating civilisation into focus, explaining what Viking life was actually like as well as considering their lingering influence throughout the world.

1941, Berlin. After Police Chief Investigator Rolf Schneider is summoned to a meeting with Himmler and tasked with investigating the assassination of Heydrich, he exposes a web of corruption and secrecy involving the highest-ranking figures in the Reich. Schneider is faced with an agonising dilemma, for the secret he discovers is both the only thing that can save his life and what will mark him down for certain death. His choice will propel him into a desperate race against the clock, one in which he literally has to travel to the very heart of darkness to realise his goal.

Situated in the middle of the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man is like a stepping-stone between the lands that surround it. In medieval times, it played an important role in the histories of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. This book explores the first part of that turbulent era, tracing the story of the Isle of Man from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. It looks at the ways in which various peoples – Britons, Scots, Irish, English and Scandinavians – influenced events in Man over a period of more than 800 years. A large portion of the book is concerned with the Vikings, a group whose legacy – in place names, old burial mounds and finely carved stones – is such a vivid element in the Manx landscape today.

In a Polish forest a young woman befriends a boar. An Englishman sets up home with two beavers in Saskatchewan. A zoologist watches a fish make a conscious decision. Darwin finds the evidence for evolution in the backyards of pigeon fanciers. The entire population of Croatia anxiously awaits the arrival of a single stork. A gorilla cracks a joke.Animals have shaped our lives, our land, our civilisation, and they will shape our future. Yet as our impact on the world and the animals we share it with increases, there has never been a greater urgency to understand this foundational relationship.Beastly is the 40,000-year story of animals and humans as it has never been captured before, seen eye-to-eye and claw-to-hand through those humans who have stepped into the myriad worlds of our animal relatives. Our relationship with animals has always been paradoxical, but the greatest paradox may yet be this: diversity of life can heal ecosystems. Animals – if given the chance – could save us.

Landscape and memory interweave in this collection of poems that skims like a stone over Wales and England, loss and tragedy, family and time. Haunted by the echoes of other songs and stories, Ghost Music looks for a way to get under the skin of our days and articulate the meanings of a life.Barney Norris’s work has received awards from the International Theatre Institute, the Critics’ Circle, the Evening Standard, the Society of Authors and the South Bank Sky Arts Times Breakthrough Awards, among others, and been translated into eight languages. His plays include Visitors, Nightfall, The Wellspring and an acclaimed adaptation of Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day; his novels include Undercurrent and Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plain.

The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709 by Scottish Lowlanders for the education of Highlanders: specifically to convert them from the Gaelic language to English, from the Episcopal faith to Presbyterianism, and from latent Jacobitism to loyalty to the crown. In a transatlantic translation of this effort, the “Scottish Society” also established itself in the New World to educate and assimilate Iroquois, Algonquin, and southeastern Native peoples.In this first book-length examination of the SSPCK, Margaret Connell Szasz explores the origins of the Scottish Society’s policies of cultural colonialism and their influence on two disparate frontiers. Drawing intriguing parallels between the treatment of Highland Scots and of Native Americans, she incorporates multiple perspectives on the cultural encounter, juxtaposing the attitudes of Highlanders and Lowlanders, English colonials and Native peoples, while giving voice to the Society’s pupils and graduates, its schoolmasters, and religious leaders.Featuring more than two dozen illustrations, Scottish Highlanders and Native Americans brims with intriguing comparisons and insights into two cultures on the cusp of modernity. It is a benchmark in emerging studies of comparative education and a major contribution to the growing literature of cross-cultural encounters.

It’s the end of the world as we know it. In American Jesus Volume 3, antichrist Jodie Christianson is now the President of the United States and organizing the collapse of the global economy via wars and pandemics as he ushers in the microchipping of the human population and his father’s infernal New World Order. Christ has returned in the form of Catalina, but what chance does she have with the whole world against her?

A pregnant mother of two finds herself increasingly in thrall to her help, Nat. For Joad, the discovery of a haunting typewritten document in an old desk in need of restoration is overwhelming. And when Roxanne rescues her sister from an institution, she comes to realise how vulnerable they both are.Deftly navigating the fault lines of relationships – new, established or remembered – Total is a powerful collection of brilliantly imaginative stories. From the comforting mundanities of motherhood to a technologically infected near future that mirrors our present with dark prescience, each life captured in this collection is unforgettable.

‘Remarkable’ The Times

‘Achingly beautiful’ Guardian

This book is about two unlikely friends. One born in 1970s Britain to Indian immigrant parents, the other arrived from Nazi Germany in 1939, fleeing persecution.This is a story of migration, racism, family, belonging, grief and resilience. It is about the state we’re in now and the ways in which we carry our pasts into our futures.

