07 New Books From The Highlands & Islands Of Scotland
Welcome How To Use This Catalogue Scroll down through the pages of this pdf, viewing in single or multiple page options, to see new titles listed by publisher. Use the bookmarks (tab on left margin of pdf frame), to locate publishers, and a catagorised list of the books. Click the bookmarks to go to each individual entry in the catalogue. Use the ‘search’ facility (on the toolbar) to search using keywords.
Acair Books p03 Argyll Publishing p15 Birlinn Polygon Ltd p21 Colin Baxter Photography p38 Edinburgh University Press p49 Islands Book Trust p53 Mainstream Publishing p58 National Museums Scotland p65 New Iona Press p69 Rucksack Readers p71 Sandstone Press Ltd p74 The Shetland Times Ltd p93 Two Ravens Press p99 University of Strathclyde p111 Whittles Publishing p113
Welcome to the very first catalogue of new books from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, presenting new books for spring and summer 2007. This catalogue is aimed both at the general reader seeking a great new book to read, and those in the book trade wanting up-to- date information and seeking new publishing opportunities, and contains some 115 titles from 15 publishers from every corner of the Highlands and Islands, as well as books about the region and by the region’s authors published elsewhere in Scotland. In this catalogue we aim to present the quality and diversity of new titles from and about the region; showcase the quality and creativity of the region's authors, and to raise national and international awareness of the strength of the existing and emerging publishing sector in the region. Here you will find titles that explore aspects of the region's unique history, culture, tourism and travel opportunities, along with fiction and poetry. The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are home to a large community of writers, and to the major indigenous languages and dialects of Scotland English, Gaidhlig & Scots. The region is proud of its globally renowned history and heritage, its contemporary culture and beautiful natural environment. Rights enquiries should be pursued directly with the publisher or agent concerned, but if you would like further information on any title, or assistance in contacting and communicating with the publisher concerned, please do contact me, I will be very happy to help you.
If you would like to purchase a copy of any book in this catalogue, please either contact the publisher directly via their own website, or from: www.booksfromscotland.com
Support For Translation In certain circumstances we may be able to provide small grants in support of translation by any publisher from outside of the UK who wishes to translate a new title published in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. If you would like to apply for a small grant for support of translation please contact me directly. Decisions on which applications can be supported will be based on a range and balance of commercial, publishing and other criteria. At this time we do not provide a formal application form, in the first instance, please contact me for an informal discussion of your proposal. This catalogue will be regularly updated and will be available on our website. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy exploring this catalogue. Peter Urpeth Writing Development Coordinator HI~Arts Inverness Scotland Tel: 01463 717091 Int: 0044 1 463 717091 Japan: 01044 1 463 717091 E-mail: peter@hi-arts.co.uk Web: www.hi-arts.co.uk
Welcome 02
Acair Books 7 James Street, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland HS1 2QN Tel: 01851 703020 Int: 0044 1 851 703020 Jpn: 01044 1 851 703020 Fax: 01851 70 3294 Int: 0044 1 851 703294 Jpn: 01044 1 851 703294 E-mail: info@acairbooks.com Web: www.acairbooks.com
THREE DARK DAYS Kenneth MacDonald
This narrative is about an event witnessed and participated in by the author when he was a young merchant seaman on a return trip from New Zealand in his early days in the Merchant Navy. It is the story of one man’s epiphany told with dignity, compassion and fortitude. It demands to be read. It is the searing, unforgettable tale of an ordinary man confronted by extraordinary circumstances. The author is a Lewis crofter/fisherman and this is his first and only book. MacDonald is a native Gaelic speaker but has chosen to write in English. He lives in a rural area and works offshore.
Publisher: Acair Books Category: adult non-fiction Pages: 146 Size: 128 x 196 mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language:English ISBNs: 0 86152 255 9 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 255 2 (13 digit) Publication date: 1999, reprinted 2006 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
04 Acair Books
CAS-CHEUM AN LEÒDHAS Robert M Adam with an introduction by Fionnlagh MacLeòid (Finlay MacLeod)
Robert Adam, the renowned Scottish photographer, came to the Isle of Lewis in the Spring of 1938. His images of the island are brought together for the first time in this new book. He is as much at home on the cliff tops of Lewis as he is on the high tops, and in incomparable images outlines the lives of the people framed within their immutable landscape. This is a book of photographs of breathtaking quality, of a unique place and of the people who were passing through it at the time. Acair will publish his Barra and Mingulay photographs in November 07 in similar format. Finlay MacLeod is an established Gaelic writer on a variety of topics from children’s books to local history, short stories for adults, map-making and general introductions to specialized texts. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Photography Pages: 112 Size: 262 x 220mm (landscape) Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language: English & Gaelic ISBNs: 0 86152 694 5 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 694 9 (13 digit) Publication date: 2006 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
Acair Books 05
MEAS AIR CHRANNAIBH (FRUIT ON BRANCHES) Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul (Angus Peter Campbell)
This is the first collection of Angus Peter Campbell’s modern Gaelic Poetry. The poems are eloquently translated into English by the author, and into beautiful, robust Scots by J Derrick McClure. 'Innovative, thought-provoking, and rich in language and imagery', as the poet, Professor Donald MacAulay, puts it in his introduction. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Poetry Pages: 192 Size: 148 x 210mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language:Gaelic Scots and English ISBNs: 0 86152 330 X(10 digit) 978 0 86152 330 6 (13 digit) Publication date: Summer 2007 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
06 Acair Books
SÙIL AIR FÀIRE (SURVEYING THE MOON) Ruaraidh MacThòmais (Derick Thomson)
Derick Thomson, in this volume, provides the Scottish and wider public with up to 80 Gaelic poems with English versions alongside. This volume of recent poems is long awaited and will add to his already world-acclaimed works. Professor Derick Thomson is regarded by many as Gaeldom’s finest bard. His poetry connects with people of all backgrounds. He is a renowned Gaelic scholar. He is now retired and lives in Glasgow. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Poetry Pages: 160 (approx) Pbk / Hbk: Pbk & Hbk Language:Gaelic and English ISBNs: hardback 0 86152 335 0 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 335 1 (13 digit) paperback 0 86152 340 7 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 340 5 (13 digit) Publication date: Autumn 2007 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
Acair Books 07
THE LIVING PAST Donald MacLeod
This memoir is written in the form of an exchange of letters between the author and a friend’s daughter. The narrative acts as a link between growing up in the sixties and the present day and recalls an earlier way of island life. The writing is strong and humourous and will appeal to readers who have an interest in recalling times which are relatively recent, but rooted firmly in the past. Professor Donald Macleod is Principal of the Free Church College in Edinburgh. A controversial figure in church circles, he has previously written on religious matters. He writes a weekly column for a local newspaper and expresses forthright views on various subjects. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Historical non-fiction Pages: 272 Size: 128 x 196mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language: English ISBNs: 0 86152 320 2 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 320 7 (13 digit) Publication date: 2006, reprinted 2007 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
08 Acair Books
NA NUADH BHĂ€TAICHEAN Ailean Boyd
A new Gaelic book about the MacBrayne fleet which serviced the Islands between 1928 and 1960. Carefully and lovingly researched, and containing pen and ink drawings, photographs, maps and plans (some by the author). Ailean Boyd lives in North Uist and is a teacher by profession. In an earlier life he spent some years in the Merchant Navy. He has always had a love of the MacBrayne Fleet and his expertise and detailed knowledge of his subject are evident in this volume. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Nautical/reference Pages: 104 Size: 216 x 297mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language:Gaelic with English summaries ISBNs: 0 86152 276 1(10 digit) 978 0 86152 276 6 (13 digit) Publication date: 2006 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
Acair Books 09
ST KILDAN HERITAGE Calum Ferguson
This book is based on a previous Gaelic version written a decade ago by the same author. It is a vehicle for understanding the personal lives of the St Kildans, their fears their songs and their stories. It is a treasure trove of narrative, skillfully crafted by an established author. Calum Ferguson is a local island historian, steeped in the culture of Lewis in particular. He has had many books published on local topics of interest which are of relevance and interest to many cultures. His flowing, fireside style is enchanting and carries the reader along into times past. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Historical/non-fiction Pages: 256 Size: 190 x 270mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language: Bilingual English/Gaelic ISBNs: 0 86152 684 8 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 684 0 (13 digit) Publication date: 2006 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
10 Acair Books
AN FHAOCHAG AGUS A’ MHUC-MHARA Julia Donaldson
This rhyming translation involves us in the adventures of a whelk which travels the ocean on the back of a whale. Skilfully and humorously translated. Julia Donaldson in an established and sought-after writer of children’s books in English. This one is translated into Gaelic by Norman Campbell. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Children’s fiction Pages: 32 Size: 280 x 250mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language: Gaelic ISBNs: 0 86152 260 5 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 260 6 (13 digit) Publication date: 2006 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
