-
1 week ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘Carso sits on the very north edge of Britain, higher than the Highlands, where the swirling waters of the Atlantic and the North Sea meet, and do their best to whack the earth to bits.’Whether you’re packing your suitcase with a polka dot bikini, a pair of sturdy boots, or pack of playing cards, you must also remember to pack a book or two (or five!). Here are some suggestions across a whole lotta genres, that are just out, or coming out over the summer months.
-
1 week ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘This confluence of styles – analytical yet elegiac, objective yet personal – makes To See Ourselves a hard book to categorise but an easy book to love.’David Robinson thoroughly enjoys Alistair Moffat’s personal history of Scotland after the Second World War, a time of massive social change.
-
2 weeks ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘While it felt as if more people than ever were talking about DEI, I grew sceptical as to whether the volume of conversation was having a positive impact on LGBTQ communities suffering the most as a result of badly designed systems.’Kevin Guyan’s Rainbow Trap is an enlightening exploration of how social categorisation systems work, particularly within the LGBT community, and how they help and hinder genuine inclusion efforts.
-
3 weeks ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘They say it takes a village to raise a child. I believe it takes a village to get someone through serious illness.’Gillian Sherriffs has written and compiled a unique account of her experience with breast cancer, one that is sure to resonate with many readers. Here, we extract the book’s prologue, which we hope will lead you to seek out this beautifully-produced and honest book. ElephantBy Gillian SherriffsPublished by Into BooksElephant is a book that found me. I’m glad that you have now found it.
-
1 month ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘The issue has struck a chord with thousands of people and we’re delighted to have ignited this cultural conversation to recognise not only this historic miscarriage of justice, but also contemporary inequalities for the vulnerable generally, and women in particular.’Claire Michell and Zoe Venditozzi’s campaign for official recognition of the miscarriage of justice in the country’s historical witch trials has been far-reaching and hugely influential.
-
1 month ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘Caroline Eden not only writes about places you might never have been to, but from her Edinburgh kitchen writes about food in a way that gets to the heart of what life is like there and makes you want to find out more.’David Robinson finds you don’t need to be a foodie to enjoy Caroline Eden’s books on travelling and eating. Cold KitchenBy Caroline EdenPublished by BloomsburyIt’s probably unfair to judge a book by the number of rabbit-holes it sends its reader down.
-
1 month ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘But the world is made of hybrids. Purity is an illusion. We are born of two parents. Even the orange is the offspring of different parents: the mandarin and the pomelo.’In this unique, subversive and intimate hybrid memoir, Katie Goh explores the orange as a means of understanding the world, and herself within it. She covers violence, colonialism, resilience, art and beauty in a book that will make you rethink about the everyday and history’s grand narratives.
-
2 months ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
A Q & A with Emma Cowing ‘Part of what drew me to writing about the world of Scottish showpeople is that it is hidden history, and as we know, women’s history itself is often hidden history.’Emma Cowing’s debut novel The Show Woman is an beautifully-told, action-packed tale of the first all-female circus in Edwardian Britain. BooksfromScotland chatted to her about how the hidden stories from history should be brought out into the open.
-
2 months ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘Ah’d say Murray was one who lost a few lives along the way. So be it. Lives are made to be lost.’Inspired by a true story of one Scot’s rise to prominence, Murray Hall is a historical fiction novel that takes the reader to a dazzling turn-of-the-century New York, where the eponymous Hall has a secret that is only revealed after death. In this extract, a journalist determined to discover the truth speaks to one of Murray’s gambling buddies.
-
2 months ago | 
booksfromscotland.com | Vikki Reilly
‘My Muckle Flugga, though based on the real life Muckle Flugga we swooned over, has perhaps grown to ten times its size. And beyond that my island is known to shape shift, never fully settling. It carries something occult in its soil.’Muckle Flugga is the debut novel by Edinburgh Makar, Michael Pedersen. We chatted to him about his writing life so far. Muckle FluggaBy Michael PedersenPublished by FaberHello Michael, it’s lovely to have you back here on BfS.
