POLYGON NEW TITLES 2014
Birlinn Limited was established in 1992 by Managing Director Hugh Andrew, and is comprised of a number of imprints. Birlinn publishes Scottish and general UK interest books, from biography to history, military history, sport and Scottish Gaelic. Children’s books are also included in this list. The name comes from the old Norse word ‘birlinn’, meaning a long boat or small galley used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages. Polygon publishes literary fiction and poetry, both classic and modern, from Scottish writers such as Robin Jenkins, George Mackay Brown and the author of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Alexander McCall Smith, as well as selected music and film titles. International writers including JanPhilipp Sendker, Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti are also published under this imprint. Polygon was originally set up by students of Edinburgh University in the late 1960s. Arena Sport is Birlinn’s sport imprint and is designed for the general trade. The sport books range from football and rugby, to golf and cycling. These books have an international as well as national appeal. Arena’s first titles were published in June 2013. John Donald publishes academic books.
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New Titles 2014 Alexander McCall Smith The Forever Girl Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party Precious and the Mystery Beads Jan-Philipp Sendker A Well-Tempered Heart Rosemary Goring After Flodden Jake Wallis Simons Jam Christopher Rush Will Stuart Clark The Day Without Yesterday Shirley McKay Friend & Foe Gillian Galbraith The Good Priest Troubled Waters Sara Sheridan England Expects Denzil Meyrick The Last Witness Bill Janovitz Rocks Off Zoë Howe Barbed Wire Kisses Tom Doyle Man on the Run Ron Butlin The Magicians of Scotland Tom Pow Wild Adventure Concerning the Atlas of Scotland Sorley MacLean Selected Poems Reprints
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NEW TITLES
THE FOREVER GIRL Alexander McCall Smith NEW ISBN 9781846972294 February 2014 Price £16.99 Demy Hbk TPS 215x135mm Extent 288pp Category Fiction Rights: UK and Commonwealth
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From the author of the best-selling and universally adored No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series comes this stand-alone, bighearted and often heartbreaking novel about unrequited love and the unexpected places it takes us. At the age of four Clover chooses her own name. Aged six, she falls in love with her best friend, James, with whom she happily spends all her time. But in the adult world, things are not so simple: at the same time that Clover’s mother finds she’s fallen out of love with her husband, she realises that James’s father is interested in her. As the children grow into adulthood, their connection becomes more complicated as well: James drifts away from Clover, but she keeps him in her sights. She attends the same college in Scotland and then follows him to London, Sydney, Singapore, rebuilding her life in every city, hoping each time that James will see what he is missing. As Clover and James, and their parents, navigate their irresistible but baffling mazes of emotion, we are given a beautifully realised tale about how love, even if unrequited, can shape a life.
ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH is one of the world’s most prolific and most popular authors. For many years he was a professor of Medical Law, then, after the publication of his highly successful No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold over 25 million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction. His various series of books have been translated into over 46 languages and become bestsellers throughout the world. These include the 44 Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in the Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the von Igelfeld series and the Corduroy Mansions novels. Praise for The Forever Girl: ‘Sensitively written with lovely rounded characters, this is an absolute gem’ – Lovereading ‘[H]is fluency is remarkable, as is his ability to engage the interest and sympathy of the reader [. . .] he is true to one’s experience of life in a way that comparatively few novelists are’ – Allan Massie
FATTY O’ LEARY’S DINNER PARTY Alexander McCall Smith NEW 9781846973000 August 2014 Price £9.99 Demy Hbk TPS 170x125mm Extent 288pp Category Fiction Rights: UK and Commonwealth
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Fatty’s loving wife Betty plans a trip to Ireland for his 40th birthday and almost immediately things go wrong: the seats in economy class on the plane are too small; Irish bathroom furniture is not as commodious as he’d have liked. And all the time Fatty must put up with the unthinking cruelty of strangers. In an hilarious and touching portrayal of a kindly and misunderstood soul, McCall Smith has created yet another memorable character who will become an instant favourite to his many fans.