Acair Books 11
BALACH AIR ITEIG Mark Scott
James, who travels the world tied to his kite, visits places as diverse as Fort William, the Scottish Islands, London and overseas. The magnificent illustrations add colour, drama and beauty to this publication. Mark Scott is the pen-name for a broadcaster, international lawyer and journalist who writes children’s books. He is a keen yachtsman and loves to travel. He lives in Scotland and has teamed up with the renowned illustrator, Ruth Bayley, to produce this beautiful book for children. The book was originally in English and was translated in-house by Acair. Publisher: AcairBooks Category:Children’s fiction Pages: 74 Size: 220 x 276mm Pbk / Hbk: Hbk Language:Gaelic ISBNs: 0 86152 315 6 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 315 3 (13 digit) Publication date: Spring 2006 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
12 Acair Books
TAOISEAN Gracie Summers
Taoisean is a lump of dough which comes to life in the evenings and causes chaos in school giving cause for concern to both pupils and teachers alike. Excellent illustrations by Veronica Petrie enhance the text. Gracie Summers is a children’s Gaelic author. Publisher: Acair Category: Children’s fiction Pages: 44 Size: 190 x 246mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language: Gaelic ISBNs: 0 86152 325 3 (10 digit) 978 0 86152 325 2(13 digit) Publication date: Spring 2007 Rights available: Negotiable Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
Acair Books 13
SNĂŒOMH NAN DUAL John Murray (Iain Moireach)
The voice of John Murray is well known in Gaelic Scotland as a prime playwright of several dramas dealing with humour, pathos and slapstick action. His plays combine the depths of despair with heights of positive emotion leaving his audiences in a simultaneous grip of tumult and elation. Publisher: Acair Books Category: Drama Pages: 224 Size: 216mm x 138mm Pbk / Hbk: Pb Language: Gaelic with English introductions of each play ISBNs: 0 86152340 7 (10 digit) 978061523405 (13 digit) Publication date: August 2007 Distribution: Book Source, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: info@acairbooks.com
14 Acair Books
Argyll Publishing Glendaruel Argyll PA22 3AE Scotland Tel: 01369 820229 Int: 0044 1 369 820229 Jpn: 010 44 1 369 820229 Fax: 01369 820372 Int: 00 44 1 369 820372 Jpn: 010 44 1 369 820372 E-mail: argyll.publishing@virgin.net Web: www.argyllbookstore.co.uk
The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irishness in Scotland: History, Ethnicity, Politics, Culture and Identity Joseph M Bradley Joseph M. Bradley is on the staff of the Institute for Sports Research at the University of Stirling. He has published extensively in sphere of sport and society including books and papers. He also writes in the press. In this book, Bradley focuses on aspects of the story of the Irish in Scotland as seen through a number of cultural, social and political strands. This is achieved by surveying the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Scotland. The G.A.A. is the biggest and most significant cultural and sporting organisation in Ireland. It has also been important wherever the Irish have settled and has been present in Scotland since the Irish in Glasgow founded Red Hugh O’Neill Gaelic Athletic Club in 1897. By looking at the G.A.A. and situating it within the larger story of the Irish in Scotland, Bradley adds to our knowledge and understanding of this community; a community that comprises Scotland’s greatest single group of immigrant descent; a community that in the new millennium partly reflects Scotland's status as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Publisher: Argyll Publishing Category: Non-ficition, sport Pages: 224 Pbk / Hbk: Pb Language: English ISBNs: 10: 1906134014 13: 978-1906134013 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution: Book Source, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: argyll.publishing@virgin.net
16 Argyll Publishing
The Santa Maria Kenneth Steven
A Hebridean boy lives with his grandfather. All his life he has heard whispers of a Spanish galleon that is supposed to have gone down off the island's coast, and stories too of its promised treasure. Much of the story is concerned with daily life island characters and how they interact with the children. The story culminates in a great storm, and the hunt for The Santa Maria begins in earnest. Aimed at 8 - 12 year olds, The Santa Maria gives readers a real sense of what living on an island is like. It deals with the issues of bullying, but most of all imparts a sense of adventure. Publisher: Argyll Publishing Category: Children’s fiction Pages: 160 Pbk / Hbk: Pb Language: English ISBNs: 978 1 906134 02 0 Publication date: 2007 Distribution: Book Source, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: argyll.publishing@virgin.net
Argyll Publishing 17
Wildlife Detective Alan Stewart
Wildlife Detective is an insightful and humorous account of over 40 years policing a sector of criminal activity about which much of the public and even some police officers are unaware. Salmon, deer and game poachers, and the adventures encountered by each side in trying to outwit the other, are the stuff of folklore. But there is a serious side to this and the book demonstrates the breadth of wildlife crime, with case studies covering the taking of freshwater pearl mussels, poisoning birds of prey, illegal trapping and snaring, egg collecting, cruelty, crime against bats and much more. It highlights the inadequacies of early wildlife crime legislation and the consequent failures of cases that inevitably resulted in improved legislation in the early part of the 21st century. The law, how other agencies and organisations help the police, and, crucially, how the evidence is obtained to put a case together is thoroughly explained in a logical yet light way. Interspersed are hilariously funny accounts of criminals outfoxed, cops wild with frustration and the community’s growing appreciation of their environment and its wildlife. AS SEEN ON TV! BBC Series MAY 07 Alan Stewart was appointed Wildlife Liaison Officer with Tayside Police in 1993. He lives in Perthshire with his wife Jan, two dogs and 20 domestic ducks. Alan Stewart is featured as one of BBC Scotland’s Wildlife Detectives. Publisher: Argyll Publishing Category: Non-ficition, natural history Pages: 356 Size: 214 X 144mm Pbk / Hbk: Hb Language: English ISBNs: 10: 1906134049 ISBN-13: 978-1906134044 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution: Book Source, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: argyll.publishing@virgin.net
18 Argyll Publishing
Yesterday Was Summer: The Marion Campbell Story David Adams McGilp & Marian Pallister
Marion Campbell of Kilberry was an extraordinary woman who led an unusual life. Her beginnings, though externally privileged, were burdened by expectation and the poisoned chalice of a failing family estate. This searching yet affectionate biography looks at the woman (dutiful daughter, servicewoman, writer, poet, farmer, politician, historian, archaeologist, celebrity) and her remarkable output and achievements. The life story takes the reader from Marion Campbell’s family origins in the mores of Victorian and Edwardian society, the habits and lifestyle of the Scots landed classes to the dawn of the 21st century. The Campbells, the Highlands, the expectations of women, the events and the great social changes of the 20th century are the backdrop to a spirited and inspiring life. At the time of her death in 2000 she had enriched Scotland’s cultural legacy by publishing more than eighty works in a writing career spanning more than half a century. Her catalogue included fiction for children and adults, non-fiction works dedicated to her native Argyll and Campbell family history, a seminal archaeological survey and a biography of Alexander III, King of Scots. She wrote articles covering subjects as diverse as folklore and astronomy. Publisher: Argyll Publishing Category: Non-ficition, biography Pages: 288 Pbk / Hbk: Hb Language: English ISBNs: 10: 1906134030 ISBN-13: 978-1906134037 Publication date: August 2007 Distribution: Book Source, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: argyll.publishing@virgin.net
Argyll Publishing 19
Fort William and Oban Scottish Highlands Series David O'Neil
This series of small travel guides show visitors where to look for the beauty of the West Highlands of Scotland and the history of its people. In words and pictures David O'Neil shows the Fort William & Oban area as a touring centre is second to none. ALSO IN THIS SERIES . . . Inverness Argyll & the Trossachs The Hebrides Orkney David O'Neil is an artist and photographer and has been a tour guide for the last 15 years. Publisher: Argyll Publishing Category: Non-ficition, Nature, Travel Pbk / Hbk: Pb Language: English ISBNs: 978 1 906134 00 6 Publication date: 2007 Distribution: Book Source, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: argyll.publishing@virgin.net
20 Argyll Publishing
Birlinn Polygon Ltd Newington House 10 Newington Road Edinburgh Scotland EH9 1QS Tel: 0131 668 4371 Int: 0044 1 131 668 4371 Jpn: 010 44 131 668 4371 Fax: 0131 668 4466 Int: 0044 1 131 668 4466 Jpn: 010 44 1 131 668 446 E-mail: info@birlinn.co.uk Web: www.birlinn.co.uk
Blood Hunt Neil Gunn
After a lifetime at sea, old Sandy returns to the land of his fathers to live out his remaining years in the peaceful isolation of a Highland croft. His companions are his dog Queenie, a temperamental cow Nancy, a few hens and his precious books. He befriends the local village boys who come to trust him. When one of these boys, Allan, seeks his helps after killing the man who has seduced his girlfriend, Sandy takes his side, warding off suspicious enquiries from the village policeman, the dead man’s brother. Allan’s girlfriend also comes to seek refuge with Sandy and eventually gives birth to her baby there. A moving and satisfying blend of tragedy and comedy, Blood Hunt has a powerful message – the triumph of love over anger and of the unending renewal of nature. It is a masterly novel by a writer in full maturity. It was Gunn’s second last novel and one of his most masterly. Neil M. Gunn was born in Dunbeath, Caithness in 1891, the seventh of nine children. His father James was a fisherman, and his mother Isabella was a domestic servant. Gunn left the Highlands to live with his sister and her family, and was educated privately, passing his Civil Service exams in 1907. He published short stories throughout the 1920’s and his first novel The Grey Coast in 1926. He wrote several other novels, including The Green Isle of the Deep (1944), The Silver Darlings (1941) and his autobiography, The Atom of Delight, in 1956. He died in 1973.
