Covet

What do we want? A whole lot of great reading? Us too! And in this month's BooksfromScotland issue, we've got some EXCELLENT reading for you. From new novels from literary big hitters to new fiction from up-and-coming writers, and enlightening, challenging non-fiction to brilliant books for kids, we are really spoiling you this month.

Kitchenly 434

Living the Rock n' Roll Dream

A new novel from Alan Warner is always something to celebrate, and we’re thrilled to share this extract from Kitchenly 434 with you ahead of its publication later on in the month. A tale of the Golden Age of Rock n’ Roll told from an insider and outsider, it explores self-awareness and self-delusion in a time when great change is around the corner. Here, we are introduced to Crofton Park, butler to world famous guitarist Marko Morrell.

Extract taken from Kitchenly 434 By Alan Warner Published by White Rabbit

No one behind, so I slowed the Volvo hatchback even more to gaze across, a single hand on the steering wheel. I was one of the few inhabitants of the vicinity who knew the concealed topographies beyond that calculated assemblage of trees ; a frieze of multi-coloured leaves – just like those dark Chinese Coromandel screens with their decorative lacquer in the master bedroom, behind which Marko’s unbearable lady – Auralie – changes into and out of her latest international fashions, two or sometimes three times daily.

Within those perimeter walls, I knew the tristesse of every weeping willow along those crawling waters’ edges. Overlooked by the precipitous manor house, I knew the laburnum slope with its stepped rill in ornamental brick, its rivulets channelled down from the moat to the twin culverts at the riverbank, cascading the acoustic steps. I knew the double mill buildings now connected by their two modern, triple-glazed air bridges.

Every time I approached Kitchenly Mill Race, I began to anticipate the paradisal compound of dolorous laburnum and lavender banks which scent the decorated interiors when the summer manor windows are fixed open on their ornate securing-arms. All of these enchantments which were hidden from common view.

Without fail, when advancing on Kitchenly from east or west, or down the...

Show Us Who You Are

Author Elle McNicoll was one of last year’s huge success stories with the publication of her debut A Kind of Spark, which recently won the Blue Peter Award for Best Story. This month she has released her second middle grade adventure, Show Us Who You Are, which sees her protagonist Cora take on tech conglomerate Pomegranate on their troubling plans with AI. Here, Elle tells us more about her book and gives us a taster.

Show Us Who You Are By Elle McNicoll Published by Knights Of

Show Us Who You Are by Elle McN...

Bitterhall

‘I want you to love me, if I’m being honest. That’s why I start so gently, in the garden, in the present tense.’

The Book According To… Ewan Morrison

‘The question ‘What life-story can we live by? ’lurks beneath How to Survive Everything, and probably behind every book I’ve written.’

The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer

‘As I held the letters written in Conan Doyle’s neat handwriting from Undershaw, his house in Surrey, and from hotels across Europe, I could feel the obsession he had had with the case.’

David Robinson Reviews: In a Veil of Mist

‘But they don’t ask direct questions about what they’ve witnessed. Whatever is happening, it is hardly the most important thing in either of their lives.’

One Man’s Trash

‘Over this private banquet, Eugene and Nathan came to understand some of their more unusual, unexplained experiences.’

Edge of the Grave: A Q & A with Robbie Morrison

‘Glasgow in this era, in the grip of the Great Depression, was a raucous, lawless city, with poverty, corruption, unemployment, extremist politics, sectarianism and the streets terrorised by razor gan …

The Cultural Memory of Georgian Glasgow

‘Monuments, street names, civic buildings and bequests to the town council will be examined in this keen and searching light.’

Sea State

‘”I never buy dances,” said Caden. “I don’t see the point. I just go there for a drink. I’ve never paid for anything, me.”‘

How Beautiful We Were

‘He spoke slowly, his smile constant, as if he was about to deliver the good news we so yearned for.’

The Weather Weaver

‘Her stomach was doing little somersaults. Just think of it as an adventure, she told herself.’

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.”‘
Food, Whisky, Life by Ghillie BaŞan

‘Pastries filled with ground nuts, baked fruit or creamy, semolina mixtures, and bathed in honey or …
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.’
The Fathers by John Niven

‘The pleasures of the unexamined life and all that. Dan had read somewhere that the lower classes – …
Mrs Burke & Mrs Hare by Michelle Sloan

‘If you rip these bodies from the place that’s been blessed as their final place of peace, where fam …
It’s Hotting Up! Summer Reading Suggestions

‘Carso sits on the very north edge of Britain, higher than the Highlands, where the swirling waters …