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Praise for Alexander McCall Smith: ‘One of the remarkable things about McCall Smith is the unwavering charm of his tone’ – Rosemary Goring, Sunday Herald ‘For me the nicest writer in Scotland is Alexander McCall Smith. The Importance of Being Seven made me feel good about life, the universe and everything, even poor wee Bertie’s mother, Irene’ – Alex Gray, Herald ‘It is McCall Smith’s particular genius to be able to look on the brighter side of life, and he’s seldom done so more enjoyably’ – Scotsman ‘A joyous, charming portrait of city life and human foibles, which moves beyond its setting to deal with deep moral issues and love, desire and friendship’ – Sunday Express
Precious 4 A New Case for Precious Ramotswe
‘Quirky and original . . . told with warmth, wit and intelligence, and McCall Smith’s cast of characters are beautifully observed. It’s a page-turner with many happy endings. Perfect’ – Daily Express
PRECIOUS AND THE MYSTERY BEADS A New Case for Precious Ramotswe Alexander McCall Smith NEW ISBN 9781846973048 August 2014 Price £9.99 Hbk TPS 185x125mm Extent 96pp Category Children’s Fiction Rights: UK and Commonwealth (excl. Canada)
‘Richly illustrates McCall Smith’s absolute mastery of the art of storytelling’ – The Lady ‘Everything about [McCall Smith] is appealing. He’s just full of delight – it just bubbles out of him’ – Sunday Herald ‘A rare pleasure’ – Daily Telegraph
Also available as an eBook
‘A publishing phenomenon’ – Guardian It is hard to think of a contemporary writer more genuinely engaging … [his] novels are also extremely funny: I find it impossible to think about them without smiling’ – Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday ‘A treasure of a writer whose books deserve immediate devouring’ – Marcel Berlins, Guardian ‘It delivers a benevolent commentary on the quirks of human nature and absurdities of modern life, occasionally exasperated but almost always kind. There is plenty of authorial wisdom but it’s always tongue-in-cheek, with a wink towards the reader’ – The Bookbag ‘Its author’s gentle humour and playful teasing out of moral dilemmas great and small are there in abundance’ – Scotsman
Precious Ramotswe’s early years as a precocious detective continue in the fourth book in this delightful series for all ages. Precious and the Monkeys has now sold over 16k copies in both Scots and English hardback editions. This lates title is a mustread for Precious’s many fans. Well before Precious Ramotswe founded her Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency, as an eight-year-old girl she was already solving mysteries. Here, in this delightful, new, enchanting tale for children, we see how the young Precious became the crafty and intuitive private investigator we all know and love! Find out as Alexander McCall Smith tells the story of another adventure featuring Precious Ramotswe.
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‘Mr McCall Smith isn’t only incapable of writing an unfunny sentence, he is particularly wise on human weakness even in nice people. The way he gently and accurately exposes the less charitable thoughts that everyone sometimes thinks so resonates that you feel he can read your own mind’ – Kate Green, Country Life
TRAINS AND LOVERS 9781846972638 Pbk £7.99
‘There are those who fear McCall Smith will burn himself out, but I’m not one of them. It seems, rather, that as he breathes, so he writes. He is, thus, to be envied’ – Sunday Herald
TRAINS AND LOVERS 9781846972454 Hbk £9.99
THE NO.1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY 9781846970610 hbk £50.00
‘His writing is as warm as cocoa, as cosy as thermal underwear, and just what the doctor ordered for cold winter evenings. Exceedingly good’ – The Times
BERTIE’S GUIDE TO LIFE AND MOTHERS 9781846972539 Hbk £16.99
PRECIOUS AND THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING LION 9781846972553 hbk £9.99
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PRECIOUS AND THE MONKEYS 9781846972195 pbk £6.99
PRECIOUS AND THE MYSTERY OF MEERKAT HILL 9781846972546 pbk £6.99 WWW.POLYGONBOOKS.CO.UK
NEW TITLES
A WELL TEMPERED HEART Jan-Philipp Sendker NEW ISBN 9781846972850 March 2014 Price £8.99 B Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 336pp Category Fiction
JAN-PHILIPP SENDKER, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. He lives in Berlin with his family.
