You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
First ever biography of one of Scotland's most-loved 20th century writers by one of the finest literary critics of Scottish fiction. Jessie Kesson's life is the story of a writer surviving tremendous odds, and doing it triumphantly.
He still keeps her letter in his pocket—the letter from his beloved—even though the words in it were clear and final: It was over. So what if he missed her a little too much and had read that letter every single day for the last three years? He tried to go about his daily businesses like any other person—eventually, he would be capable of managing without her, right?—but, every now and then, sadness engulfed him. What choice did he have? Maybe they were never meant to be together. But what if they were to meet again, under different circumstances? Could they rediscover the love they once had? Read on to find out what happens in this emotional tale.
Set in the backstreets of a Scottish city in the 1920s, The White Bird Passes is the unforgettable story of a young girl growing up in ‘the Lane’. Poor, crowded and dirty – but full of life and excitement – the Lane is the only home Janie MacVean has ever known. It is a place where, despite everything, Janie is happy. But when the Cruelty Man arrives, bringing with him the threat of the dreaded ‘home’ – the orphanage that is every child’s nightmare – Janie’s contented childhood seems to be at an end. A gritty and moving portrayal of a young girl facing up to hardship and deprivation, written with warmth, humour and insight, Jessie Kesson’s classic autobiographical novel is widely regarded as her finest work. LONGLISTED FOR BBC ONE’S ‘SCOTLAND’S FAVOURITE BOOK’ (2016) 'Beg, borrow or steal this book.' – NORMAN MacCAIG 'Memorable and beguiling.' – THE HERALD 'Miss Kesson writes beautifully, her strong, delicate prose full of poetry and humour.' – DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Completely frank, transparently honest and deeply moving.' – COMPTON MacKENZIE
In the parish of Caldwell, in the heart of rural Aberdeenshire, life goes on much as it always has done for those who work on the land. Isolated and inward looking, it is a place where no one challenges the way things have always been, and everyone knows exactly where they stand in the local hierarchy. But up at Darklands farm change is in the air. Helen Riddel, daughter of the head dairyman, has been to university and seen what the outside world has to offer. Now she must choose between family ties and the chance of a new life away from the narrow confines of Caldwell. An unforgettable portrait of a world that has now vanished forever, Glitter of Mica is a moving evocation of a close-knit rural community in the first half of the 20th century. 'One of the literary treasures of modern Scotland.' – WILLIAM DONALDSON 'Jessie Kesson writes beautifully, her strong, delicate prose full of poetry and humour.' – DAILY TELEGRAPH
Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing—of being—articulated by ten pathfinding women writers. “A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of ‘knowing’ that they found along the path.”—Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path “I opened this book and instantly found that I was part of a conversation I didn't want to leave. A dazzling, inspirational history.”—Helen Mort, author of No Map Could Show Them This is a book about ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces t...
In the 1930s, the writer and poet, Nan Shepherd was one of North-East Scotland's best known literati. Her image now graces the new Scottish £5 note; The Living Mountain has become a classic and sells in its thousands. Nan Shepherd lived all her life in Deeside, yet few people, even in Scotland, seem to have heard of her. But then, indifferent to celebrity, Nan Shepherd had a talent for silence. Long overdue, this first biography, unravels some of the mysteries, dispels some of the rumours and gives insight into the life and work of this perceptive and intensely private woman.
This selection of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's writing brings together old favourites and new material for the first time. There are all his lively contributions to Scottish Scene (co-written by Hugh MacDiarmid) including the unforgettable lilt and flow of his short stories 'Smeddum', 'Clay', 'Greendenn', 'Sim' and 'Forsaken'. The anthology ends with the full text of his last novel, The Speak of the Mearns, unpublished in his lifetime. Valentina Bold has also included a collection of poems, 'Songs of Limbo', taken from typescripts in the National Library of Scotland, and a selection of Grassic Gibbon's articles and short fiction, with work done for The Cornhill Magazine along with book reviews and essays on Diffusionism, ancient American civilization and selected studies from his book on the lives of explorers, Nine Against the Unknown. A Lewis Grassic Gibbon Anthology provides an indispensable supplement to Canongate's edition of A Scots Quair, and it also offers further insight into the wide-ranging interests and the lyrical, historical and political writing of the greatest and best-loved Scottish novelist of the early twentieth century.
WINNER OF THE 2020 PAUL TORDAY MEMORIAL PRIZE. A powerful, beautiful novel, set across two decades, in the wake of a devastating maritime tragedy. “Full of memorable images and singing lines of prose.” Sarah Waters Tormod Morrison was on board HMY Iolaire on the terrible night as 1919 dawned, when the ship smashed into rocks and sank: some 200 servicemen drowned on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod—a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips—the disaster would mark him indelibly. And for the stunned islanders, who had so joyfully anticipated the return of their sons, brothers and sweethearts, no shock could have been greater or more difficult ...
A memoir of the author that recalls her life in the 1940s and 50s and recounts tales from school, days spent playing games and singing songs in the streets with her friends, Christmases with her family and, later, as a teenager coming of age, the world of entertainment Dundee provided with its picture houses and dance halls.