THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Graham Morgan has an MBE for services to mental health, and helped to write the Scottish Mental Health (2003) Care and Treatment Act. This is the Act under which he is now detained.START, published by Fledgling Press in 2017, was his memoir about his years of breakdowns, the harshness of his marriage and the beauty of falling in love with his partner, Wendy. It has been widely acclaimed as a must-read by mental health practitioners in the UK.Blackbird Singing is a continuation of those years, it tells tales of some of the things that have happened to Graham since START was published.It is a musing, a meandering through real life. It is not about drama, although there is drama. It is not about devastation, although there is devastation. This is a book about living, about understanding, about learning, about growing, about love and also grief; about summers walking the dog by the sea and winters when we are too tired to think. It is about answering the alarm when the world is so surreal and dark that school and work seem like an absurdity and because it is Graham, it is about the world of mental illness and compulsory treatment and trying to live a normal life when everyone says there is no such thing as normal.

This under-documented expedition was a pivotal moment in the annals of polar exploration and was the starting point, in historical terms, of revealing the great unknown continent of Antarctica. It was the first time in nearly 70 years since Captain James Cook had circumnavigated Antarctica, that a Royal Naval voyage of discovery had ventured so far South. They set a new ‘furthest south’ record in the process beating the one set up by James Weddell in a whaling ship in 1823.The expedition set sail from Greenwich in 1839. It consisted of two wooden sailing ships commanded by Captain James Clark Ross and Commander Francis Crozier. The ships were manned exclusively by Royal Naval personnel and each ship had a complement of 64 men and officers. Their primary task was of a scientific nature to study the Earth’s magnetic field and build up a set of results that could provide a greater understanding of the effects of magnetism on compasses and their use in navigating the world’s oceans. This voyage had a set of planned targets and all were accomplished. In the process a vast amount of scientific information was collected.Many exotic places were visited during the voyage amongst them Madeira, St Helena, Cape Town, Kerguelen island, New Zealand, Australia and the Falkland Islands but the pinnacle was the discovery of the Ross Sea, The Ross Ice Shelf and the mighty volcanoes of Erebus and Terror (named after the two ships). The crews experienced the dangers of navigating in ice-strewn waters and narrowly escaping being crushed by icebergs. Illness was kept at bay although several lives were lost due to accidents.It would be another 60 years before the scenes of their greatest discoveries were visited again and then the Golden Age of Discovery was ushered in with the likes of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen.

The Moray Way consists of all or part of three previously existing routes: the Moray Coast Trail, the Speyside Way and the Dava Way. Together they cover a huge and varied range of landscapes.This book is the ideal guide to much of what this beautiful and richly historical part of Scotland has to offer.The largest town, Forres, is an ancient royal burgh. Between it and the next biggest town of Lossiemouth lie the coastal villages of Findhorn, Burghead and Hopeman, connected by some of Scotland’s finest coastal scenery and beaches.Eastwards, beyond intact remains of second world war defences, lie Garmouth and Fochabers, the former, many centuries ago, the main port of Moray Here the Moray Way turns south, following a course through the fertile Spey valley. Its many distilleries are part of the considerable variety of interest as the route continues to the resort town of Grantown. A final stage northward crosses the wild openness of Dava Moor, reaching eventually the spectacular Divie viaduct where there is a dramatic change to gentler woodlands and pastoral landscapes as the trail leads back to Forres.

Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots covers the lives and careers of the men and women who kept’ Mary Queen of Scots when she was a political prisoner in England, circa 1568/9-1587. Mary’s troubled claim to the English throne – much to the consternation of her dear cousin’ Elizabeth I – made her a mortal enemy of the aforementioned Virgin Queen and set them on a collision course from which only one would walk away. Mary’s calamitous personal life, encompassing assassinations, kidnaps and abdications, sent her careering into England and right into the lap of Henry VIII’s shrewd but insecure daughter. Having no choice but keep Mary under lock and key, Elizabeth trusted this onerous task to some of the most capable – not to mention the richest – men and women in England; Sir Francis Knollys, Rafe Sadler (of Wolf Hall fame), the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess of Hardwick, and finally, the puritanical nit-picker Sir Amyas Paulet. Until now, these nobles have been mere bit-players in Mary’s story; now, their own lives, loves and fortunes are laid bare for all to see.From Carlisle Castle to Fotheringay, these men and women all but bankrupted themselves in keeping the deposed Scots queen in the style to which she was accustomed, whilst fending off countless escape plots of which Mary herself was often the author. With the sort of twist that history excels at, it was in fact a honeytrap escape plot set up by Elizabeth’s ministers that finally saw Mary brought to the executioner’s block, but what of the lives of the gaolers who had until then acted as her guardian? This book explains how Shrewsbury and Bess saw their marriage wrecked by Mary’s legendary charms, and how Sir Amyas Paulet ended up making a guest appearance on Most Haunted’, some several hundred years after his death. In that theme, the book also covers the appearances of these men and women on film and TV, in novels and also the various other Mary-related media that help keep simmering the legend of this most misunderstood of monarchs.

Robert the Bruce is a detailed account of the life and times of the Scottish hero and monarch. It covers his life from childhood to death, looking at the political, social and military life of Scotland before, during and after the time of Robert the Bruce.The book looks at the relationship between The Bruce and people like Edward I and Edward II of England, William Wallace and the other contenders for the Scottish crown. The main thrust of the book is a chronological account of how The Bruce clawed his way to power, his struggles and battles and his eventual victory which gave Scotland independence and freedom from an acquisitive and warlike neighbour. It looks in detail at the murder of John Comyn, of which The Bruce stood accused, and the political ramifications of the killing.Robert the Bruce was no saint. He was a ruthless, cunning warrior, a man of his times, dedicated to what he saw as his mission in life. Flawed he may have been but he was also a great King, a worthy warrior and a man who deserves to emerge from the shadow of William Wallace – a position to which he has been relegated ever since the film Braveheart.

‘Fantastic. Excellent. Incredible. I could not put this one down for the life of me.’ Reader Review’A stunner! I guarantee you’ll put everything on hold until you arrive at the shocking final scenes. Without a doubt, one of the best crime novels of the year!’ – No.1 international bestseller Jeffery DeaverIn search of a new life, seventeen-year-old Adriana Clark’s family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?Beautifully haunting with twists and turns you’ll never see coming, The Last Girl to Die is your next obsession waiting to happen. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and L.J. Ross.’Oh my goodness, I absolutely and totally loved this book. Outstanding and compelling, it gave me whiplash from all the twists and turns.’ – million-copy bestseller Angela MarsonsReaders absolutely LOVE The Last Girl to Die!’What rollercoaster ride this was. I love it when a book shocks me the way this did.”Huge wows… The Last Girl to Die had me instantly gripped. I lost sleep and bit my nails down as the tension ramped up. You have to read this book.”Breathtaking. Twists and turns galore. I couldn’t put it down, I loved it.”A tense, twisty, phenomenal read!”Haunting. Breathtaking shocks, horror, unforeseen twists, and an emotionally shattering conclusion.”Twisty, unpredictable and kept me guessing the whole time.”Breathtakingly brilliant… The ending left me stunned.”Remote, forbidding, atmospheric, tinged with superstitions and folkloric rituals…A gripping read.’

‘Awesome. Helen fields is the queen of suspense. Loved it.’ Reader Review’A stunner! I guarantee you’ll put everything on hold until you arrive at the shocking final scenes. Without a doubt, one of the best crime novels of the year!’ – Jeffery Deaver, No.1 international bestselling author of The Bone CollectorIn search of a new life, seventeen-year-old Adriana Clark’s family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?Beautifully haunting with twists and turns you’ll never see coming, The Last Girl to Die is your next obsession waiting to happen. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and L.J. Ross.’Oh my goodness, I absolutely and totally loved this book. Outstanding and compelling, it gave me whiplash from all the twists and turns.’ – million-copy bestseller Angela MarsonsReaders absolutely LOVE The Last Girl to Die!’What rollercoaster ride this was. I love it when a book shocks me the way this did.”Huge wows… The Last Girl to Die had me instantly gripped. I lost sleep and bit my nails down as the tension ramped up. You have to read this book.”Breathtaking. Twists and turns galore. I couldn’t put it down, I loved it.”A tense, twisty, phenomenal read!”Haunting. Breathtaking shocks, horror, unforeseen twists, and an emotionally shattering conclusion.”Twisty, unpredictable and kept me guessing the whole time.”Breathtakingly brilliant… The ending left me stunned.”Remote, forbidding, atmospheric, tinged with superstitions and folkloric rituals…A gripping read.’