Also available as an eBook
Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads; her boyfriend recently left her, she has suffered a miscarriage, and she is, despite her wealth, unhappy with her professional life. Julia is lost and exhausted. One day, in the middle of an important business meeting, she hears a stranger’s voice in her head that causes her to leave the office without explanation. In the following days, her crisis only deepens. Not only does the female voice refuse to disappear, but it starts to ask questions Julia has been trying to avoid. Why do you live alone? To whom do you feel close? What do you want in life? Interwoven with Julia’s story is that of a Burmese woman named Nu Nu who finds her world turned upside down when Burma goes to war and calls on her two young sons to be child soldiers. This spirited novel, like The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, explores the most inspiring and passionate terrain: the human heart. Praise for The Art of Hearing Heartbeats: THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS 9781846972409 Pbk £8.99
‘A magical tale to capture your imagination’ – My Weekly
AFTER FLODDEN Rosemary Goring NEW ISBN 9781846972836 February 2014 Price £8.99 B Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 400pp Category Historical Fiction
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Patrick Paniter was James IV’s right-hand man, a diplomatic genius who was in charge of the guns at the disastrous battle of Flodden in September 1513. After the death of his king he is tormented by guilt as he relives the events that led to war. When Louise Brenier, daughter of a rogue sea trader, asks his help in finding out if her brother Benoit was killed in action, it is the least he can do to salve his conscience. Not satisfied with the news he brings, Louise sets off to find out the truth herself, and swiftly falls foul of one of the lawless clans that rule the ungovernable borderlands. After Flodden is a novel about the consequences of the battle of Flodden, as seen through the eyes of several characters who either had a hand in bringing the country to war, or were profoundly affected by the outcome. There have been very few novels about Flodden, despite its significance, and none from this perspective. It’s a racy adventure, combining political intrigue and romance, and its readership will be anyone who loves historical fiction, or is interested in the history of Scotland and the turbulent, ungovernable borderlands between Scotland and England.
ROSEMARY GORING was born in Dunbar and studied social and economic history at the University of St Andrews. She was the literary editor of Scotland on Sunday, followed by a brief spell as editor of Life & Work, the Church of Scotland’s magazine, before returning to newspapers as literary editor of the Herald, and later also of the Sunday Herald. In 2007 she published Scotland: The Autobiography: 2000 Years of Scottish History By Those Who Saw it Happen, which has since been published in America and Russia.
A swashbuckling tale in the best tradition of adventure fiction . . . charged with melancholy and menace’ – Times Literary Supplement ‘A well-told tale of a violent time; fast-moving and packed with incident’ – Andrew Miller, Costa-winning author of Pure ‘A well-crafted tale which drives forward with unremitting pace’ – Scotland on Sunday
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AFTER FLODDEN 9781846972720 Hbk £14.99
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JAKE WALLIS SIMONS is a novelist, journalist and graphic artist. His acclaimed first novel, The Exiled Times of a Tibetan Jew, was named by the Independent on Sunday as a Book of the Year. Jake writes features for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, the Telegraph, La Repubblica and other publications, and he is a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent. Born in London in 1978, he is a fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, and Practitioner-inResidence at Bournemouth University. He lives with his family in Winchester. www.jakewallissimons.com
JAM Jake Wallis Simons NEW ISBN 9781846972805 April 2014 Price £12.99 Pbk TPS 228x155mm Extent 352pp Category Fiction
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As darkness falls on the M25, the flow of traffic comes to a halt. Time passes. More time passes. Then more. Drivers switch off their engines, then get out of their cars. And so the story begins . . . In this bold, state-of-the-nation novel, Jake Wallis Simons brings together characters from all walks of life and explores what happens when lives collide on the M25. Praise for The English German Girl: ‘Kept me up at night . . . amazing. It has been in my thoughts since’ – Guardian ‘Well researched and very moving’ – The Times
THE PURE 9781846972737 Pbk £7.99
THE ENGLISH GERMAN GIRL 9781846972089 Pbk £8.99
CHRISTOPHER RUSH was born in St Monans and was a teacher of literature in Edinburgh for thirty years. His books include A Twelvemonth and a Day and the highly acclaimed To Travel Hopefully. A Twelvemonth and a Day served as inspiration for the film Venus Peter, released in 1989. The story was also reworked by Rush in a simplified version in 1992 as a children’s picture book, Venus Peter Saves the Whale, illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick, which won the Friends of the Earth 1993 Earthworm Award for the book published that year that would most help children to enjoy and care for the Earth..
