The Stockholm Run by Ken Lussey (26 May 2022).
A fast-paced thriller set largely in Edinburgh and Stockholm during World War Two. It's March 1943. The death of an intruder in a
hidden bunker leads to a much larger secret buried beneath Edinburgh Castle. As the mystery unravels, Bob Sutherland and Monique Dubois
are sent to Stockholm, a city supposedly at peace in a world at war, to take delivery of a message of critical national importance. Or is
it a trap? Can their relationship survive what they uncover? Will they live long enough for that to matter?
Read our full review.
Tyninghame: Landscapes and Lives by Judy Riley (5 May 2022).
For many, Tyninghame on the beautiful East Lothian coast means beaches, sea birds and salt marshes. But this place was once an important
monastic site that eventually became the seat of the earls of Haddington. In the early eighteenth century, its landscape was dramatically
changed by a young woman, Lady Helen Hope. Judy Riley reveals a fascinating story, weaving together the different threads which make up this
special place in a corner of East Lothian.
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The Tick and the Tock of the Crocodile Clock by Kenny Boyle (3 May 2022).
An aspiring writer from the Southside of Glasgow, Wendy is in a rut. She tries to brighten her call-centre job by shoehorning as
many long words as possible into conversations with customers. But her manager isn’t amused by that and Wendy walks out. She finds
consolation in a surprise friendship with wild-child painter Cat. It’s just what Wendy needs. Kenny Boyle’s debut novel takes us deep
into the psyche of a likeable misfit who treads a fine line between reality and fantasy.
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A Life of Industry: The Photography of John R Hume by Daniel Gray (5 August 2021).
Over the course of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, John R Hume took over 25,000 photographs of late-industrial and post-industrial
Scotland. His collection is a remarkable portrait of a way of life that has now all but vanished. John's photography produces
an exhaustive and objective record. Yet it also reveals remarkable and poignant glimpses of domestic life. In A Life of Industry,
author Daniel Gray tells John's story, and the story of what has been lost - and preserved.
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Agricola: Architect of Roman Britain by Simon Turney (15 February 2022).
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a man fated for conquest and tied to the island of Britanni he incorporated into the empire the
wild northern lands that had remained unclaimed for three decades. Agricola’s biography was written by his son-in-law Tacitus,
and his life has otherwise never been examined in detail. Here, using the archaeological record and contemporary accounts to
compare with Tacitus, we work to uncover the truth about the man who made Roman Britain. Was Tacitus an unreliable narrator?
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The Life and Works of Glasgow Architects James Miller and John James Burnet by John Stewart (30 November 2021).
The first full biography of two of Scotland's most eminent Architects, James Miller and John James Burnet. While born just three
years apart their careers and lives became intertwined as they competed for work and eventually the role
of Scotland's leading architect. Born in 1857 and 1860 respectively, one inherited and the other established successful practices in Glasgow
at the zenith of that city's wealth in the late 19th century.
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A Scotsman Returns: Travels with Thomas Telford in the Highlands and Islands by Paul A Lynn (29 October 2021).
This is a book about the great Scottish engineer Thomas Telford (1757-1834) which revisits the places in the Highlands and Islands
where he achieved so much. We retrace a Highland Tour made by Telford and the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, in 1819. The two men
were drawn together by Telford's love of poetry and Southey's admiration of the engineer's remarkable work in the Highlands. Southey
kept a journal of the tour, which remained unpublished for a century.
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Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Weird Sisters by Olga Wojtas (17 March 2022).
Fifty-something librarian Shona is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls. Impeccably educated and an
accomplished martial artist, linguist and musician, Shona is selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for
a crucial mission involving Macbeth, the weird sisters and a black cat. Unsure which version of history she’s in, Shona
tries to figure out who she’s here to save. But between playing the Fool and being turned into a mouse, things don’t
always go her way.
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The Devil's Cut by Andrew James Greig (28 October 2021).
When a distillery owner's body is discovered on top of a remote Scottish mountain, forensics confirm that he died of natural causes.
DI Corstophine's concerns are raised however, when the dead's man eccentric sister receives a message, apparently from the beyond the
grave. The police are dismissive until it appears the devil himself is intent on attacking other family members. Why is his daughter
kept locked and sedated in her room in the baronial mansion? Who or what is stalking his son?
Read our full review.
A Short Guide to Hadrian's Wall by Andrew Tibbs (15 April 2022).
An overview of the history and archaeology of the wall, along with a guide to the key Roman sites to visit. The history of the wall
starts with the earliest Roman invasion and the construction of the Stanegate, a chain of forts built before the wall. Thirty key
sites are examined and Tibbs provides maps, illustrations and details of each. This is the perfect book for anybody interested in the
history of the wall and the rich variety of interesting sites that can be found along it.
Read our full review.
Love in the Time of Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith (8 February 2022).
In the microcosm of 44 Scotland Street, all of life's richness is found. There's Domenica, who has honed her observations of her
neighbors; Matthew, whose growing triplets are more than a handful; Bruce, whose challenge as ever is thinking of anything but himself;
and Big Lou, who may just have found her shot at romance. And of course, there's young Bertie Pollock, whose starry-eyed explorations
of Edinburgh's New Town are a touching reminder that life itself is an adventure and there's always joy to be found.
Read our full review.
For the Safety of All: A Story of Scotland's Lighthouses by Donald S Murray (28 April 2022).
Lighthouses punctuate Scotland’s coastline. They have been a lifeline for seafarers at the mercy of treacherous weather and uncertain
navigation. Donald S Murray explores Scotland’s lighthouses through history, storytelling and the voices of the lightkeepers: from
ancient beacons to the work of the Stevensons and the Northern Lighthouse Board, and from wartime strife to automation and preservation.
Read our full review.
Tales for Twilight: Two Hundred Years of Scottish Ghost Stories by Alistair W.J. Kerr (14 October 2021).
A spine-tingling selection of unnerving tales by writers from James Hogg in the early eighteenth century to James Robertson in the
twenty-first. Scottish authors have proved to be exceptionally good at writing ghost stories. Perhaps it’s because of the tradition
of oral storytelling that has stretched over centuries. The golden age was during the Victorian and Edwardian period, but the ghost
story has continued to evolve and remains popular to this day.
Read our full review.
The People's City for the One City Trust (13 January 2022).
Edinburgh is steeped in literary history. To celebrate the city, its literature, and more importantly, its people, Polygon
and the One City Trust have brought together writers – established and emerging – to write about the place they call home. Based
around landmarks or significant links to Edinburgh each story transports the reader to a different decade in the city’s recent past.
Through these stories each author reflects on the changes, both generational and physical, in the city in which we live.
Read our full review.
Even the Birds Grow Silent by Alex Nye (26 August 2021).
Meet Death, as you have never met her before. This is collection of narrative fragments told by Death herself. Death feels she gets a
very bad press and is keen to tell her side of the story. From Leonard Cohen to Virginia Woolf, to the tragic life of Lady Jane Grey,
Death has walked in their shadows and now shares her insights on them. She was there at the dawn of time, when the first cave paintings
were created, and she will be with us until the end. However, she does have one final surprise up her sleeve…
Read our full review.
Terms of Restitution by Denzil Meyrick (3 March 2022).
Gangland boss Zander Finn is so sickened by the brutal murder of his son in a Paisley pub, he decides to change his life. Following
the advice of his priest and mentor, he moves clandestinely to London and becomes an ambulance driver. But when his old second-in-command
Malky Maloney tracks him down on a London street, Finn knows he must return. Both his real family and his crime family face an existential
threat from Albanian mobsters determined to take control of the Scottish underworld.
Read our full review.