Publisher: Polygon Category: Fiction Number pages: 256 Size: 198 x 129mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 10: 1 84697 024 5; 13: 978 1 84697 024 5 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
22 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
Celebrations Claire Macdonald
Celebrations is written for anyone who likes to eat and drink well, and to celebrate the milestones in their lives. Almost any event can be an excuse for a party or a feast – birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, christenings, or even just a summer party or barbecue – and Claire Macdonald offers a host of delicious, yet practical, recipes to help even the most hard-pressed cook celebrate life. Menus range from romantic dinners for two, to lunch or dinner parties for twenty or more. Celebrations also includes a stunning selections of the puddings for which Claire Macdonald is so justly famous. Claire Macdonald and her husband run Kinloch Lodge Hotel on the Isle of Skye, which is also their family home. Claire is a well-known exponent of Scottish cooking and travels widely, lecturing and demonstrating recipes. Publisher: Polygon Category: Cookery Number pages: 384 Size: 198 x 129mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1841586064; 13: 978 1 84158 606 9 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 23
DUANAIRE NA SRACAIRE SONGBOOK OF THE PILLAGERS - ANTHOLOGY OF SCOTLAND'S GAELIC VERSE TO 1600 Edited by Wilson McLeod and Meg Bateman, Translations by Meg Bateman
This anthology spans almost a thousand years of Gaelic verse, bringing together for the first time the poetry from the millennium c.6600–1600 ad, when Scotland shared its rich culture with Ireland. It includes a huge range of rich and diverse poetry: prayers and hymns of Iona, lays of Finn, praise poems and satires from the drinking halls of chiefs, courtly songs and lewd rants from the aristocracy, songs of battle and death, poems of love and incantations. All poems appear with facing-page translations which capture the spirit and beauty of the originals, and each poem is accompanied by critical information about the piece itself, the poet and the historical context of his/her work. The entire collection is prefaced by a comprehensive introduction which includes a history of Gaeldom and the Gaelic language in Scotland, as well as an analysis of the role and functions of poetry in Gaelic society. This collection will appeal to poetry lovers, Gaelic speakers and those keen to discover a vital part of our nation’s literary heritage. Meg Bateman was born in Edinburgh and studied Gaelic at Aberdeen University. She is well-known as a poet in her own right. She currently lives on Skye and teaches at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Wilson McLeod teaches in the Department of Scottish Studies and Celtic at Edinburgh University.
Publisher: Polygon Category: Poetry Number pages: 608 Size: 216 x 138 mm Pb /hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN 10: 1 84158 181 X; 13: 978 1 84158 181 1 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
24 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
ISOLATION SHEPHERD Iain R. Thomson
New edition. In August 1956 a young shepherd, his wife, two-year-old daughter and ten-day-old son sat huddled in a small boat on Loch Monar in Ross-shire as a storm raged around them. They were bound for a tiny, remote cottage at the western end of the loch which was to be their home for the next four years. Isolation Shepherd is the moving story of those years. More than simply a sensitive and richly detailed account of the shepherd’s life through the season, Iain Thomson’s book also vividly captures the splendour of one of Scotland’s most awesome landscapes, and depicts the numerous incidents that shaped the family’s life there before the area was flooded as part of a huge hydro-electric project. Iain Thomson currently lives near Beauly, Inverness-shire. He is well known all over the Highlands and the Borders and was the focus of a UK-wide TV documentary. From farm servant to the Royal Horse guards; from cattleman for a Russian cattle baron to an estate owner and friend of the Lovats; from building fences on Mingulay to cattle farming, his life story is rich in extraordinary incident. Publisher: Polygon Category: Biography/History Number pages: 128 pp Size: 198 x 129mm Pb /hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN -10: 1 84697 024 5; 13: 978 1 84697 024 5 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 25
HEBRIDEAN DESK DIARY 2008 Mairi Hedderwick
This is a hardback desk diary, illustrated throughout with Mairi Hedderwick’s beautiful sketches of the Hebrides throughout the seasons. The paintings have been collected over the past forty years and show the changing faces of the landscapes. Mairi’s sketches range across many of the isles from Arran to Tiree, expertly capturing the essence of these beautiful and diverse islands. The 2008 diary contains a large number of new illustrations. This is a hardback, pocket-sized diary, illustrated throughout with Mairi Hedderwick’s beautiful sketches of the Hebrides throughout the seasons and perfect for keeping organised on the move. The paintings have been collected over the past forty years and show the changing faces of the landscapes. Mairi’s sketches range across many of the isles from Arran to Tiree, expertly capturing the essence of these beautiful and diverse islands. The 2008 diary contains a large number of new illustrations. Also available: The Hebridean Pocket Address Book; The Hebridean Desk Address Book; The Hebridean Birthday Book; The Hebridean Visitors Book. Mairi Hedderwick was born in Gourock, Scotland. At seventeen she took a job as a mother’s help on the Isle of Coll in the Hebrides, beginning a life-long love affair with islands and their small communities. Mairi’s island world is delightfully reflected in the imaginary island of Struay where her perennially popular Katie Morag stories are set. As well as creating children’s books Mairi writes and illustrates travel books for adults. She also illustrated the acclaimed Janet Reachfar books, published by Birlinn. She lives on the island of Coll. Publisher: Polygon Category: Stationery Number pages: 120 Size: 230 x 170 mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 546 7; 13: 978 1 84158 546 8 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
26 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
HEBRIDEAN POCKET DIARY 2008 Mairi Hedderwick
This is a hardback, pocket-sized diary, illustrated throughout with Mairi Hedderwick’s beautiful sketches of the Hebrides throughout the seasons and perfect for keeping organised on the move. The paintings have been collected over the past forty years and show the changing faces of the landscapes. Mairi’s sketches range across many of the isles from Arran to Tiree, expertly capturing the essence of these beautiful and diverse islands. The 2008 diary contains a large number of new illustrations. Also available: The Hebridean Pocket Address Book; The Hebridean Desk Address Book; The Hebridean Birthday Book; The Hebridean Visitors Book Mairi Hedderwick was born in Gourock, Scotland. At seventeen she took a job as a mother’s help on the Isle of Coll in the Hebrides, beginning a life-long love affair with islands and their small communities. Mairi’s island world is delightfully reflected in the imaginary island of Struay where her perennially popular Katie Morag stories are set. As well as creating children’s books Mairi writes and illustrates travel books for adults. She also illustrated the acclaimed Janet Reachfar books, published by Birlinn. She lives on the island of Coll. Publisher: Polygon Category: Stationery Number pages: 120 Size: 156 x 110mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 545 9; 13: 978 1 84158 545 1 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 27
JOHN MACNAB John Buchan
First published in 1925, John Buchan published his second most famous novel, John MacNab; three high-flying men – a barrister, a cabinet minister and a banker – are suffering from boredom. They concoct a plan to cure it. They inform three Scottish estates that they will poach from each two stags and a salmon in a given time. They sign collectively as ‘John McNab’ and await the responses. This novel is a light interlude within the Leithen Stories series – an evocative look at the hunting, shooting and fishing lifestyle in Highland Scotland. One of Alfred Hitchcock’s favourite writers, John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. Born in Perth he studied at Glasgow and Oxford. In 1901 he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and a private secretary to the High Commissioner for South Africa. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George’s Director of Information and Conservative MP, Buchan moved to Canada in 1935. He served as Governor General there until his death in 1940. Publisher: Polygon Category: Fiction Number pages: 240 Size: 198 x 129mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84697 028 8; 13: 978 1 84697 028 3 Publication date: September 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
28 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
LEWIS IN THE PASSING Calum Ferguson
Positioned at the uppermost tip of Britain and facing the battling winds of the Atlantic, the isle of Lewis has always had a strong identity of its own. A community defined by tradition for hundreds of years, the twentieth century presented huge challenges to its way of life, leaving it completely altered by the arrival of the millennium. Lewis in the Passing is a form of time-capsule, containing twenty-one autobiographical sketches of Lewis natives, all born before the Second World War. From crofter to musician, house-wife to clergyman, the selection spans the spectrum of Lewis society. Theirs are lives which have experienced these great changes, from economic disaster in the 1920s, mass emigration in the 1930s, the ‘obscenity of battle’ during World War Two, and afterwards the decline of the Gaelic language and slow demise of crofting. All are interviewed by a fellow islander Calum Ferguson, who presents his subjects’ stories and journeys, and understands how, in spite of the rainy climate and wind-blasted scenery, the island’s hidden magnetism continues to draw them all ‘back home’.