WILL Christopher Rush NEW ISBN 9781846972782 February 2014 Price £9.99 Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 512pp Category Historical Fiction
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William Shakespeare is dying, with his lawyer at his bedside. It is time to dictate his will. But how can a man put his affairs in order before he’s come to terms with his past? Acclaimed poet, novelist, and Shakespeare professor Christopher Rush has put thirty years of scholarship and creativity into this unforgettable reimagining of the Bard’s life. Rush takes readers into the mind of William Shakespeare, a man whose almost superhuman art was forged from very human frailties and misfortunes. Will takes us back to Shakespeare’s childhood, his first encounters with sex, and the dangers of politics, plague, and love. We hear the chilling account of the Tyburn executions, see him crossing the frozen Thames with the wooden beams that would become the Globe theater, and return with him to Stratford on the heartbreaking journey to bury his only son. Rush has created an utterly irresistible figure whose voice rings true across four hundred years – irrepressible, bawdy, witty, and wise, his every word steeped in the situations and phrases of his own plays. ‘Startlingly poetic … excellent’ – The Spectator ‘This fictional autobiography does more than eulogize … Burgess is the only other novelist to pass this test’ – Times Literary Supplement ‘A brilliantly witty and imaginative piece of writing’ – Classic FM
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NEW TITLES
THE DAY WITHOUT YESTERDAY Stuart Clark NEW ISBN 9781846972829 April 2014 Price £8.99 B Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 288pp Category Fiction
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Europe is marching blindly into the First World War and Berlin is in a storm of nationalist marches and army recruitment. Albert Einstein anticipates the carnage to come when his university colleagues begin work on poison gas to ‘shorten the war’. He is also struggling with the collapse of his marriage in the wake of an illicit affair. Increasingly isolated, Einstein finds his academic work sidelined with few people entertaining his outlandish new way of understanding the universe. Meanwhile, in the trenches of the western front, devoutly religious young Belgian Georges Lemaître vows to become both a physicist and a Catholic priest if he survives. When the war ends, Einstein does make his breakthrough and is thrust into the international limelight. Lemaître confronts him with a startling concept: that buried in the maths of the theory of relativity is a beginning of space and time, a moment when the universe came into existence – a day without yesterday. But can the priest be trusted? Or is he simply trying to foist a version of Biblical Genesis onto Einstein’s now world famous theory? ‘Sit under the stars and wonder, not just at their eternal beauty and mystery, but at the courage of the men who risked their lives so we could understand them’ – Daily Mail ‘The best historical fiction goes beyond dates and events, giving historical figures emotions, achievements and failings. This is very much the case here’ – We Love This Book
STUART CLARK is a widely read astronomy journalist whose career is devoted to presenting the complex world of astronomy to the general public. Stuart holds a first class honours degree and a PhD in astrophysics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a former Vice Chair of the Association of British Science Writers and is the cosmology consultant for New Scientist. In 2000 the Independent placed him alongside Stephen Hawking and the Astronomer Royal, Professor Sir Martin Rees, as one of the ‘stars’ of British astrophysics teaching.
THE DAY WITHOUT YESTERDAY 9781846972478 Hbk £12.99
THE SENSORIUM OF GOD 9781846972379 Pbk £8.99
THE SKY’S DARK LABYRINTH 9781846972157 Pbk £8.99
‘A blend of historical fiction and astronomy that most people with an interest in science will wish to obtain’ – Sir Patrick Moore
FRIEND & FOE A Hew Cullan Mystery Shirley McKay NEW ISBN 9781846972171 May 2014 Price £12.99 C Pbk TPS 228x155mm Extent 320pp Category Historical Fiction
Also available as an eBook
SHIRLEY MCKAY was born in Tynemouth but now lives with her family in Fife. At the age of fifteen she won the Young Observer playwriting competition, her play being performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs. She went on to study English and Linguistics at the University of St Andrews before attending Durham University for postgraduate study in Romantic and Seventeenth-Century prose. She was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. Shirley works as a freelance proofreader.
St Andrews, 1583. The young king James VI is confined at Falkland Palace, plotting his escape. Dissension rages between Kirk and Crown, the king and his ‘lord enterprisers’, and between the separate factions of the church. In St Andrews Castle, a bishop in decline plays out his darkest fantasies, while Hew and his friend Giles investigate the true source of his sickness, uncovering corruption at its heart. The death of a young soldier, implicating Hew’s sister and Giles’s wife Meg, leads Hew to an astonishing discovery, and towards his blackest hour, his fortunes inextricable from those of James himself. ‘Intoxicating mix of dramatic crime and repressed passion’ – New Books ‘A gripping mystery that holds the reader to the very last page, and a marvellous portrait of St Andrews in the sixteenth century’ – John Burnside
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TIME & TIDE 9781846971945 pbk £12.99
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FATE & FORTUNE 9781846971808 pbk £8.99
HUE & CRY 9781846971525 pbk £8.99
NEW TITLES
GILLIAN GALBRAITH grew up near Haddington. For seventeen years, she was an advocate specialising in medical negligence and agricultural law cases. Since then, she has been the legal correspondent for Scottish Farmer and has written law reports for The Times. She lives deep in the country near Kinross with her husband and daughter, plus assorted cats, dogs, hens and bees.
