THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

The complete BBC radio adaptations of Alexander McCall’s bestselling seriesInspired by Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, 44 Scotland Street started life as a serial in The Scotsman. It was a huge hit, and was soon novelised, adapted on stage and dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Collected here are all five radio series, in which we follow the interconnected lives of the residents of adjoining flats in a tenement in Edinburgh’s Georgian New Town.There’s Pat, a young tenant who arrives at 44 Scotland Street to flat-share with handsome surveyor Bruce (a man with more of an eye for the ladies than for a sound property); Matthew, setting up the Something Special Gallery with little knowledge of art; and child prodigy Bertie Pollock, who wants the life of an ordinary little boy, but instead has psychotherapy, yoga and Italian conversation lessons. And at the local cafe, owner Big Lou is looking for love – but seems doomed to romantic disappointment…Their chance day-to-day criss-crossings, quirky foibles and comic adventures are all observed by Number 44’s longest-term resident, anthropologist Domenica MacDonald, her painter friend Angus Lordie – and Angus’ dog, Cyril, the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.Full of charm, humour and empathy, these delightful dramas star Carol Ann Crawford and Crawford Logan, with a superb cast including James Mackenzie, Samuel Keefe, Belle Jones and Anita Vettesse.Also included is an edition of Radio 4’s Bookclub, in which Alexander McCall Smith talks about his novel 44 Scotland Street with James Naughtie and readers.Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall SmithProduced and directed by David Ian NevilleMusic by Tom CunninghamCastDomenica/Mrs MacGillvray – Carol Ann CrawfordRaeburn Todd/Dr Fairbairn/Angus Lordie/Glasgow Man/Dr Fairbairn – Crawford LoganBruce – James Mackenzie/James RottgerIan Rankin – James MackenzieIrene – Rosalind Syndney/Emma CurrieBertie – Euan Lee/Simon KerrMatthew – Samuel KeefePat – Belle JonesStuart – Tom Freeman/David Jackson YoungBig Lou/Antonia/Miss Harmony/Glasgow Woman/Stewardess/Fiona/Claire/Barmaid – Anita VettesseMarkus/Lawyer – Matthew ZajacSocial Worker – Molly InnesOlive – Sophie LawrenceAlec/Gerry – Simon DonaldsonLard O’Connor – Iain AgnewThe New Pretender – David Jackson YoungSecretary/Mr Lawrence – Richard ConlonTorquil MacLean/Hotel Clerk – James BryceEdinburgh Man – David Jackson YoungAndy – Daniel AitkenKatie – Helen MackayMiss Campbell – Nicola RoyNeill – Gavin Jon WrightFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4: 30 April-4 May 2012 (Series 1), 9-13 February 2015 (The Blue Spode Tea Cup), 30 May-3 June 2016 (Edinburgh for Pretenders), 20-24 February 2017 (Series 4), 20-24 August 2018 (Series 5)(c) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

One of the English language’s best-loved living poets, in Green: Natural World Carol Ann Duffy presents us with her favourites among her poems on the natural world. Drawing on work written over four decades and arranged chronologically, Duffy also adds to her selection one wholly new poem.

One of the English language’s best-loved living poets, in Red: Politics – one of four themed collections – Carol Ann Duffy presents us with her favourites among her political poetry. Drawing on work written over four decades and arranged chronologically, Duffy also adds to the selection her poem written for Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea memorial for The Great War. It makes for a sequence that is searching, memorializing, healing.

One of the English language’s best-loved living poets, in Red: Politics – one of four themed collections – Carol Ann Duffy presents us with her favourites among her political poetry. Drawing on work written over four decades and arranged chronologically, Duffy also adds to the selection her poem written for Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea memorial for The Great War. It makes for a sequence that is searching, memorializing, healing.

With Rick Steves, Edinburgh is yours to discover! This slim guide excerpted from Rick Steves Scotland includes:- Rick’s firsthand, up-to-date advice on Edinburgh’s best sights, restaurants, hotels, and more, plus tips to beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps- Top sights and local experiences: Visit ancient Edinburgh Castle and stroll the Royal Mile, uncover Scottish history at the National Museum of Scotland, or hike to the peak of Arthur’s Seat for incredible views of the city. Go on a literary pub tour, sample whisky at a tasting, and tap your foot to traditional folk music at a local favorite spot- Helpful maps and self-guided walking tours to keep you on trackWith selective coverage and Rick’s trusted insight into the best things to do and see, Rick Steves Snapshot Edinburgh is truly a tour guide in your pocket.Exploring beyond Edinburgh? Pick up Rick Steves Scotland for comprehensive coverage, detailed itineraries, and essential information for planning a countrywide trip.