‘The most interesting of the great female writers of the Golden Age. This disarmingly low-key tale of a mysterious disappearance is the perfect introduction to her world’ VAL MCDERMID’The definition of a classic, a real cut above. It hasn’t aged a day’ JOSEPH KNOXWhen Hollywood-star photographer Leslie Searle is found dead in a remote English village, gifted inspector Alan Grant is immediately called to investigate what appears to be a mysterious passing. But what would bring such a successful individual to the village? And was his death really an accident or suicide, or did something eerie occur at the hands of an unsuspected killer?’Will leave you desperate to re-read’ SARAH HILARY’Worth reading for its ingenious denouement’TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Katie’s Coo is a collection of eight of Scotland’s best loved rhymes and songs. Little ones can sing or chant along with their parents, aunties, uncles, sisters, brothers and grandparents to ‘Wee Willie Winky’, ‘Ally Bally Bee’ and more, whilst enjoying the bright colours and friendly farm animals along the way.Illustrated by award winning artist Karen Sutherland and developed alongside the Scottish Book Trust and Craigmillar Books for Babies, it’s a fantastic introduction to Scots language, humour and rhythm.

King o the Midden is back, and mankier than ever, with his cast of grimy guests, like Sergeant Snoddy (fae Kirkcaldy), exploding fairies and a hungry hairy mammoth. Brewing belly laughs for kids and adults alike, this collection of ridiculous rhymes is not for the faint-humoured.Marking the 20th anniversary of Itchy Coo, and devilishly doodled by Bob Dewar, this collection of musings from mischievous Scots writers covers everything from aliens to sport, family life to superheroes and how it feels to be a fish ‘Swimmin in batter’.

A New Statesman Book of the Year, 2021’Follow Iain Sinclair into the cloud jungles of Peru and emerge questioning all that seemed so solid and immutable.’ Barry Miles’The Gold Machine is a trip, a psychoactive expedition in compelling company.’ TLSFrom the award-winning author of The Last London and Lights Out for the Territory, a journey in the footsteps of our ancestors.In The Gold Machine, Iain Sinclair and his daughter travel through Peru, guided by – and in reaction to – an ill-fated colonial expedition led by his great-grandfather, Arthur Sinclair. The incursions of Catholic bounty hunters and Adventist missionaries are contrasted with today’s ecotourists and short-cut vision seekers. The family history of a displaced Scottish highlander fades into the brutal reality of a major land grab. The historic thirst for gold and the establishment of sprawling coffee plantations leave terrible wounds on virgin territory.What might once have been portrayed as an intrepid adventure is transformed into a shocking tale of the violated rights of indigenous people, secret dealings between London finance and Peruvian government, and the collusion of the church in colonial expansion. In Sinclair’s haunting prose, no place escapes its past, and nor can we.

Grace Makutsi’s husband, Phuti, is in a bind. An international firm is attempting to undercut his prices in the office furniture market. Phuti has always been concerned with quality and comfort, but this new firm seems interested only in profits. To make matters worse, they have a slick new advertising campaign that seems hard to beat. Nonetheless with Mma Ramotswe’s help, Phuti comes up with a campaign that may just do the trick.Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi is approached by an old friend who has a troubled son. Grace and Phuti agree to lend a hand, but the boy proves difficult to reach, and the situation is more than they can handle on their own. It will require not only all of their patience and dedication, but also the help of Mma Ramotswe and the formidable Mma Potokwani in order to help the child.Faced with more than her fair share of domestic problems, Mma Makutsi deals with it all with her usual grace. That, along with the kindness, generosity, and good sense that the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is known for, assure us that in the end, all these matters will be set right.

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.