THE GOOD PRIEST A Father Vincent Ross Mystery Gillian Galbraith NEW ISBN 9781846972799 April 2014 Price £14.99 Demy Hbk TPS 215x135mm Extent 256pp Category Crime Fiction
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In the house of a Roman Catholic bishop a man lies in a pool of blood. Out in the bishop’s diocese the quiet life of parish priest Father Vincent Ross is about to be thrown into turmoil by a terrifying revelation. There are ugly scandals being hidden by the church he has served for so long, and a murderer is on the prowl. The police and the authorities are groping in the dark, but Father Ross has been given special information that he cannot disclose to anyone. It gradually dawns on him that he and he alone can unravel the mystery and bring the nightmare of violence to an end. He must put his personal safety, his reputation and finally his life on the line. Praise for Gillian Galbraith: BLOOD IN THE WATER 9781841831121 Pbk £7.99
WHERE THE SHADOW FALLS 9781846971068 Pbk £7.99
NO SORROW TO DIE 9781846971754 Pbk £7.99
THE ROAD TO HELL 9781846972522 Pbk £7.99
DYING OF THE LIGHT 9781846971433 Pbk £7.99
‘Highly readable’ – Alexander McCall Smith ‘[Galbraith] offers a much needed female perspective on the city and the genre’ – Scottish Field ‘An author to watch’ – Publishing News
TROUBLED WATERS An Alice Rice Mystery Gillian Galbraith NEW ISBN 9781846972935 September 2014 Price £12.99 Hbk TPS 215x135mm Extent 224pp Category Crime Fiction
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A young, disabled girl is lost on a winter’s night in Leith, unable to help herself or find her way home. Someone is combing the streets, frantically searching for her. Within hours of her disappearance, a body is washed up on Beamer Rock, a tiny island in the Forth being used as part of the foundations for the new Queensferry Bridge. No sooner has Detective Inspector Alice Rice managed to discover the identity of that body than another one is washed up on the edge of the estuary, in Belhaven Bay. What is the connection between the two bodies? Has the killer any other victims in their sights and if so, can Alice solve the puzzle before another life is taken? In this novel, the sixth in the series, appearances belie reality, and truths and falsehoods gradually merge, becoming indistinguishable.
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ENGLAND EXPECTS A Mirabelle Bevan Mystery Sara Sheridan NEW ISBN 9781846972812 ISBN 9781846972904 April 2014 July 2014 Price £16.99 Hbk Price £7.99 B Pbk TPS 228x153mm TPS 198x129mm Extent 256pp Extent 288pp Category Crime Fiction Category Crime Fiction
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SARA SHERIDAN writes fiction for adults and children. Previous recent novels include The Secret Mandarin (2009) and Secret of the Sands (2011), both published by HarperCollins. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin. Sara sits on the committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland and was Project Manager for the 26 Treasures Project in Scotland 2011. Sara has her own website – www.sarasheridan.co.uk. – and is very active on Facebook and Twitter. She lives in Edinburgh with her family.
Set during the summer heatwave of 1953, England Expects finds Mirabelle and Vesta investigating the seemingly unrelated murders of a racing journalist and a cleaning woman. Their searches lead them through Brighton Pavilion’s crumbling passageways to the quad of a Cambridge college and finally into the shady underworld of Brighton freemasonry. And, while not on the murder trail, Vesta has to make some difficult decisions about her personal life. Praise for the series : ‘Mirabelle has a dogged tenacity to rival Poirot’ – Sunday Herald ‘I was gripped from start to finish’ – Newbooks magazine ‘Unfailingly stylish, undeniably smart’ – Daily Record ‘A crime force to be reckoned with’ – Good Reads ‘Plenty of colour and action, will engage the reader from the first page to the last. Highly recommended’ – Bookbag
THE LAST WITNESS A D. C. I. Daley Thriller Denzil Meyrick NEW ISBN 9781846972881 July 2014 Price £7.99 B Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 280pp Category Crime Fiction
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James Machie was a man with a genius for violence, his criminal empire spreading beyond Glasgow into the UK and mainland Europe. Fortunately, James Machie is dead, assassinated in the back of a prison ambulance following his trial and conviction. But now, five years later, he is apparently back from the grave, set on avenging himself on those who brought him down. Top of his list is his previous associate, Frank MacDougall, who is living under the protection of D.C.I. Jim Daley in the small Scottish town of Kinloch. Daley knows that, having been the key to Machie’s conviction, his old friend and colleague D.S. Scott is almost as big a target. And nothing, not even death, has ever stood in James Machie’s way . . . Praise for Denzil Meyrick: ‘Touches of dark humour, multi-layered and compelling’ – Daily Record ‘Has the ability to give even the least important person in the plot character and the skill to tell a good tale’ – Scots Magazine ‘Soon to be mentioned in the same breath as authors such as Alex Gray, Denise Mina and Stuart Macbride ... very impressive’ – Ian Baillie, Lennox Herald ‘Tartan noir continues to flourish . . . just the right amount of authenticity . . . gritty writing . . . most memorable’ – Herald WWW.POLYGONBOOKS.CO.UK
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BRIGHTON BELLE 9781846972287 Pbk £7.99
LONDON CALLING 9781846972430 Hbk £16.99
LONDON CALLING 9781846972652 Pbk £7.99
DENZIL MEYRICK was educated in Argyll then, after studying politics, joined Strathclyde Police, serving in Glasgow. After being injured and developing back problems, he entered the business world, and has operated in many diverse roles, including director of a large engineering company and distillery manager, as well as owning a number of his own companies, such as a public bar and sales and marketing company. Meyrick has also worked as a freelance journalist in both print and on radio. His first novel, Whisky from Small Glasses, was published by Ringwood in 2012.
