Ray of Light

The sun is out and there are so many brilliant books making their way into the bookshops. Let us share some of these delicious debuts, exciting novels, poetry, cookery and children's books, that will hopefully end up on your shelves!

Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan

David Robinson Reviews

In this review of Caledonian Road, David Robinson explores Andrew O’Hagan’s journalism as an influence in his latest novel.

Caledonian Road By Andrew O’Hagan Published by Faber

The internet’s no help.  Type in ‘Andrew O’Hagan’ and ‘foot and mouth’ and ‘slaughtermen’ and ‘South Ayrshire’ and it gives an apologetic shrug, which I half-expected anyway: it was, after all, 2001 or some such distant, as yet undigitised date. The Word Festival in Aberdeen, at which O’Hagan gave a reading that left me lost in admiration, vanished into memory more than a decade ago, and the book he was reading from – The End of British Farming, republished from a long essay he wrote for The London Review of Books – has almost certainly followed it. 

What made such a deep impression on me wasn’t that essay but something else he read – a first-person newspaper feature about accompanying one of the killing teams slaughtering herds of cattle and sheep infected with foot and mouth disease which was, at the time, rampant. That year, six million beasts were k...

Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid

Polygon’s Darklands Tales series continues with the Queen of Crime, Val McDermid taking on the story of Lady Macbeth. It’s a story we think we all know, but this excellent novel will tell you otherwise. In this extract, Lady Macbeth, here known as Gruoch, is married to Gille Coemgáin, Mormaer of Moray. He is hosting a banquet and Gruoch meets Macbeth for the first time.

Queen Macbeth By Val McDermid Published by Polygon

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The Cracked Mirror: Q & A with Christopher Brookmyre

‘Once you start adding flesh and bones to these characters, they suggest things you never thought of, and the story goes off in unexpected directions. Which is as it should be, because if you don’t su …

The Book… According to Alan Cumming

‘The book is a celebration of the characters and also Forbes and I’s friendship and artistic collaboration.’

Ruin, Blossom by John Burnside

‘The heart is not intact. It never was. It founders in the provinces of Thou’

How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Ordorica

‘Although darkness can be scary, it also can be profound.’

Haste Ye Back by Dorthy K. Haynes (edited by Craig Lamont)

‘What matters now is the momentum in studying Haynes and her unique voice in Scottish literature, and making the best use of it going forward.’

Video Reading: Reek by Alastair Chisholm

‘I cannot wait to share it with you all. Sparrow is an amazing hero and the whole thing takes place in Edinburgh, my city.’

The Paris Peacemakers: Q & A with Flora Johnston

‘It’s important to me to get the history as correct as possible, and then I let my characters inhabit that world and see where it goes.’

Only Here, Only Now: Q & A with Tom Newlands

‘I wanted to write a really vivid book that could tackle some heavy subject matters with warmth and humour.’

Five favourite school novels… with Hugo Rifkind

‘I’m not sure I’ll ever get over it.’

Ice Cream Boy by Lindsay Littleson

‘My hope is that reading Ice Cream Boy might develop children’s empathy and understanding of dementia.’

Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald

‘Scots, its history, its punctuation, its structure, are not taught to us in school, and so it’s easy to imagine how Scots gets lost along the way.’

Kith: Scottish Seasonal Recipes by

‘This is a mix of two recipes belonging to my maternal grandmother, Granny Main.’

Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger

‘That sound… Big He is at his watching post again today. Overseeing through the haze of His clouds.’

Somewhere Else by Jenny Daiches

‘A man is no more than his exhausted lungs. A woman is only the lesions on her arms, a child her bent and stick-like legs.’

Hope Never Knew Horizon by Douglas Bruton

‘Do something, Ned Wickham, or I shall think you a Godless man and hard-hearted.’

Yum by Susi Briggs and Charlotte Brayley

‘Aw were eatin happily.’

Moot by Rob McInroy

‘The idea of Geordie Macrae being in charge of criminal investigations was remarkable. Troubling, in fact.’

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 …
David Robinson Reviews: To See Ourselves by Alistair Moffat

‘This confluence of styles – analytical yet elegiac, objective yet personal – makes To See Ourselves …