Celebrate
Let's Get Festive
EXPLORE ISSUES
Though the nights grow darker and the air gets chillier, these last months of the year are also time to get on your costumes ready, your gladrags sorted, or your cosy, winter rituals in place. We're here to help you with all of that with books that are perfect for gift giving, excellent for giving you chills up your spine, and ideal for getting into the winter mood. Slàinte!
What would we do without our marvellous booksellers? They’re always on hand to give readers just the right book for any occasion. So as we near the festive season, and we think about gifts, who better as about their favourite Scottish books of the year. Here are some brilliant books from some of Scotland’s best booksellers!
Recommendations from Rebecca Wall at Night Owl Books, East Linton
Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman, by Callum Robinson
Robinson’s intensely readable memoir is stunningly written, and incredibly broad in scope. Part nature writing, part coming-of-age tale, Ingrained skilfully explores the relationship between fathers and sons, the challenges faced by small businesses, and the importance of craftsmanship in an increasingly digital world. A well-deserved winner of the Indie Book Awards for Non-Fiction 2025.
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If you’re of a certain vintage, and we are here at BooksfromScotland, it was a BIG DEAL who got the number one single slot for Christmas. And we all have our favourites. Marc Burrows has written an entertaining history about the pop charts at Christmas, and here he gives his thoughts on his five favourite number ones!
The Story of the Christmas No. 1: Mistletoe & Vinyl By Marc Burrows Published by McNidder & Grace
1) Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody (1973)
There are some Christmas songs that are non-negotiables. This is one of them. It’s built completely into the structure of our annual celebrations, to the point that Doctor Who, on more than one occasion, uses our familiarity with its opening bars as a quick short hand to say ‘this scene is set at Christmas by the way’. It’s almost impossible to be raise...
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet
‘As a result I acquired a reputation of being truculent and aloof and it may be true that I was what people supposed me to be.’
David Robinson Reviews: On Friendship by Andrew O’ Hagan
‘In eight elegant essays, O’Hagan expands his thoughts on friendship to include lost friends, pets, imaginary friends, and workmates.’
Poor Creatures: A Q & A with Mairi Kidd
‘I kept on reading, and then it seemed that alarm bells were going off in my head constantly. It’s a period in which absolutely unthinkable things happened.’
Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales by Lari Don
‘Filled with waterhorses, fairies, monsters, giants, piskies, selkies and so much magic!’
Bluff: A Q & A with Francine Toon
‘I think we all have that one friend we lost touch with from school. I wanted to explore the idea of trying to look them up online and finding nothing.’
The North Sea by Alistair Moffat
‘As we sailed away, back to safe harbour, from this structure that had no business being there, standing sentinel in the midst of the sea for more than 200 years, I knew that I had been privileged to …
La Lucha: Latin American Feminism Today
‘In recent years, women in Latin America have been leading profound social and political transformations, advancing feminist movements and human rights struggles in ways that are often unprecedented g …
The Little Book of Christmas and Hogmanay by Anna Marshall
‘Open the door for the auld year / It is the pairtin-time: / Open the door for the new year / And lat the bairn win hame.
Looking Down at the Stars by Christina Riley
‘To say, “I want you to see this” for no reason other than the belief that it will bring pleasure or joy is always worthwhile.’
Barrowland: The Inside Story of Glasgow’s Beloved Ballroom
‘Imagine having an Access All Areas pass to one of the greatest music venues in the world: the Barrowland Ballroom.’
‘The first dive into a ship is an otherworldly experience. It’s travelling into a moment that has been paused in time.’
Our Secrets are the Same: A Q & A with Graeme Thomson
‘Jim and Charlie’s enduring friendship is so much about being on the same page in terms of the fundamentals, the kind of basics that don’t need to be articulated. Shared values, shared experiences, sh …
Wild Edinburgh by Keith Broomfield
‘Described as a “silver thread in a ribbon of green”, the 11 km stretch of the walkway from Colinton to Leith is diverse and enjoyable, mostly following a tranquil riverside path with occasional dips …
White Raven: A Q & A with Maggie Ritchie
‘The inspiration for this book was meeting 91-year-old Moira Beaty, one of the artists known as the Glasgow Girls.’
Brutal Scotland by Simon Phipps
‘As I travelled, I wasn’t only drawn to buildings. I began documenting public art – those often abstract concrete sculptures that once populated shopping precincts, underpasses, schools.’
‘There is no escaping this; she cannot get away. White flesh in a red gown, heart beating like a drum.’
‘you speckled wood / you wild thyme / you mourning dove / you downy willow / you’
The Bruce’s Treasure by Lynda Kristiansen
‘Madame had already marked them both down for death. Bertrand’s continued ignorance had simply made that outcome more certain.’
ALSO ON BOOKS FROM SCOTLAND
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‘She is still walking but he has stopped. She turns to find that he is waiting for a response to som …
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David Robinson Reviews: Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross
‘Ross is always lucid, almost reverent, about the whole process of archaeological discovery.’
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Abdullah’s Bear Needs a Name! by Yasmin Hanif
‘”Why don’t you guess?” said Abba. “You’ll know in your heart when you’ve found the right one.”‘
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Food, Whisky, Life by Ghillie BaŞan
‘Pastries filled with ground nuts, baked fruit or creamy, semolina mixtures, and bathed in honey or …
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A Chaos of Light: New Writing Scotland
‘The attic lowed like a crystal haal, last I saa her – / dark-eyed and ready tae furgit me.’
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‘The pleasures of the unexamined life and all that. Dan had read somewhere that the lower classes – …
FEATURED AUTHOR:
Charles E. McGarry
Charles E McGarry is a Scottish author. His first novel in the Leo Moran series of detective fiction, The Ghost of Helen Addison, was published in July 2017 to rave reviews. The follow-up, The Shadow of the Black Earl, was published in September 2018. …
FEATURED PUBLISHER:
Waverley Books
Quirky, special, niche and Scottish, Waverley Books publish well-designed, high-quality books on Scotland, history, trains, nostalgia, fiction, cookery. We’ve been publishing books for the past 25 years.