NEW TITLES
BILL JANOVITZ is a singer, guitarist and songwriter in the band Buffalo Tom. He has also released four solo albums. He wrote Exile on Main Street about the iconic stones album and has written extensively for All Music. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.
ROCKS OFF 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones Bill Janovitz NEW ISBN 9781846972997 February 2014 Price £12.99 Demy Pbk TPS 215x135mm Extent 416pp Category Popular Music
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To Bill Janovitz, Stones fanatic, musician and writer, all artists reveal themselves through their work, and the Rolling Stones are no different. Each song exposes a little more of their soul. Rocks Off is a song-by-song chronicle that maps the landmarks of the band’s career while expanding upon their recording and personal history through insightful and energetic prose. Much like friends poring over old records on a Sunday afternoon, the book presents the musical leaps taken by the band and discusses how the lyrical content reflected and influenced popular culture. Most of the song choices – fifty in all – are the classic hits, however, the book digs deeper into beloved album tracks and more rare songs with unique stories. Rocks Off is the ultimate listening guide that will spur readers to dust off those old albums and listen in with a newfound perspective on one of the most acclaimed rock’n’roll bands of all time. ‘There are many sorts of Rolling Stones fans, but all of them will love this book’ – Wall Street Journal ‘Even fanatics will learn something here’ – Kirkus Reviews
ZOË HOWE is a music author whose other books include the acclaimed Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits; ‘How’s Your Dad?’ Living in the Shadow of a Rock Star Parent; British Beat Explosion – Rock n’ Roll Island and Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson’s memoir Looking Back At Me, published by Cadiz Music in 2012. Her writing has also appeared in The Quietus, Company, Notion, BBC Music, Holy Moly, Classic Rock and NME. Zoë has also made music radio series for stations including the awardwinning Resonance FM, and she can be heard talking about rock n’ roll from time to time on BBC 6 Music, Absolute Radio, Planet Rock, BBC London and elsewhere.
BARBED WIRE KISSES The Jesus and Mary Chain Story Zoë Howe NEW ISBN 9781846972492 May 2014 Price £12.99 Pbk TPS 226x153mm Extent 304pp Category Biography/Music
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Musically, culturally and in terms of sheer attitude, The Jesus and Mary Chain stand alone. Their seminal debut album Psychocandy would change the course of popular music, and their iconic blend of psychotic white noise, darkly surreal lyrics and pop sensibility continues to enchant and confound. This authorised book is the fierce, frank and often funny tale of The Jesus and Mary Chain, told by the band members and their associates for the first time. The story begins in the faceless new town of East Kilbride, near Glasgow, at the dawn of the 1980s with two chronically shy brothers, Jim and William Reid, listening to music in their shared bedroom. What follows charts the formation of The Jesus and Mary Chain, their incendiary live performances, their relationship with Alan McGee’s Creation Records and those famous fraternal tensions that prepared McGee for the onslaught of the Gallaghers, with plenty of feedback, fighting and, most importantly, perfectly crafted pop along the way. It is time this vastly influential group and sometime ‘public enemy’ had their say. ‘Scuffed-up classic rock with all guns blazing’ – Uncut ‘The first time Alan McGee saw The Jesus and Mary Chain was the soundcheck at his club and he thought they were incredible. “It’s insane, it’s mind blowing, it’s not music, but it’s, like, complete enthusiasm” he said’ – Bobby Gillespie
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MAN ON THE RUN Paul McCartney in the 1970s Tom Doyle NEW ISBN 9781846972928 September 2014 Price £9.99 Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 256pp Category Crime Fiction
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TOM DOYLE is an acclaimed music journalist, author and long-standing contributing editor to Q, whose work has also appeared in Mojo, the Guardian, Marie Claire, Elle, The Times and Sound on Sound. Over the years he has been responsible for key magazine-cover profiles of Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Kate Bush, Elton John, R.E.M. and U2, amongst many others. He is the author of The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie (Bloomsbury 1998, Polygon 2011) which has attained the status of a classic rock biography since its original publication.