Calum Ferguson was born in Point, Lewis and educated at the Nicolson Institute and Aberdeen University, has had a varied career as a teacher and broadcaster. He is the author of a number of books in Gaelic and English. He now lives in Stornoway. Publisher: Polygon Category: History Number pages: 320 Size: 234 x 156 mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN 10: 1 84158 547 5; 13: 978 1 84158 547 5 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 29
LOST ARGYLL Marian Pallister
In Lost Argyll, Marian Pallister looks not only at the lost architectural heritage of Argyll but also at its lost industries, ferries, roads, bridges, and archaeological monuments. In this fascinating yet poignant study, Marian Pallister introduces the many varied aspects of lost Argyll, showing how ancient and even relatively modern landscapes have changed inexorably, often with little thought for conservation or preservation. Marian Pallister has been a journalist since 1965 and has worked all over the world, particularly in Africa, India and The Balkans. She has won awards for feature writing and has been Scottish Journalist of the Year. She founded Strong Women–Fragile Lives to aid women in rural India and is involved in community radio in Zambia, which she believes feeds from her experience of life in rural Argyll. She lives in Kilmichael Glassary, Argyll. Publisher: Birlinn Category: History Number pages: 304 pp Size: 234 x 156 mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN 10: 1 84158 4827; 13: 978 1 84158 4829 Publication date: August 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
30 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
THE MEDIAEVAL CASTLES OF SKYE AND LOCHALSH Roger Miket and David Roberts
In this book the castles of Hebridean myth and story are brought to life in a scholarly yet easy-to-read text. Roger Miket explores the history and architecture of the settings associated with blood-curdling dramas such as the murderous goings-on at Dun Sgaith or the far-fetched yarns of Saucy Mary and CĂş Chulainn. Many of the castles are shown in reconstruction and all the architectural descriptions are fully illustrated making them clear to both expert and amateur historians. Together with the earlier broachs and duns, the castles are the principal material survivals of the great pageant of Hebridean history. Roger Miket is an archaeologist and historian, now living in the Borders, where he continues to maintain and active interest in Scottish history and archaeology. David L. Roberts moved to the Isle of Skye in 1975 where he started the Orbost Gallery, where he exhibited and sold his paintings. He died in 1997. Publisher: Birlinn Ltd Category: History Number pages: 128 pp, colour and b/w illustrations throughout Size: 220x154 mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 613 7; 13: 978 1 84158 613 7 Publication date: July 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 31
POVERTY CASTLE Robin Jenkins Introduction by Alan Warner
Poverty Castle is an absorbing work of contrasts and subtle irony centred around an idealistic family in Argyll. A compelling novel, it deals with human nature, as always with Jenkins, and the socialism of industrial Glasgow. John Robin Jenkins was born in 1912, near Cambuslang, and studied English at the University of Glasgow. When World War II broke out he registered as a conscientious objector and was directed to work for the Forestry Commission, using his experience to write his acclaimed novel, The Cone Gatherers. In 1957, he moved abroad to work in Spain, Afghanistan and Malaysia, finally settling back in Scotland in 1968. He died in 2005. The Pearl-fishers was his last, unpublished novel. Alan Warner a Somerset Maugham Award-winning author whose work includes the acclaimed novel Morvern Caller. Publisher: Birlinn Ltd Category:Fiction Number pages: 320 pp Size: 198 x 129mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10 1 84697 015 6; 13: 978 1 84697 015 3 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
32 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
TO THE HEBRIDES Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands and James Boswell's Journal of a Tour Edited and Introduced by Ronald Black. Illustrated with prints by Thomas Rowlandson Samuel Johnson and James Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring through the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland as far west as the islands of Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Inchkenneth and Iona. Both kept detailed notes of their impressions, and later published separate accounts of their journey. These works contain some of the finest pieces of travel writing ever produced: they are also magnificent historical documents as well as portraits of two extraordinary men of letters. Together they paint a vivid picture of a society which was still almost unknown to the Europe of the Enlightenment. Entertaining, profound, and marvellously readable, they are a valuable chronicle of a lost age and a fascinating people. For the first time, Ronald Black’s edition brings together Johnson’s and Boswell’s accounts of each of the six stages of the two men’s journey – Lowlands, Skye, Coll, Mull and back to the mainland. Illustrated with prints by Thomas Rowlandson, it includes a critical introduction, translations of the Latin texts and brief notes. Samuel Johnson became famous as a poet and a moral essayist before completing his most famous project, The Dictionary of the English Language. James Boswell met Samuel Johnson in 1763, when the two began their trip around the Hebrides, and is celebrated not only as Johnson’s biographer but also for the disarming honesty of his personal diaries. Ronald Black is Gaelic Editor of The Scotsman, a columnist in the West Highland Free Press as well as an author. In addition to numerous academic articles he is author and editor of various titles connected to the Gaelic language and landscape. Publisher: Polygon Category:History/Travel Number pages: 640pp Size: 198 x 129mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 467 3; 13: 978-1-84158-467-6 Publication date: July 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 33
TALES AND TRAVELS OF A SCHOOL INSPECTOR John Wilson
John Wilson was an Inspector of Schools during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. His career in education spanned fifty years, during which time he inspected many schools in the Highlands and Islands, including Jura, Islay, Orkney, Argyll, Heisker and Iona. First published in 1928, the personal account of his experiences is both compassionate and humorous, providing a valuable insight into the social and educational conditions in the Gaelic Highlands and Islands following the 1872 Education Act. John Wilson was born in Dufftown in Banffshire, and brought up in Keig in Aberdeenshire. He was educated at Moray House Free Church Training College and Edinburgh University. He worked as Headmaster of Duffus Public School in Morayshire until, in 1882, he joined the inspectorate. He retired shortly before the publication of Tales and Travels of a School Inspector in 1928.
