THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

MEET YOUR NEXT EPIC FANTASY OBSESSION

No one remembers the calamity that killed the gods and stole the names of their people. Now Shipwright and Shroudweaver are known only by their professions.

She’s a master of magical shipbuilding. He’s a maker of the gilded gods that fuel their sails, stitched from the souls of dead sailors.

When a chance to save their world calls the veterans back to shore, they decide they’ll stop at nothing to vanquish the ultimate evil, embarking on a deadly race against time to beat the grief-wracked sorceress known as Crowkisser to the notorious mountain kingdom in the legend-infested north before she unleashes the ancient power entombed at its heart – the one waiting to finish what it started.

The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver introduces a trail-blazing new voice in Scottish fantasy with an epic adventure of ancient gods, apocalyptic magic, and love that can survive the end of the world – unmissable for fans of The Will of the Many by James Islington, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

Past and future collide in this engaging journey through climate change, fossil capitalism and the struggle for a sustainable world.

Scotland’s history and future are entangled with climate change and the story of the modern world. This small country on the fringes of northern Europe pioneered fossil capitalism and played a key role in its spread across the planet. It is a living museum of the crisis of the west, of deindustrialisation, stagnation and the struggle to build a better future from the ashes.

Journalist and sociologist Dominic Hinde travels from the treeless Highlands to the lowland cities, struggling to balance memories with aspiration. Through this journey he finds that his own sensory turmoil, shaped by recovery from a near fatal accident, mirrors the disarray of the fossil fuel transition – an uncertain passage between what was and what must be.

Part memoir, part environmental history, part travelogue, this is a compelling narrative of connections – to place, energy and the possibility of renewal. Through the lens of one country, it asks a vital question: can the lessons of the past help us build a more sustainable future?

An unforgettable collection of retold myths and folk tales, celebrating the wisdom and power of women in midlife and beyond, from the award-winning author of Hagitude

‘An extra­ordinary selection of stories … beautifully and vividly retold’ TLS
‘Genius’ Irish Times
‘Treasure it!’ Shahrukh Husain
‘Wonderful’ Victoria Smith
‘The book I’ve been longing for’ Jill Dawson
‘Thrilling’ Stella Duffy

This dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters from a lost tradition of European myth and folklore – from ungainly giantesses and sequin-strewn fairy godmothers to misunderstood witches and craggy crones – provides inspiration for how women can walk boldly and live authentically in the second half of life.

‘Features an exuberant cast … The collection is precious, because it’s the first time that these rare, patriarchy-surviving remnants of powerful elder female folk stories have been deliberately anthologised’ Irish Times
‘A fascinating collection of female myths and legends’ Sara Sheridan
‘I adored Wise Women’ Eleanor Mills, author of Much More to Come: Lessons on the mayhem and magnificence of midlife
‘Wondrously wise, clever and insightful as well as slyly funny’ AG Slatter, author of The Briar Book of the Dead

THE POWERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

‘Beautifully structured, witty and twisty’ ANN CLEEVES
‘A perfect crime novel’ KATE MOSSE
‘Powerful, moving and wise’ HARLAN COBEN
‘Full of humour, heart and trademark twists’ CHRIS WHITAKER
____________

The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .

When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson’s book club have to do with his demise – and what will they do to keep their secrets?

Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland’s rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits – and possibly beyond . . .

After Mirren Sutherland finds a priceless antique book in her great aunt’s attic, she is contacted by Jamie McPherson, who is hopeful she might be able to find another one – a book lost in his own house. He doesn’t even know the name of it, only that it is so valuable it could potentially save the entire estate from ruin, and time is running out.

On arriving at Jamie’s vast crumbling home in the highlands of Scotland (on the family train, no less), Mirren meets rival bookseller Theo Palliser, whose motives are not remotely honourable; and sets out on the quest.

Jamie’s grandfather was a book collector, a philanthropist, a hoarder and a great lover of puzzles and treasure hunts – as the snow falls in the highlands, cutting off the outside world, the three of them, plus Maggie, the estate manager, do their best to uncover the last hope of the MacPherson clan before the year ends: following clues, discovering the secrets of the house and forming and breaking alliances in a race against time and the weather.