The most famous living rock musician on the planet, Paul McCartney is now regarded as a slightly cosy figure, an (inter)national treasure. Back in the 1970s, however, McCartney cut a very different figure. He was, literally, a man on the run. Desperately trying to escape the shadow of the Beatles, he became an outlaw hippy millionaire, hiding out on his Scottish farmhouse in Kintyre before travelling the world with makeshift bands and barefoot children. It was a time of numerous drug busts and brilliant, banned and occasionally baffling records. For McCartney, it was an edgy, liberating and sometimes frightening period of his life that has largely been forgotten. Man on the Run paints an illuminating picture: from McCartney’s nervous breakdown following the Beatles’ split through his apparent victimisation by the authorities to the rude awakening of his imprisonment for marijuana possession in Japan in 1980 and the shocking wake-up call of John Lennon’s murder. Ultimately, it poses the question: if you were one quarter of the Beatles, could you really outrun your past? ‘The go-to guy if you want to coax confessions from a superstar’ – Mojo ‘How Paul learnt to let it be . . . a level-headed and admirably non-judgemental portrait’ – Sunday Express MAN ON THE RUN 9781846972393 Hbk £17.99
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THE MAGICIANS OF SCOTLAND Ron Butlin NEW ISBN 9781846972911 July 2014 Price £9.99 Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 112pp Category Poetry
The Magicians of Scotland will build upon the success of The Magicians of Edinburgh (reprinted five times) and on that book’s critical acclaim. Ron Butlin is the Edinburgh Makar and this collection will have an Edinburgh emphasis while seeking to celebrate and interrogate Scotland and its people at a crucial turning point in our country’s history. Just as The Magicians of Edinburgh’s themes ranged from Sir Walter Scott to the new Parliament, from Greyfriar’s Bobby to the trams, the themes of the new collection will include Scotland’s past, present and future, its landscape and people, its myths and politics – from Bannockburn and Flodden to Faslane, the Loch Ness Monster, wind farms, Hutton to Higgs, Bonnie Prince Charlie to Donald Trump. It will be accessible, serious and entertaining.
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RON BUTLIN is a poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer and opera librettist whose works have been broadcast in the UK and abroad and have been translated into many languages. His volumes of poetry include the award-winning Ragtime in Unfamiliar Bars (Secker & Warburg, 1985) and Histories of Desire (Bloodaxe, 1995). His New and Selected Poems was published by Barzan in 2005. His novels include The Sound of My Voice (winner of the Prix Mille Pages 2004 and Prix Lucioles 2005, both for Best Foreign Novel), Night Visits and most recently Belonging. He was appointed Edinburgh Makar in May 2008.
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TOM POW was born in Edinburgh in 1950. Primarily an award-winning poet, he has also written young adult novels, picture books, radio plays and travel books. He has held various writing posts, including that of Scottish/Canadian Writing Fellow, based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and Virtual Writer in Residence (Scotland’s first) for the Scottish Library Association’s Scottish Writers Project. Tom was the first ever Writer in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival from 2001 to 2003. From 2000 to 2009, he was a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Storytelling at the University of Glasgow in Dumfries, and is currently Honorary Senior Research Fellow there as well as a part-time lecturer on Lancaster University’s distance learning Masters in Creative Writing. More information can be found at www.tompow.co.uk.
IN ANOTHER WORLD 9781846971952 Pbk £12
WILD ADVENTURE Tom Pow NEW ISBN 9781846972874 June 2014 Price £12.99 Pbk TPS 215 x 135mm Extent 112pp Category Poetry
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Tom Pow’s beautiful, powerful poems examine the remarkable life of Thomas Watling. Watling was born in Dumfries in September 1762 and raised by a long-suffering maiden aunt. Convicted of forging Bank of Scotland one-guinea notes he was sentenced to fourteen years in the recently founded colony of Botany Bay in Australia. The first professional artist to arrive in the colony, Watling was seconded to its Surgeon General (and amateur naturalist) John White. His pioneer paintings of birds, animals and the landscape became some of the principal records of the earliest days of Australia. He was eventually pardoned, on 5 April 1797, and left Australia, eventually returning home to Dumfries. He died there, most likely in 1814.