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd Category: Biography/History Number pages: 224pp Size: 198 x 129mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 526 2; 13: 978 1 84158 526 0 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
34 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
SOIRBHEAS/FAIR WIND Meg Bateman
Meg Bateman’s second collection of poetry is utterly engaging, providing a generous landscape for readers to share, and puts contemporary and traditional images of the Scottish Highlands side by side. The section ‘Loneliness’ contains some of Meg’s strongest and most haunting poems. Soirbheas / Fair Wind is Meg Bateman’s most personal and distinctive work. Meg Bateman was born in Edinburgh in 1959. She studied Celtic at Aberdeen University, completed a PhD in medieval Gaelic religious poetry and taught Gaelic at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Her Gaelic poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and she has also translated Gaelic poetry into English in An Anthology of Scottish Women Poets (1991) and The Harp's Cry (1993). She is a Senior Lecturer at the Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, on Skye, and an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of English at the University of St Andrews.
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd Category: Poetry Number pages: 224pp Size: 216 x 138 mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 904598 92 7; 13: 978 1 904598 92 3 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 35
SWORDS FOR HIRE THE SCOTTISH MERCENARY James Miller
In 1612, George Sinclair, an illegitimate son of a Caithness laird, became a Norwegian national hero. Along with almost 300 of his followers, Sinclair was killed in an ambush in Norway while marching to join the king of Sweden’s army. Sinclair has legendary status in Norway but has been almost totally forgotten at home, just as the memory of thousands of other Scots who served as mercenaries in the armies of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries has faded into obscurity. In this book, James Miller tells how a considerable proportion of the able-bodied male population of Scotland at one time sought service on behalf of almost every dynasty and monarch on the continent. Some were fleeing from justice, others went to seek fame and fortune – and found it.
James Miller was born and brought up in Caithness. After working abroad and in London he returned to the north of Scotland to work as a full-time writer. His previous books published by Birlinn include The Dambuilders, The North Atlantic Front and Inverness.
Publisher: Birlinn Category:Military History/History Number pages: 288pp Size: 234 x 156mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 446 0; 13: 978 1 84158 446 1 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
36 Birlinn Polygon Ltd
THE KINGDOM OF MACBRAYNE Donald E. Meek and Nicholas S. Robins
Over 5.4 million passengers annually travel on Caledonian MacBrayne ferries, a much-loved national icon and part of the daily life of many Scots and visitors alike. In this, the first full history of Scotland’s most famous shipping company, previously unseen material and illustrations from private collections bring to life the history of the MacBrayne phenomenon.
Nicholas S. Robins is a Hydrogeologist with the British Geological Survey, based at Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire. He is the author of several acclaimed books on the history of British shipping. Donald E. Meek is Professor of Scottish and Gaelic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Publisher: Birlinn Ltd Category:Military History/History Number pages: 288pp Size: 250 x 246mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English ISBN-10: 1 84158 500 9; 13: 978-1-84158-500-0 Publication date: December 2006 Distribution / supply contacts if not via the publisher: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Maria White - maria@birlinn.co.uk
Birlinn Polygon Ltd 37
Colin Baxter Photography Ltd
The Old Dairy Grantown on Spey Moray Scotland PH26 3NA Tel: 01479 873999 Int: 0044 1 479 873999 Jpn: 010 44 1 479 873999 Email: enquiries@colinbaxter.co.uk Web: www.colinbaxter.co.uk
SCOTTISH CASTLES Mini-portfolio Colin Baxter
Throughout Scotland, over 2000 castles stand in testament to a land rich in heritage and tradition. This photographic collection, by Colin Baxter, reveals some of the best. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 32 with 33 colour photos Size: 120mm X172mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-362-0 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
39 Colin Baxter Photography Ltd
PHOTOGRAPHS OF SCOTLAND Mini-portfolio Colin Baxter
Scotland offers a diversity of landscapes out of all proportion to its size. Its dramatic highlands, gentle lowlands, and alluring islands all combine to create a land of extraordinary beauty. Here is a selection of some of the finest vistas Scotland has to offer. Photographs by Colin Baxter Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 64 with 65 colour photos Size: 120mm X172mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-361-3 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Colin Baxter Photography Ltd 40
SCOTTISH PIPERS Colin Baxter
Few sights are more stirring than that of a kilted Highland piper marching to the skirl of the bagpipes. This illustrated guide takes a look at the Scottish pipers of today. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 24 with 30 colour photos Size: 170mm X 245mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-353-8 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
41 Colin Baxter Photography Ltd
GLOBAL WARMING WorldLife Library Mark Maslin
Planet Earth is warming at a faster rate than any other time in the past 1000 years. The consequences pose a huge threat to humanity. This work examines the evidence for global warming, the human activities that are causing it and discusses what we can do to mitigate the effects on health, agriculture, water resources, coastal regions, forests and wildlife. Mark Maslin – Professor Mark Maslin is at the Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London. He is a leading climatologist with particular expertise in past global and regional climage change. He has published over 75 papers in journals such as Science and Nature, written five popular books, and many popular articles for publications such as New Scientist and Guardian. Mark Maslin has appeared on radio, television and is consulted regularly by the BBC on the issue of climate change. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 72 with 40 colour photos Size: 170mm X 245mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-322-4 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Colin Baxter Photography Ltd 42
THE ISLANDS OF ORKNEY Liv Kjørsvik Schei & Gunnie Moberg
Orkney's history stretches back thousands of years with tales of Viking invasions, shipwrecks and larger-than-life characters. Liv Schei's descriptions of its history, culture and traditions and Gunnie Moberg's distinctive photographs make this a complete study of the Orkney Islands through the ages. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 304 with 92 colour photos Size: 234 x 156mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-359-0 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
43 Colin Baxter Photography Ltd
SCOTTISH WHISKY – SOUVENIR GUIDE Tom Bruce-Gardyne
Whisky has been distilled in Scotland for centuries, and its long history is full of myths, legends, and smuggler's tales. Today the sory of whisky is still just as fascinating, and is retold in this entertaining introduction to one of the world's most popular spirits, and Scotland's national drink. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs.
Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 32 with 30 colour photos Size: 190 x 230mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-354-5 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Colin Baxter Photography Ltd 44
SHETLAND ISLAND GUIDE Jill Slee Blackadder
Shetland is closer to the Arctic Circle than to London and was ruled by Norway for over 800 years - longer than it has been part of Scotland. This comprehensive guide traces the history, landscape and nature of Shetland from the earliest times to the present day. Distinctive maps, colour photographs and drawings combine the lively text to describe the dynamic mix of land, sea, life and legend that is the Shetland Isles. Jill Slee Blackadder – Jill Slee Blackadder lives in Shetland where she is a school teacher, and founder of the Shetland Field Studies Group. She writes regularly for Shetland Life magazine and a weekly column for the Shetland Times. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 256 with 71 colour photos, 48 drawings, 14 colour maps Size: 240 x 165mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-125-1 Publication date: June 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
45 Colin Baxter Photography Ltd
ABOUT SCOTLAND Editor - Iseabail MacLeod
The complete source book about Scotland. This handy reference guide covers all things Scottish: history, the arts, industry, commerce, science, medicine, sport, politics, religion, geography, architecture and popular culture. It provides a huge range of information in an accessible form. If you ever wanted to know where to find 'The Devil's Beef Tub', or why Bonnie Prince Charlie disguised himself as 'Betty Burke', this is the one book for you. Iseabail MacLeod was brought up near Glasgow. After some years as a teacher, she became a dictionaries editor with well-known national and international reference publishers Collins and later with Chambers. Since 1986 she has been Editorial Director of the Scottish National Dictionary Association and is joint editor of several of their dictionaries. She received an MBE from the Queen in 2000 for her services to the Scottish National Dictionary.
Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 320ppp Size: 233 x 153mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-366-8 Publication date: July 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Colin Baxter Photography Ltd 46
ORANGUTANS WorldLife Library Robert Shumaker
Orangutans were once the subjects of legends and mystery. Today, scientists are only just beginning to understand the behaviour and mental ability of these 'people of the forest'. This portrait reveals the critically endangered lives of the orangutan in the Asian rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 72pp Size: 200 x 235mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-369-9 Publication date: September 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
47 Colin Baxter Photography Ltd
SPIDERS WorldLife Library Rod Preston-Mafham
Spiders vary in size from a dinner plate, to being able to sit on a pin head. This illustrated natural history reveals that there are around 30,000 species of spiders who live in almost every habitat on the planet. Publisher: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Category: Non-fiction Number pages: 72pp Size: 200 x 235mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 978-1-84107-368-2 Publication date: September 2007 Distribution: Colin Baxter Photography Ltd Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Colin Baxter Photography Ltd 48
Edinburgh University Press 22 George Square Edinburgh Scotland EH8 9LF Tel: 0131 650 4223 Int: 00 44 1 31 650 4223 Jpn: 010 44 1 31 650 4223 Web: www.eup.ed.ac.uk
NORTHERN AND INSULAR SCOTS Robert McColl Millar The Scots dialects of northern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland are among the most traditional varieties of ‘English’, exhibiting features not current elsewhere for centuries. Until recently, they were spoken in communities whose traditional occupations have encouraged the equation of speech with local identity. They have all also been affected by contact with Gaelic, or Norse, or both. In recent years, however, the decline of traditional industries has been matched by the discovery of oil off their coasts, encouraging in-migration of speakers of
many varieties of English and other languages. How well have these varieties maintained their traditional natures at the start of the 21st century? Northern and Insular Scots provides: * An approachable description of the phonological, structural and lexical natures of these varieties * A history of the varieties in relation to the areas in which they are spoken * Examples of the language of native speakers * An annotated bibliography which points the reader towards more specialised works. Robert McColl Millar lectures in linguistics at the University of Aberdeen. He has published widely on topics relating to the language use of northern Scotland, as well as on language change and the sociology of language. About the Dialects of English series Books in this new series provide up-to-date documentation for varieties of English from around the world. Written by experts who have conducted first-hand research, the volumes provide a starting point for anyone wishing to know more about a particular dialect.
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press Number pages: 192pp Pb / hb: Hb & Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: Pb 978 0 7486 2317 4 Hb 978 0 7486 2316 7 Publication date: January 2007 Distribution: United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East: Marston Book Services PO Box 269 Abingdon Oxon OX14 4YN Tel: +44 (0) 1235 465500 Fax: +44 (0) 1235 465555 E: trade.order@marston.co.uk Rights available: Contact publisher
50 Edinburgh University Press
Rights contact details: Quantum Publishing Head Office & Scotland: Jim Chalmers 2 Cheviot Road Paisley, PA2 8AN Tel: +44 (0) 141 884 1398 Fax: +44 (0) 141 884 5322 E: quantumjim@btinternet.com
STORM OVER THE HIGHLANDS A NEW GUIDE TOTHE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES Eric Richards
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press Number pages: 192pp Pb / hb: Hb & Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: Pb 978 0 7486 2183 5 Hb 978 0 7486 2182 8 Publication date: July 2007 Distribution: United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East: Marston Book Services PO Box 269 Abingdon Oxon OX14 4YN Tel: +44 (0) 1235 465500 Fax: +44 (0) 1235 465555 E: trade.order@marston.co.uk Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Quantum PublishingHead Office & Scotland: Jim Chalmers 2 Cheviot Road Paisley, PA2 8AN Tel: +44 (0) 141 884 1398 Fax: +44 (0) 141 884 5322 E: quantumjim@btinternet.com
Edinburgh University Press 51
IRELAND, RADICALISM AND THE SCOTTISH HGHLANDS c.1870-1912 Andrew Newby
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press Number pages: 192pp Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: Hb 978 0 7486 2375 4 ÂŁ45.00 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East: Marston Book Services PO Box 269 Abingdon Oxon OX14 4YN Tel: +44 (0) 1235 465500 Fax: +44 (0) 1235 465555 E: trade.order@marston.co.uk Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Quantum PublishingHead Office & Scotland: Jim Chalmers 2 Cheviot Road Paisley, PA2 8AN Tel: +44 (0) 141 884 1398 Fax: +44 (0) 141 884 5322 E: quantumjim@btinternet.com
52 Edinburgh University Press
The Islands Book Trust Sealladh na Mara Coll Isle of Lewis Scotland HS2 0JR Tel: 01851 820946 Int: 0044 1 851 820946 Jpn: 010 44 1 851 820946 E-mail: alayne@theislandbooktrust.com Web: www.theislandsbooktrust.com
THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ALEXANDER CARMICHAEL Edited by John Randall
This volume is based on contributions to a highly enjoyable and informative conference about the great collector of Gaelic folklore Alexander Carmichael, organised by The Islands Book Trust and held in Benbecula in July 2006. The conference offered a wide range of perspectives – including eminent academic scholars, local residents from Benbecula and Uist, and descendants of those who gave Alexander Carmichael material in the nineteenth century. John Randall was formerly Registrar General for Scotland and is now Chairman of The Islands Book Trust, living in Lewis. Publisher: The Islands Book Trust Category: Non-fiction Number pages: Approx 200 Size: A5 Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: Not yet available Publication date: Summer 2007 Distribution: Via publisher Rights available: Copyright of authors Rights contact details: Contact publisher
54 The Islands Book Trust
SPEAK TO US , CATRIONA - NEW TALES AND TRADITIONS OF THE LEWS Donald Murray
This haunting and memorable collection of poems was inspired by a much older book; Dr Donald Macdonald of Gisla’s Tales and Traditions of the Lews, first published by his widow Emily in 1967, and republished by Birlinn in 2000. It is this latter edition to which DS Murray refers in his acknowledgements, describing it as ‘an eclectic mix of topics, ranging from the author’s speech at the opening of a local sale of work to a list of the names of the pre-reformation churches in Lewis.’ Donald Stephen Murray’s poetry follows the same pattern of bringing together material from a wide range of sources. What binds the poems together, and makes this book a worthy and appropriate successor to the book which inspired it, is a sense of the diversity and dramatic in the lives of so many people on the island, and a celebration of the richness of experience which the history of Lewis encom passes. DS Murray, a native of Ness, who has lived in or visited many islands, from Ireland to Shetland, brings to this his considerable poetic skill and insight, demonstrating why he is developing a reputation as one of the emerging stars amongst Lewis writers. Donald S. Murray comes from South Dell, Ness in Lewis and teaches in Shetland. Widely published, his poetry and prose, journalism and verse have appeared in a large number of outlets, including national anthologies and BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.His collection of short stories Special Deliverance (Scottish Cultural Press) was shortlisted for a Saltire Award. His pamphlet West Coasters was also shortlisted for a national award, the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. His second pamphlet Between Minch And Muckle Flugga (Kettilonia) was well and widely reviewed. Publisher: The Islands Book Trust Category: Poetry Number pages: 30 Size: A5 Pb / hb: pb Language / dialect: English ISBN 10: 0-9546238-8-6 ISBN 13: 978-0-9546238-8-3 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Via publisher Rights available: Copyright of author Rights contact details: Contact publisher
The Islands BookTrust 55
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF ST KILDA Various authors
This thought provoking volume is based on the very successful conference held in Great Bernera, Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in August 2005 to mark the 75th anniversary of the evacuation of St Kilda. It examines the background to the island's dramatic history in the context of the struggles for survival of other remote islands in the Western Isles, Shetland, Ireland, and the Faroes. The authors shed new light on the oft-told story of St Kilda's decline and fall, and challenge the many myths which have grown up over the centuries. Publisher: Islands Book Trust Number pages: 128 Category: Non-fiction Size: A5 Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 0-9546238-7-8 Publication date: 2006 Distribution: Via Publisher Rights available: Copyright of authors Rights contact details: Contact publishers
56 The Islands Book Trust
THE FRENCH MACDONALD – JOURNEY OF A MARSHAL OF NAPOLEON IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND Translated by Jean Didier Hache with commentaries by Jean Didier Hache and Domhnall Uilleam Stiubhart This new publication by The Islands Book Trust, to be launched at the Hebridean Book Festival (Faclan) in Stornoway on 1 September 2007, is a story with so many truly remarkable ingredients. It is based on the previously unpublished travel diary in 1825 of Marshal MacDonald to Uist and other parts of Scotland to see the birth-place of his father Neil MacEachen and meet some of his MacDonald/MacEachen relatives.