Caught between devastatingly attractive and immoral Theo, and the distracted and worried Jamie, will Mirren find the book … and lose her heart?

READERS LOVE THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY!

‘Jenny Colgan delivers another delightful festive treat, combining romance, humor, and a touch of mystery in her signature feel-good style’

‘A Pinch of Magic!’

‘It’s a super cosy mystery with a hint of romance, the kind of warm, feel good read you need for a lovely Christmas!’

‘This book was like a warm cup of hot chocolate, it just screamed cosy vibes!’

‘This book is the most brilliant wintery treat!’

Escape with the BRAND-NEW unmissable festive holiday romance from the bestselling Emily Stone.

Christmas with your ex and his family in a cosy cottage in the snowy Scottish Highlands?

It’s the last place Mel imagined spending the holidays.

But when her ex-boyfriend Finn shows up on her doorstep, only months after inexplicably dumping her at his sister’s engagement party, asking her to pretend to his family they’re back together, she agrees – on one condition. Mel can publicly dump Finn at the end of the week and show him just how it feels.

But with Finn’s mother set on making this Christmas picture-perfect, can Mel and Finn keep up the act without falling back into old feelings? As their white lie snowballs out of control, and the ice between them starts to thaw, Mel must decide if she really wants their romance to be just for the season – or something more…

❤ Fake dating
❤ Second chance romance
❤ Christmas romance
❤ Exes to lovers
❤ Family meddling

Your favourite authors love Emily Stone…
‘Romantic and full of warmth’ SARAH MORGAN
‘A gorgeous, festive, romantic read. Highly recommend!’ SOPHIE COUSENS
‘A life-affirming story that will wrap around you like a hug in any season’ JOSIE SILVER
‘Tender and gorgeously romantic. I LOVED it!’ CATHY BRAMLEY
‘Page-turning… A must-read’ SUE MOORCROFT

Will she be damned by flame… or cursed by magic?

Innsbruck 1485

Helena should be doing what every other wealthy young wife is doing: keeping her husband’s house, bearing his children. But when their footman is found dead, Helena is accused of killing him. Worse, she is accused of being a witch.

Imprisoned with six other women, Helena is plunged into a world of terror. When a cursed witch totem is smuggled into the prison, the prisoners attempt to use it to escape only to unleash a malevolent spirit which places all their lives in danger.

Does Helena risk her life and the lives of others by standing up to the terrifying witchfinder and risk death at the stake if found guilty? Or is the real threat the world beyond this one…?

From the winner of the Search for a Storyteller competition, Miranda Moore, comes an outstanding, compulsive and powerful debut.

‘Powerful and complex, it’s a beautiful and compelling exploration of love and forgiveness. Bravo to Miranda!’ Louise Reid, Author of Gloves Off and Handle with Care

When Nathan meets Cara, sparks fly. Her smile lights him up, and he falls for her fast. Being with her is like taking a deep breath, after the terrible thing that happened three months ago.

Cara feels the same. And this joy is a gift – because her life is shattered, too. Nathan feels like a new start.

But they’re both hiding a secret. And the secrets intertwine in a way neither of them could imagine.

There’s no way Cara and Nathan can be together. But, despite everything, they find it impossible to be apart.

This is a stunningly written, thought-provoking drama about loss, atonement, and love which defines a lifetime.

‘Brutal, beautiful and ultimately hopeful. A rare new voice.’ Christine Pillainayagam, Author of Ellie Pillai is Brown

From the The Scots Wars of Independence – The Independence Chronicles Series.

Scotland, 1306. A fractured kingdom. A hunted king. A secret that could alter Europe’s fate.
King Robert the Bruce, bruised by betrayal and hunted by English forces, slips northward through mist and deception towards the rugged isles of Orkney. With him travels not only the hope of Scottish sovereignty—but a noble rival to England’s crown and whispers of a treasure whose legend could tip the balance of empires.
From Norwegian fjords to the gilded courts of Byzantium, power-hungry monarchs stir. They are drawn not merely by gold, but by fear. Regimes tremble. Thrones creak. And the treasure may offer salvation… or signal ruin.
The Bruce’s Treasure is the explosive third chapter in a sweeping eight-part saga that tears through the Scottish Wars of Independence with razor-sharp intensity. From shattered vows to secret pacts, this is a tale of men willing to lose their honour—and their lives—for the ultimate prize of independence.