With Rick Steves, the Scottish Highlands are yours to discover! This slim guide excerpted from Rick Steves Scotland includes:- Rick’s firsthand, up-to-date advice on the Highlands’ best sights, restaurants, hotels, and more, plus tips for how to beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps- Top sights and local experiences: Follow the Speyside Whisky Trail, cut through the Cairngorms, and kayak across Loch Lomond. Hike the craggy landscapes, hop a ferry to the Isle of Skye, or watched kilted athletes test their strength in the Highland Games- Helpful maps and self-guided walking tours to keep you on track- Full coverage of Oban & the Inner Hebrides, Glencoe & Fort William, Inverness & Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye, and moreWith selective coverage and Rick’s trusted insight into the best things to do and see, Rick Steves Snapshot Scottish Highlands is truly a tour guide in your pocket.Exploring beyond the Highlands? Pick up Rick Steves Scotland for comprehensive coverage, detailed itineraries, and essential information for planning a countrywide trip.

What does it mean to be an explorer in the twenty-first century?This is the story of what first led Benedict Allen to head for the farthest reaches of our planet – at a time when there were still valleys and ranges known only to the remote communities who inhabited them. It is also the story of why, thirty years later, he is still exploring. Benedict decides to journey back to a clouded mountain in New Guinea to find an old friend called Korsai, and to fulfil a promise they made as young men.Explorer tells the story of what it means to be ‘lost’ and ‘found’.

In 1977 Grant Simpson published a seminal article in the Scottish Historical Review: which asked if ‘anything conceivably new can be said about a document so well known in Scotland as the Declaration of Arbroath?’ The contributors to this volume demonstrate that there can. The text of the Declaration, written in 1320, followed closely an Irish prototype and was structured in the fashion that was expected at the papal court, where the letter was sent. It drew heavily on political ideologies and legal concepts with which English and continental intellectuals were familiar. And it was brought to papal attention through diplomatic means and practices which were commonly understood across Europe. Although the Declaration disappeared from political discourse in the centuries which immediately followed its dispatch, its rediscovery from the later seventeenth century is traced in hitherto unprecedented depth. Its relevance was not just to Scotland. The question of whether it influenced the American Declaration of Independence has oft been mooted but is here closely investigated. Today the Declaration remains a controversial document, inspirational to many, misappropriated by others, and even feared by some.Sharper focus on context; new textual analysis; unsurpassed investigation of the afterlife of the declaration in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

From one of our most treasured BBC broadcasters, The Spy Across the Water is the third instalment in James Naughtie’s brilliant spy series, about three brothers whose lives are entwined with the intelligence service.We live with our history, but it can kill us.Will Flemyng, originally trained as a spy, is now British ambassador to Washington. Meanwhile, his older brother Mungo is recuperating from a heart attack in their beloved Scottish-highland family home, and Abel, the youngest of the three, has died mysteriously in America.Abel’s unexplained death sets in motion an unstoppable chain of events, beginning with an unexpected glimpse of a face at his funeral. Soon Will finds himself on a dangerous journey into his clandestine past, from conflict in Ireland to the long shadows of the Cold War.Will possesses a silky veneer, but he often doesn’t know who to trust, nor who trusts him. Now he finds himself alone once again as duty forces him to risk everything…Why has the past come back to haunt him now?

During WW2 there was a rumour that German spies were landing by parachute in Britain, dressed as nuns…Conradin Muller was an unusual spy. He was recruited in Hamburg in June 1943, much against his will, and sent on his first, and only, mission in late September that year. He failed to send a single report back to Germany, and when the War came to an end in May 1945, he fell to his knees and wept with relief.From a highly reluctant German spy who is drawn to an East Anglian nunnery as his only means of escape, to the strange tale of one of the Cambridge spy ring’s adventures with a Russian dwarf, these are Alexander McCall Smith’s intriguing and typically inventive stories from the world of espionage.

While literary scholars and historians often draw on the press as a source of information, First World War periodicals have rarely been studied as cultural artefacts in their own right. However, as this volume shows, the press not only played a vital role in the conflict, but also underwent significant changes due to the war. This Companion brings together leading and emerging scholars from various fields to reassess the role and function of the periodical press during the so-called ‘Greater War’. It pays specific attention to the global aspects of the war, as well as to different types of periodicals that existed during the conflict, ranging from trench, hospital and camp journals to popular newspapers, children’s magazines and avant-garde journals in various national and cultural contexts.

The Viking Age in Scotland: Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology brings the study of Scottish Scandinavian archaeology into the new century. Following a brief history reviewing 25 years of research that has taken place since the last archaeological survey of the Vikings in Scotland, this book updates researchers on the latest finds and theories. It examines key themes including the arrival and settlement of the Vikings, death and burial, economy and exchange, power and politics, and environmental impact. Fully illustrated with photographs and maps, this is a key resource for anyone studying Viking Scotland.