In doing so, the Marshal was remembering, in a very different era, the exploits of Neil MacEachen and Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1746, when Neil played the major role in hiding and protecting the Prince after Culloden. Born in France, where his father lived after the failure of the ’45, his son Jacques Etienne Joseph Alexandre MacDonald, achieved a meteoric rise to power in military and political circles, a Marshal of Napoleon during the latter’s supremacy but also eventually negotiating Napoleon’s abdication.As a retired elder statesman, the Marshal (who spoke little English and no Gaelic) visited Scotland with the assistance of the British Government, meeting people like Sir Walter Scott, and eventually setting foot in the land of the MacDonalds, including Howbeg where his father was born, and the cave at Corrodale where his father and the Prince had hidden all those years before. Only a few years ago, the Marshal’s travel diary, not written with a view to publication and containing many frank comments about the Scotland of his time and the people he met, was discovered in the French National Archives in Paris by Jean-Didier Hache, a Frenchman who has been associated with Benbecula for over thirty years. It is Jean-Didier who has translated the Scottish part of the Marshal’s travel diary into English for this publication. Alongside it will appear commentaries on the French and Scottish backgrounds to the Marshal and his visit by Jean-Didier Hache and Domhnall Uilleam Stiubhart of Edinburgh University, and some beautiful colour illustrations. The new publication is important on many levels – as a valuable record of Scotland at a time of rapid economic and social change, and as a fascinating footnote to the momentous events of Jacobite and Napoleonic history.
Publisher: Islands Book Trust Category: History Number pages: TBC Size: TBC Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBNs: TBC
Publication date: September 2007 Distribution: Via publisher Rights available: Copyright of author Rights contact details: Contact publisher
The Islands BookTrust 57
Mainstream Publishing 7 Albany Street Edinburgh Scotland EH1 3UG Tel: 0131 557 2959 Int: 00 44 131 557 2959 Jpn: 010 44 131 557 2959 Fax: 0131 556 8720 Int: 00 44 131 557 8720 Jpn: 010 44 131 557 8720 Web: www.mainstreampublishing.com
THE QUEEN'S OWN HIGHLANDERS Trevor Royle
Created in 1961 as a result of the amalgamation of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and the Seaforth Highlanders, the Queen's Own Highlanders embody the history and traditions of some of Scotland's oldest Highland regiments. Two great Highland families – Cameron of Lochdarroch and Mackenzie of Seaforth – were involved in the formation of the antecedent regiments and their tartans were incorporated in the successor's uniform. In 1994, the Queen's Own Highlanders amalgamated with the Gordon Highlanders, and in 2006 they became the 4th Battalion of the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. This account of the regiment is therefore a timely memorial to its long and distinguished history. Trevor Royle has built up an outstanding reputation as a historian of war and empire. His recent books include The Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638 – 1660, Patton: Old Blood and Guts, the groundbreaking Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854 – 1856, The Royal Scots and The Black Watch. He lives in Edinburgh.
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Category: Regiments Number pages: 240 with 1 x 8pp b/w illustrations Size: Demy Octavo Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s 13: 978 1 84 59 6 0926 Publication date: August 2007 Distribution: TBS Colchester Road Frating Green Colchester Essex CO7 7DW Tel: 01206 255777
59 Mainstream Publishing
Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher Sales Office: Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA Tel: 020 7840 8400 Fax: 020 7828 6681
SCOTTISH EXODUS – TRAVELS AMONG A WORLDWIDE CLAN James Hunter
A ground-breaking and gripping exploration of the Scottish diaspora by renowned historian James Hunter. Millions of Scots have left their homeland during the last 400 years. Until now, they have been written about in general terms. Scottish Exodus breaks new ground by taking particular emigrants, drawn from the once powerful Clan MacLeod, and discovering what happened to them and their families.
These people became, among other things, French aristocrats, Polish resistance fighters, Texan ranchers, New Zealand shepherds, Australian goldminers, Aboriginal and African-American activists, Canadian mounted policeman and Confederate rebels. One nineteenth-century MacLeod even went so far as to swap his Gaelic for Arabic and his Christianity for Islam before settling down comfortably in Cairo. This gripping account of Scotland's worldwide dispora is based on unpublished documents, letters and family histories. It is also based on the author's travels in the company of today's MacLeods – some of them still in Scotland, others further afield. Scottish Exodus is a tale of disastrous voyages, famine and dispossession, the hazards of pioneering on faraway frontiers. But it is also the moving story of how people separated from Scotland by hundreds of years and thousands of miles continue to identify with the small country where their journeyings began. James Hunter is the author of a number of books on Scottish hisotry, including Culloden and the Last Clansman, A Dance Called America and Skye: The Island. He lives in Beauly, Inverness-shire.
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Category: History / Scotland Number pages: 416 with 1 x 8pp b/w illustrations Size: B format Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s 13: 978 1 8459 611 69 Publication date: August 2007 Distribution: TBS Colchester Road Frating Green Colchester Essex CO7 7DW Tel: 01206 255777
Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher Sales Office: Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA Tel: 020 7840 8400 Fax: 020 7828 6681
Mainstream Publishing 60
THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS - A CONCISE HISTORY Trevor Royle
The Gordons recruited from the north-east of Scotland and the regiment's character was moulded by men from the farming counties of Aberdeenshire, Moray and Nairn. It was raised in 1794 by a local landowner, the Duke of Gordon, whose wife played a major role in attracting recruits by riding through her husband's estates and offering a guinea and a kiss to each man who enlisted. Originally raised as the 100th Highlanders, it was later renumbered the 92nnd Highlanders and in 1881 was amalgamated with the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment to form the Gordon Highlanders. In 1994, the Gordon Highlanders amalgamated with the Queen's Own Highlanders to form the Highlanders and in 2006 became the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. This is a celebratory account of the regiment's long and distinguished history. Trevor Royle has built up an outstanding reputation as a historian of war and empire. His recent books include The Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638 – 1660, Patton: Old Blood and Guts, the groundbreaking Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854 – 1856, The Royal Scots and The Black Watch. He lives in Edinburgh.
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Category: Regiments, Military Life & Institutions, History Number pages: 240 with 1 x 8pp b/w illustrations Size: Demy Octavo Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s 13: 978 1 84 59 6 2708 Publication date: October 2007 Distribution: TBS Colchester Road Frating Green
61 Mainstream Publishing
Colchester Essex CO7 7DW Tel: 01206 255777 Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher Sales Office: Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA Tel: 020 7840 8400 Fax: 020 7828 6681
THE ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIERS - A CONCISE HISTORY Trevor Royle
The Royal Highland Fusiliers came into being in 1959 as a result of the amalgamation of two regiments, both of which had strong connections with Glasgow and the west of Scotland: The Royal Scots Fusiliers, founded in 1678 by Charles Erskine, fifth Earl of Mar; and the The Highland Light Infantry, or HLI, created in 1881 as a result of the amalgamation of the 71st Highlanders and the 74th Highlanders. Trevor Royle has built up an outstanding reputation as a historian of war and empire. His recent books include The Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638 – 1660, Patton: Old Blood and Guts, the groundbreaking Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854 – 1856, The Royal Scots and The Black Watch. He lives in Edinburgh.
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Category: Regiments Number pages: 240 with 1 x 8pp b/w illustrations Size: Demy Octavo Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s 13: 978 1 84 59 6 0933 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution: TBS Colchester Road Frating Green Colchester
Essex CO7 7DW Tel: 01206 255777 Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher Sales Office: Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA Tel: 020 7840 8400 Fax: 020 7828 6681
Mainstream Publishing 62
SCOTLAND'S MUSIC - A History John Purser
Scotland's Music is an all-embracing account of the history of music and musicians in Scotland from the Stone Age to the present day. It encompasses traditional, classical and popular music and places them in their historical contexts adding vital information to the history of Scotland itself. It is copiously illustrated with examples of music and images of musicians, manuscripts and instruments.
The book builds on its award-winning predecessor of the same name, but this is much more than a second edition, as the text and illustrations have bene substantially revised and extended to take account of new discoveries and research. These include the reconstruction of the carnyx and other archaeological finds; further exposure of the musician spies attached to the exiled Mary Queen of Scots; the use of number symbolism by Scottish composers, which includes a direct bearing of significance of the Darian Scheme; discussion of the work of Cecil Coles, whose last composition was found on his body after his death in the First World War; as well as examinations of many more composers and topics. Born in Glasgow in 1942, John Purser is well known as a composer, broadcaster and writer. His plays include Carver, a full-length radio play about Scotland's greatest composer. He lives on the Isle of Skye..
