Imagine, for a moment, that you are a bestselling writer of a series of novels. They have found fans all over the world, each one in the series fleshing out your central character that little bit more, in the process making them more and more believable and enticing for your fans.  

Now, though, your latest novel has nothing to do with any of that. Not only will your much-loved central character not even make an appearance in it, but the new book will have a completely different setting. If writers are brands – as your publisher’s marketing team will insist they are – isn’t this a bit of a risky strategy? 

Risky or not, it is one that Scotland’s two leading writers  – that’s if you go by book sales, popularity and knighthoods – are trying out this month. 

The Heights is Ian Rankin’s first standalone novel for two decades, although it builds on his 2023 short story The Rise. Instead of Edinburgh, where most of Rankin’s 23 John Rebus novels have been set, it features London at its lushest and plushest – an 18-story residential tower block overlooking Hyde Park so exclusive its smallest suite would set you back £15 million. And instead of surly old John Rebus, who could hardly be understood by the locals last time he was in London (in 1992’s Tooth and Nail), this time Rankin’s main character, DS  Gillian Gish, is Tottenham born and bred.  

In all the years Rankin hasn’t written a s...

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There’s a lot of buzz for Frances Crawford’s debut, A Bad, Bad Place, and its teenage protagonist Janey Devine. We got in touch with Frances Crawford to ask her to tell us about her favourite teenage characters in fiction.

 

A Bad, Bad Place By Frances Crawford Published by Bantam

 

Teenage protagonists have a special place in fiction, offering a view from the no-man’s land between childhood innocence and adult selfhood. The five characters I’ve chosen are by Scottish writers, perhaps hinting at a deeper search for national identity (to which the teenagers in the room shrug and sigh!)

 

Frank The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks (1984) It is a testament to Banks’ stunning writing that we feel sympathy for a sixteen-year-old engaged in bizarre rituals, animal torture and murder. Frank is both disturbing and hilarious, and t...

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Sleeping Beauties by David Byrne

‘Without bacteria we’d be drowning in shit. No digestion. No wine, beer, cheese, kimchi, kombucha. Some of them even protect us from other harmful bacteria.’

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Raveheart by Graeme Armstrong

‘Glowsticks and Tam o’ Shanter bonnets at the ready.’

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Agnes Owens

‘I can guarantee that you won’t have read anyone else like her.’

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Poochie Pete and His Very Big Feet by Dougie Payne

‘Oh mate, your paws are like a dinner plate.’

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A Year in Water by Beth McDonough

‘Only a moment ago, dolphins flicked / from this firth’s surface, grace-danced air.’

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The Shortest History of Scotland: A Q & A with Murray Pittock

‘We need to be better aware of that to understand the challenges and achievements of the past, and to use them to assess the present and be confident in addressing it.’

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Chantelle Streete Reviews: The Miseducation of Caroline Bingley

‘McLeod uses these moments to great comic effect, while also showcasing the class tensions and ingrained behaviours that underpin the time.’

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The Delusions by Jenni Fagan

‘As a writer you dip in and out of the eternal every time you write.’

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Everything Everyday by Hannah Lavery

‘We will remember what we did. We will / be remembered for what we did not do.’

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The Cromarty Library Circle by Shona MacLean

‘No one in the room could have been unaware of what it was that Dr Fraser alluded to. The horrors perpetrated only three years since by William Burke and William Hare in the closes of Edinburgh were s …

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The Sound of a Smile by Louise Greig

‘I hope that readers finish the book thinking not only about hearing loss but about connection and the many different ways we can understand one another.’

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