Count down to Christmas with this advent calendar collection of twenty-four mini activity, puzzle and game books, based on the bestselling picture books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.Enjoy a book every day with this fantastic festive collection, including colouring, drawing and activity books based on the family-favourite picture books, The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale and more. Plus lots of family fun with games and quizzes to enjoy together.With twenty-four mini books collected together in a beautiful hardback presentation case with tie ribbon, The Gruffalo and Friends Advent Calendar Book Collection is perfect for sharing together every day of advent.

This is the extraordinary story of how salt fish from Shetland became one of the staple foods of Europe, powered an economic boom and inspired artists, writers and musicians.It ranges from the wild waters of the North Atlantic, the ice-filled fjords of Greenland and the remote islands of Faroe to the dining tables of London’s middle classes, the bacalao restaurants of Spain and the Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe.As well as following the historical thread and exploring how very different cultures were drawn together by the salt fish trade, John Goodlad meets those whose lives revolve around the industry in the twenty-first century and addresses today’s pressing themes of sustainability, climate change and food choices.

In his latest book, Bill Hare offers a comprehensive view of Scottish art from 1945 to the present day.

The story of an immortal Scottish warrior battling evil down through the centuries, Highlander fused a high-concept idea with the kinetic energy of a pop promo pioneer and Queen’s explosive soundtrack to become a cult classic.When two American producers took a chance on a college student’s script, they set in motion a chain of events involving an imploding British film studio, an experimental music video director still finding his filmmaking feet, a former James Bond with a spiralling salary, and the unexpected arrival of low-budget production company, Cannon Films.Author Jonathan Melville looks back at the creation of Highlander with the help of more than 60 cast and crew, as they talk candidly about the gruelling shoot that took them from the back alleys of London, to the far reaches of the Scottish Highlands, and onto the mean streets of 1980s New York City. With insights from Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor on the film’s iconic music, exclusive screenwriter commentary on unmade scripts, never-before-seen photos from private collections, and a glimpse into the promotional campaign that never was.If there can be only one book on Highlander then this is it!

Scotland’s greatest export. The world’s first super spy. Voted the sexiest man on the planet. Sir Sean Connery was a titanic figure on screen and off for over half a century.Behind the son of a factory worker, growing up in near-poverty on the harsh streets of pre-war Edinburgh, lay a timeless array of motion pictures that spanned multiple decades and saw Connery work across the globe with directors as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. And amongst them his greatest role, whether he liked it or not – Bond, James Bond.Author A. J. Black delves into Connery’s life for more than mere biography, exploring not just the enormously varied pictures he made including crowd pleasing blockbusters such as The Untouchables or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, serious-minded fare in The Hill or The Offence, and his strange sojourns into eclectic fantasy with Zardoz or Time Bandits, but also the sweep of a career that crossed movie eras as well as decades.From skirmishes with the angry young men of the British New Wave, via becoming the cinematic icon of the 1960s as 007, through to a challenging reinvention as a unique older actor of stature in the 1980s, this exploration of the Cinematic Connery shows just how much his work reflected the changing movie-going tastes, political realities and cultural trends of the 20th century, and beyond . . .

Para Handy has been sailing his way into the affections of generations of Scots since he first weighed anchor in the pages of the Glasgow Evening News in 1905. The master mariner and his crew – Dougie the mate, Macphail the engineer, Sunny Jim and the Tar – all play their part in evoking the irresistible atmosphere of a bygone age when puffers sailed between West Highland ports and the great city of Glasgow.This definitive edition contains all three collections published in the author’s lifetime, as well as those that were unpublished and a new story which was discovered in 2001. Extensive notes accompany each story, providing fascinating insights into colloquialisms, place-names and historical events. This volume also includes a wealth of contemporary photographs, depicting the harbours, steamers and puffers from the age of the Vital Spark.

London, 1943.Across the city prominent figures in science and the military are bursting into flame and being incinerated. Convinced that the Germans have deployed a new terror weapon, a desperate government turns to the one man who can track down the source of this dreadful menace – Sherlock Holmes.The quest for a solution drives Holmes into an uneasy alliance with the country’s most brilliant scientific genius, Professor James Moriarty. Only Holmes knows that, behind his facade of respectability, Moriarty is the mastermind behind a vast criminal empire. As they pursue the trail of incendiary murders, Holmes is quite sure that the professor is playing a double game and that there lies ahead a duel to the death which they cannot both survive.