‘to be affected in many ways
is the sole ambition of the days’

Thrums grows out of Clark’s celebrated collection, that which appears, in an extension and affirmation of that book’s particular aesthetic. Including poems first published in London Review of Books and New York Review of Books, the poems’ closely observed landscapes tell of presence and loss, of change and precarious continuity.

One of Scotland’s most distinctive writers, a vivid minimalist, ruralist and experimentalist, his selected poems, The Threadbare Coat (2020), is also published by Carcanet.

A hagtale, a dark fable, a story told around winter’s fires and known to Shakespeare but never written down. Until now.

In eleventh-century Scotland, feral wolf-child Wulva is brought up by witches and then sent to live at a Scottish castle, where she falls under the spell of cruel, ambitious Lord Macbeth.

Three hundred years later, gentle Brother Rowan goes on a strange and perilous journey to a remote and ancient monastery to write a history of the Scottish king-line.

Misfits in their own time, seekers after truth, Wulva and Rowan are deeply connected despite the centuries that separate them.

Hagtale explores the power of stories lost and found, their transformative potential, and who gets to be the owner of the tale.

A major new photographic survey of Scotland’s post-war architecture by acclaimed photographer of Modernist buildings, Simon Phipps

Many of the new buildings that were constructed in the dynamic, socially motivated period of post-war architecture have now been repurposed, pulled down or left to slowly decay. But others still serve their community. Their impact is beautifully and boldly visible in Phipps’ photographs. From the Post Office of Inverness to the Gala Fairydean Rovers Football Club stand in Galashiels, these stadiums and homes, leisure centres and fire stations, churches and libraries, were built for a people and nation in flux, the architects envisioning a new era of opportunity.

Their popularity may have declined by the turn of the century, but recent decades have seen a new recognition of the talent and epochal spirit that created lecture halls and banks with equal emphasis on form, utility and function.

‘Impelled by ambitions of nation-building, Scotland’s outstanding cache of Brutalist buildings gave shape to how people lived, worked, studied, shopped, worshipped and spent their leisure time.’  – Catherine Slessor, from the introduction to Brutal Scotland

Bored with life as a teacher in an Edinburgh girls’ school, artist Rosie recognises Alex Kuznetsov from her previous life as a decoder at Bletchley Park. Alex, a war hero and anti-Soviet intelligence officer, is running a Russian language school for National Servicemen to put Britain’s best and brightest young men through intensive training as translators and intelligence operators in the event of a third world war. During an ardent courtship, Rosie joins the JSSL as an art teacher, but she soon finds out that there is more to her role as Alex gains her confidence and persuades her to take on a daring undercover espionage mission in a Highland country house. Rosie discovers that the world of spies is full of treachery, manipulation and deceit, and that what started out as a thrilling game can have deadly consequences. Faced with a choice between duty and love, and between stability and adventure, Rosie must decide where her loyalties lie.

Leaving behind a comprehensive archive, Alfred Buckham wrote in detail about his exploits, including his nine crashes and how, to get the best images, he would stand up while flying in an open biplane, tying his right leg to the seat with a scarf, in order to loop the loop in ‘perfect safety’.

But dive a little deeper and there is an even more interesting story – how he created these unbelievable photographs. Using a combination of different negatives, Buckham used his skills in the darkroom to craft stunning images that capture the experience of flight but with a little extra drama.

Published to accompany the first major exhibition of Alfred Buckham’s work, this book draws on the photographer’s archive, held by his grandsons, and exciting new acquisitions made by the National Galleries of Scotland including the camera he took to the skies and a selection of the negatives used to craft his most celebrated images.

From the wave-washed coast of the Firth of Forth to the high ground of Arthur’s Seat and the Pentland Hills, and from the sparkling waters of the Water of Leith to the woodlands of Corstorphine, Edinburgh is a truly wild city with a wonderful abundance of wildlife. In Wild Edinburgh, nature writer Keith Broomfield explores the wildlife of the city of his childhood. In an eclectic line-up that includes foxes and badgers, strange parasitic plants, storm-tossed seabirds and fluttering bats, Wild Edinburgh is the perfect book for those who love Scotland’s capital city and are keen to delve deeper into its wild riches. The book includes a handy information guide at the end of each chapter, so that readers, too, can visit these wonderful places and enjoy their fauna and flora.