IN THE BECOMING 9781846971228 Pbk £12.99
CONCERNING THE ATLAS OF SCOTLAND Tom Pow NEW ISBN 9781846973017 August 2014 Price £9.99 Pbk TPS 234x190mm Extent 64pp Category Poetry
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Tom Pow spent six months as writer in residence at the National Library of Scotland Map Library in Edinburgh. He was so inspired by the collection that they hold and by the stories that they tell that he wrote a collection of poetry based on that experience. Published by Polygon but with input from the National Library and illustrated with details from the collection, this beautiful and quite haunting collection will be welcomed by map lovers as well as poetry lovers.
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SORLEY MACLEAN: SELECTED POEMS Hallaig and Other Poems Introduced by Angus Peter Campbell and Aonghas MacNeacail NEW ISBN 9781846973024 August 2014 Price £9.99 Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 130pp Category Poetry
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This selected works of Sorley MacLean brings together published poetry from MacLean’s own edited volumes of poetry. The poems will be given in their original Gaelic with English translations and introduced by Angus Peter Campbell and Aonghas MacNeacail. Sorley MacLean was born on the island of Raasay in 1911. He was brought up within a family and community immersed in Gaelic language and culture, particularly song. He studied English at Edinburgh University from 1929, taking a first-class honours degree. Despite this influence, he eventually adopted Gaelic as the medium most appropriate for his poetry. He translated much of his own work into English, opening it up to a wider public. He fought in North Africa during World War II, before taking up a career in teaching, holding posts on Mull, in Edinburgh and finally as Head Teacher at Plockton High School. Amongst other awards and honours, he received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1990. He died in 1996 at the age of 85. ‘A collection that explodes the cliché of Gaelic poetry’ – Guardian ‘Convincingly demonstrates why MacLean was as important an influence on the badachd as Eliot and Pound were on English-language poetry’ – Sunday Herald ‘One of the very greatest of the Gaelic poets … and one of the great love poets of the world’ – Iain Crichton Smith
REPRINTS FOUND AT SEA Andrew Greig ISBN 9781846972690 March 2014 Price £8.99 B Pbk TPS 198x129mm Extent 72pp Category Poetry
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Bon voyage!
KIDNAPPED AND CATRIONA Robert Louis Stevenson ISBN 9781846970337 May 2014 Price £7.99 Pbk TPS 215 x 135mm Extent 496pp Category Classic Fiction
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HANDFAST Lizzie MacGregor ISBN 9781904598244 March 2014 Price £9.99 Hbk TPS 165x125mm Extent 64pp Category Poetry
Andrew Greig recounts in poetic sequence the tale of his open dinghy voyage from Stromness in Scapa Flow and an overnight stay on Cava (an island formerly inhabited for over twenty years by two unusual women) in poetic sequence. In sailing small boats in scary open waters Andrew Greig found a new activity and a new metaphor for life. Written in six weeks, Found at Sea is a ‘very wee epic’ about sailing, male friendship and a voyage.
In Kidnapped (1886) and later fiction such as The Master of Ballantrae (1888), Stevenson examined some of the extreme and contrary currents of Scotland’s past, often projecting a dualism of both personality and belief. This dualism is most famous in Kidnapped, whose two central characters are David Balfour, a Lowland Whig, and Alan Breck Stewart, a Highland Jacobite. The novel revolves around their friendship and their differences, suggesting a metaphor for Scotland itself.
Handfast: Scottish Poems for Weddings and Affirmations. Ranging from grand to gently humorous this collection is suitable for reading aloud in church, registry, field or the front room. Find the words for that special day, and keep them with you for always.
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ANGUS PETER CAMPBELL (Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul) is an award-winning poet and novelist in both Gaelic and English, journalist, broadcaster and actor. Born and brought up on the Island of South Uist he now lives on the Isle of Skye with his wife and family. His Gaelic novel An Oidhche mus do Sheòl Sinn (2004) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year and was voted by the public into the Top 10 of the 100 Best Ever Books from Scotland in the Orange/List magazine awards. AONGHAS MACNEACAIL was born in Uig on Skye in 1942. He is a poet and songwriter, journalist, researcher, broadcaster, scriptwriter and filmmaker. He has published collections of poems in both Gaelic and English, and his writing has appeared in literary journals in Scotland and worldwide. He was winner of the 2006 Gaelic Prize of the Wigtown Poetry Competition for his poem ‘An fhìor bheinn’, and in 2007 was among the prizewinners of the major Ireland-based Strokestown International Poetry Competition.
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