For over three centuries, the inhabitants of North Britain faced the might of Rome, resulting in some of the most extraordinary archaeology of the ancient world.Drawing on his on his extensive experience, John H. Reid considers many of the controversies surrounding Roman Scotland, several of which remain points of lively debate. From a reassessment of the loss of the Ninth Legion and the reasons for building and maintaining Hadrian’s Wall, to considering what spurred at least four Roman Emperors to personally visit the edge of the Empire, he offers an informed view of what it was like to be at the dark heart of imperialism and slavery, and to be on the receiving end of Rome’s merciless killing machine.

The Vikings were a terrifying force that changed history across the globe – from Canada all the way to Iraq. But they were merchants as well as marauders, explorers as well as adventurers. The greatest seafarers and shipbuilders of their age, they were also skilled metalworkers and artists, farmers and fishermen, healers and herders. They were even democrats who established the world’s oldest surviving parliament. Award-winning writer David Long’s concise but wide-ranging account brings their fascinating civilisation into focus, explaining what Viking life was actually like as well as considering their lingering influence throughout the world.

The characters in this delicious book are pushed to the point of no return and seek retribution. But how we get even is not always the best road to redemption. On the island of Mull, it takes an incomer to make the locals realise that they need to take matters into their own hands to maintain the community’s reputation. In ‘The Principles of Soap’ the value of friendship overcomes adversity and opportunistic nepotism. In suburban Edinburgh opposing neighbours find out the hard way that the best method of dealing with a canine disturbance is not to bury one’s head in the sand. And in the final tale we meet an author on the brink of public ruin who sees the error of his ways after an act of kindness saves the day.These four tales show that the exquisite art of getting even is a skill that sees kindness win over malice. Tantalising and amusing, these stories show off a darker side but carry with them the author’s trademark warmth and humour.

By reimagining how we design and use our gardens, we can all do our bit to support local wildlife, improve our health and help tackle the climate crisis. If we all take positive steps in our gardens, no matter how small, we can all really make a difference in the world. This book focuses on the activities and planting suitable for a Scottish climate but also contains lots of useful information relevant for gardeners throughout the UK. Practical information on planning is followed by expert guidance on: planting for wildlife in nectar-rich borders, wildflower meadows, hedgerows, trees and shrubs. Building for wildlife with bird boxes, bug boxes, feeders and ponds; green gardening approaches with fruit and veg production, rain gardens, green roofs, compost making and creating new plants through propagation; and attracting birds, bees, butterflies and other insects, aquatic life and nightlife.

What do Motoerhead, Black Sabbath, Elvis Costello, Rush and Chumbawumba have in common? Kim Hawes, pioneering female tour manager. Through hard work, hard partying and hard times, Kim hurled a TV through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated music industry. Sleeping on tour buses, kicking superstars offstage and pranking members of the world’s biggest rock bands, Kim has done it all. Lipstick and Leather is no ordinary tale of life on the road.

What do Motoerhead, Black Sabbath, Elvis Costello, Rush and Chumbawumba have in common? Kim Hawes, pioneering female tour manager. Through hard work, hard partying and hard times, Kim hurled a TV through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated music industry. Sleeping on tour buses, kicking superstars offstage and pranking members of the world’s biggest rock bands, Kim has done it all. Lipstick and Leather is no ordinary tale of life on the road.

Introducing Jonas Flynt. Gambler. Thief. Killer. Man of honour.

‘Fast, furious and with a glint of gallows humour, this is high-octane historical fiction’ Daily Mail

‘Swashbuckling action against a vivid historical backdrop. I loved this book’ Ian Rankin

‘High adventure meets espionage thriller as Jonas Flynt battles the tide of history and the deadly secrets of his own past…’ D. V. Bishop, author of City of Vengeance

1715. Jonas Flynt, ex-soldier and reluctant member of the Company of Rogues, a shady intelligence group run by ruthless spymaster Nathaniel Charters, is ordered to recover a missing document. Its contents could prove devastating in the wrong hands. On her deathbed, the late Queen Anne may have promised the nation to her half-brother James, the Old Pretender, rather than the new king, George I. But the will has been lost. It may decide the fate of the nation. The crown must recover it at all costs. The trail takes Jonas from the dark and dangerous streets of London to an Edinburgh in chaos. He soon realises there are others on the hunt, and becomes embroiled in a long overdue family reunion, a jail break and a brutal street riot. When secrets finally come to light, about the crown and about his own past, Jonas will learn that some truths, once discovered, can never be untold…An atmospheric and utterly compelling blend of crime, history and thriller, to delight fans of S. J. Parris, Andrew Taylor and C. J. Sansom.