A British climber has fallen from a cliffside in Nepal, and lies inert on a ledge below. Two sherpas kneel at the edge, stand, exchange the odd word, waiting for him to move, to make a decision, to descend. In those minutes, the world opens up to Kathmandu, a sun-bleached beach town on another continent, and the pages of Julius Caesar. Mountaineering, colonialism, obligation-in Sebastian Martinez Daniell’s effortless prose each breath is crystalline, and the whole world is visible from here.

Un ingles cae de un acantilado en Nepal, y yace inerte en la cornisa. Dos sherpas se arrodillan en el borde del abismo, permanecen alli, intercambian algunas palabras a la espera de que el hombre tome la decision de moverse, de descender. En esos minutos, el mundo se abre para Kathmandu: un pueblo soleado en otro continente, las paginas de Julio Cesar. Montanismo, colonialismo, compromisos y obligaciones; en la fluida prosa de Sebastian Martinez Daniell, cada respiro es cristalino, y brinda una perspectiva desde la que se puede ver la inmensidad del mundo.An Englishman has fallen from a cliffside in Nepal, and lies inert on a ledge below. Two sherpas kneel at the edge, stand, exchange the odd word, waiting for him to move, to make a decision, to descend. In those minutes, the world opens up to Kathmandu, a sun-bleached beach town on another continent, and the pages of Julius Caesar. Mountaineering, colonialism, obligation-in Sebastian Martinez Daniell’s effortless prose each breath is crystalline, and the whole world is visible from here.A British climber has fallen from a cliffside in Nepal, and lies inert on a ledge below. Two sherpas kneel at the edge, stand, exchange the odd word, waiting for him to move, to make a decision, to descend. In those minutes, the world opens up to Kathmandu, a sun-bleached beach town on another continent, and the pages of Julius Caesar. Mountaineering, colonialism, obligation-in Sebastian Martinez Daniell’s effortless prose each breath is crystalline, and the whole world is visible from here.

A British climber has fallen from a cliffside in Nepal, and lies inert on a ledge below. Two sherpas kneel at the edge, stand, exchange the odd word, waiting for him to move, to make a decision, to descend. In those minutes, the world opens up to Kathmandu, a sun-bleached beach town on another continent, and the pages of Julius Caesar. Mountaineering, colonialism, obligation-in Sebastian Martinez Daniell’s effortless prose each breath is crystalline, and the whole world is visible from here.

The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd is a response to Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain. Drawing from the author’s upbringing in the Himalayas and gradual adaptation to Scotland’s hills, Merryn Glover contrasts her own Cairngorm experiences with Shepherd’s. Exploring the same landscapes and themes of the classic work, she challenges the reader to new understandings of this mountain range and its significance in contemporary Scotland.

People are drawn to the harbours and boats of Scotland whether they have a seafaring background or not. Why do boats take on different shapes as you follow the complex shorelines of islands and mainland? And why do the sails they carry appear to be so many shapes and sizes? Then there are rowing craft or power-driven vessels which can also be considered ‘classics’, whether they were built for work or leisure.As he traces the iconic forms of a selection of the boats of Scotland, Ian Stephen outlines the purposes of craft, past and present, to help gain a true understanding of this vital part of our culture. Sea conditions likely to be met and coastal geography are other factors behind the designs of a wide variety of craft.Stories go with boats. The vessels are not seen as bare artefacts without their own soul but more like living things.

SUPERSTAR writer MARK MILLAR launches the third volumeof his smash-hit horror series with Italian genius GIGI CAVENAGO (BATMAN) onart. We’ve met the American and British members of The Magic Order. Now it’stime to meet the ASIAN chapter and a group of wizards using their powers to livea life of total luxury. Soon to be a major live action NETFLIX SHOW.Collects THEMAGIC ORDER VOLUME 3 #1-6

A thwarted thespian must use his talents to save his flock from a woolly situation in this hilarious gem from bestselling children’s author Ross Montgomery.William the lamb just can’t stand still. His feet are always tapping, ready to dance, and he loves nothing more than bursting into song. But his talents aren’t always appreciated at Sheep School. Cast out of the flock, he wanders miserably away only to witness the rest of the sheep being captured by the Big Bad Wolf. Can William find a way to put his artistic skills to use to save the day?

One of the English language’s best-loved living poets, in Green: Natural World Carol Ann Duffy presents us with her favourites among her poems on the natural world. Drawing on work written over four decades and arranged chronologically, Duffy also adds to her selection one wholly new poem.