A candid, moving and kinetic story of self-realisation through the power of music, Our Secrets Are The Same is the remarkable joint memoir by Simple Minds’ founder members, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. It not only reveals the inner workings of one of the most innovative and successful British bands of the past half-century, but the deeply personal tale of an extraordinary friendship which powered teenage dreams into visionary action.

Exploring key songs, places, years and events in the Simple Minds story, and told in the distinct voices of both men, Our Secrets Are The Same explores a bond which has encompassed stratospheric highs and humbling lows, marriages and divorces, fatherhood, fickle fame, tricky inter-band dynamics, the occasional explosive bust up, and a ruthless streak to rival the Sicilian Mafia.

Their connection is grounded in shared experiences and a set of values and codes so deeply ingrained they don’t need to be spoken. For Our Secrets Are The Same is not just the story of two rock stars, but of two sons, brothers, partners and parents who have never forgotten where they come from. Two men who have remained deeply bonded to their roots and each other, while fulfilling a teenage dream to form a world-class live band and take their music around the globe.

Fascinating and funny, evocative and inspiring, this unforgettable memoir captures a unique journey through life and music, and a friendship like no other.

It is 1962, and Marta Khoury, a trail-blazing marine archaeologist, has travelled to Cairnroch, a small island off the east coast of Scotland. An Arctic shipwreck containing the remains of a famous Victorian explorer has been towed back to the island at the behest of his wealthy descendants. Marta’s job is to retrieve valuable artefacts from the vessel, deep beneath the freezing Scottish waters. But on her first dive, she becomes convinced she has seen a ghostly figure lurking in the wreckage.

When Marta discovers objects from the vessel have inexplicably disappeared, she must work to uncover their whereabouts before her boss – who is also her ex-husband – discovers their absence. As a series of unsettling and strange occurrences begins to unfold, Marta’s work trip turns into a long winter as the worst snowstorms of the century sweep in and trap the islanders, and their ghosts, in an icy wilderness.

The Barrowland Ballroom has been at the heart of the live music scene for decades. Since it opened in 1934, it has seen almost a century of music history performed and celebrated across genres. It is a true staple of Glasgow’s identity.

Barrowland captures the spirit of its people, the pulse of its culture and the deep sense of community that defines this beloved ballroom. Join us as we dive into the pit of the Barrowland Ballroom and those who inhabit it.

Discover the wonder of marine life seen up close in these joyous and sparkling essays.

In 2022, Christina Riley became an ‘underwater artist in residence’ at the Argyll Coast Hope Spot – a place of incredible natural beauty in Scotland also crucial for the health of the world’s oceans. She spent days submerged alongside marine life, before resurfacing to reflect, recreate and recount what she had seen – and the feelings of love, hope and responsibility her experience had evoked in her.

The resulting essays, collected in this stunning volume, swim through the kaleidoscope of marine life she found there, from starfish to seagrass to the water itself. What shines through all of them is a sense of wonder that is also a call to action. Looking Down at the Stars asks: how can we harness our feelings of awe at the natural world in order to take better care of it?

Christina Riley’s lyrical prose is the perfect guide to this unfamiliar underwater world, brimming with surprises, sunlight and sea stars.

From Celtic druids and Viking Yule to the outright banning of Christmas for 400 years, The Broons, first footing and the Loony Dook, this is a joyous miscellany that showcases the creative, elaborate and sometimes downright bizarre aspects of Scottish Christmas and New Year, from the ancient past to the more recent present. It includes different local traditions, from those practised in the Borders all the way to the islands of Orkney and Shetland, as well as the nationwide pastimes enjoyed by everyone.

The book is packed with tradition, lore and legend, as well as poems, stories, carols, recipes, history, jokes and fun facts Illustrated throughout with line drawings and black and white photographs.

Best enjoyed in front of an open fire with a glass of whisky and a black bun.