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Category: Music Number pages: 352 with 2 x 8pp colour and b/w illustrations Size: Large Crown Quarto Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s 13: 978 1 84 59 6 1602 Publication date: September 2007 Distribution: TBS Colchester Road Frating Green Colchester
63 Mainstream Publishing
Essex CO7 7DW Tel: 01206 255777 Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher Sales Office: Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA Tel: 020 7840 8400 Fax: 020 7828 6681
CULLODEN TALES STORIES FROM SCOTLAND’S MOST FAMOUS BATTLEFIELD Hugh G Allison Culloden was the last battle on British soil. It marked the end of clan culture and was the harbinger of the Highland Clearances. It ensured the inevitability of the American Revolution and increased the outpouring of Scots across the globe. It is the only battle that British Army regiments are not permitted to include in their battle honours; the only battle that Bonnie Prince Charlie ever lost; and the only battle that the Duke of Cumberland ever won. These stories tell of civil war, of love, of the unexpected and even of the supernatural. They are peopled by the second-sighted, by clan chiefs and by others who have kept family secrets for centuries. The battlefield is a poignant location, resonant with past deeds and emotive memories. These Culloden tales are offered as a unique record tot he power of the place. Hugh G Allison was born in Lochaber in 1960 and has worked in the tourism industry and for the Highland Council. Following a period of working in the US in 2000, he is now employed by the National Trust for Scotland and has worked at Culloden for many years. Married with two children, Hugh currently lives in Nairn and is also the author of Roots of Stone. Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Category: History / Scotland Number pages: 192 with 9 integrated b/w photos and 3 maps Size: Demy Octavo Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s 13: 978 1 84 59 6 2395 Publication date: September 2007 Distribution: TBS Colchester Road Frating Green Colchester Essex CO7 7DW Tel: 01206 255777
Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher Sales Office: Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA Tel: 020 7840 8400 Fax: 020 7828 6681
Mainstream Publishing 64
National Museums Scotland NMS Enterprises Limited – Publishing National Museums Scotland Chambers Street Edinburgh Scotland EH1 1JF Tel: 0131 247 4083 Int: 00 44 131 247 4038 Jpn: 010 44 131 247 4038 Fax: 0131 247 4012 Int: 0044 131 247 4012 Jpn: 010 44 131 247 4012 Web: www.nms.ac.uk
HUGH MILLER: STONEMASON, GEOLOGIST, WRITER Michael Taylor
A biography of the self-educated man, a figure of renown in the 19th century whose literary genius and scientific acumen still resonate in the 21st. Hugh Miller was born in 1802 in Cromarty, Ross-shire, in north Scotland. He started his working life as a stonemason’s apprentice and took an interest in the rocks he saw around him. This encouraged his fossil collecting and he became notable for books bringing geology to the public, and for
exemplifying self-help and education. He developed a literary career in his spare time, becoming a newspaper editor and a social commentator (he was one of the first writers to condemn the Highland Clearances) while his role as a serious religious journalist is highlighted in his discussions on the Disruption of the Church of Scotland and its consequences. As Hugh Miller walked about Edinburgh, a tall man with a shepherd’s plaid over his rough tweed suit, he would be pointed out with pride. His was a household name in his lifetime, not only in Scotland but also across the English-speaking world. After his death in 1856, his work was mined by historians and anthologists for its acute observations, and geologists continued to love the spirit which imbued his writings, as did the Free Church – but in the 20th century his thoughts on evolutionary biology seemed sorely obsolete. However, a recent revival in Scots history and culture, and a reassessment of the 19th century debates in science, geology and religion, have all led to a fuller appreciation of the rich and complex stories in which Hugh Miller played a part, and of the man himself. This biography follows the 2003 facsimile edition of Hugh Miller’s ‘The Cruise of the Betsey and Rambles of a Geologist’ which Michael Taylor edited. With the benefit of the research for the 2002 centenary conferences, the book does full justice to a neglected figure whose writings continue to give enjoyment and inspiration. Publisher: NMS Enterprises Limited – Publishing Number pages: 144pp – 4pp colour Category: Biography Size: 234 x 156mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English Isbn/s: 1 905267 05 3 Publication date: February 2007 Distribution: UK - BookSource, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 370 0067 Fax. 0845 370 0068
66 NMS
Rest of the UK and EuropeGazelle Book Services Ltd, White Cross Mills, High Town, Lancaster, LA1 4 XS Tel. 01524 68765 Fax. 01524 63232 Rights: Contact: Seol Limited, West Newington House, 10 Newington Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1QS Tel. 0131 668 1456 Fax. 0131 668 3777
FONN'S DUTHCHAS – LAND AND LEGACY James Hunter
The book has been designed both to stand on its own and to accompany the travelling exhibition of the same name for Highland 2007. A collaboration between National Museums Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, the exhibition will contain iconic items from the national collections alongside contemporary photography, film and artwork. As well as having a catalogue of exhibition objects, the book has a narrative (in Gaelic and English) by James Hunter, called The Scottish Highlands: A Contested Country. Topics covered will include land issues, war, religion, clans and clearances, sport and leisure, Gaelic and the oral tradition, the landscape, current environmental issues and recent population increases. Professor James Hunter was born in Duror, North Argyll and now lives in Inverness shire. He has been a journalist and broadcaster and was the first director of the Scottish Crofters Union which he helped set up. He is Director for the UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands) Centre for History, Chairman of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust and Vice Chairman of Highland 2007. A freelance historian and author, he has written eleven books on Highlands and Islands themes.
Publisher: NMS Enterprises Limited – Publishing Number pages: 144pp Category: History Size: 245 x 188mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English and Gaelic Isbn/s: 1 905267 06 1 / 978 1 905267 06 4 Publication date: January 2007 Distribution: UK - BookSource, 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 370 0067 Fax. 0845 370 0068
Rest of the UK and EuropeGazelle Book Services Ltd, White Cross Mills, High Town, Lancaster, LA1 4 XS Tel. 01524 68765 Fax. 01524 63232 Rights: Contact: Seol Limited, West Newington House, 10 Newington Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1QS Tel. 0131 668 1456 Fax. 0131 668 3777
NMS 67
THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS: A CONTESTED COUNTRY / GAIDHEALTACHD ALBA: TIR FO DHEASBAD James Hunter The Scottish Highlands: a Contested Country has been written for 2007, the designated Year of Highland Culture. It has been designed both to stand on its own and to accompany Fonn’s Duthchas Land and Legacy, a very special travelling exhibition – a collaboration between the National Museums of Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. The exhibition will contain iconic items from the national collections alongside contemporary photography, film and artwork. The book will have a catalogue of items from the exhibition and a narrative (in Gaelic and English) by well-known writer James Hunter. Topics covered will include: land issues, war, religion, clans and clearances, sport and leisure, Gaelic and the oral tradition, the landscape, current environmental issues - and recent population increases. As James Hunter says, there have been many, many Highlands – the Highlands of the Vikings, of the Gael, of clanship, of Queen Victoria, of sporting estates. And always there are further Highlands being added – the latest in part shaped by a new wave of incomers. He concludes: ‘Their Highlands will differ, maybe substantially, from those older Highlands with which we’re more familiar. But this new Highlands will be every bit as valid, every bit as meritorious, as all the Highlands that have gone before. James Hunter is a freelance historian and author. He has written many books on Highlands and Islands themes including A Dance Called America and The Making of the Crofting Community. Publisher: NMS Enterprises Limited – Publishing Tel. 0845 370 0067 Fax. 0845 370 Number pages: 144pp 0068 Category: Scotland / History Size: 245 x 188mm Rest of the UK and EuropePb / hb: Pb – colour illustrations Gazelle Book Services Ltd, White Cross Language / dialect: Englishand Gaelic Mills, High Town, Lancaster, LA1 4 XS ISBN 1 905267 06 1 /978 1 905267 06 4 Tel. 01524 68765 Fax. 01524 63232 Publication date: January 2007 Rights: Contact: Seol Limited, West Distribution: Newington House, 10 Newington Road, UK - BookSource, 50 Cambuslang Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1QS Tel. 0131 668 1456 Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Fax. 0131 668 3777
68 NMS
The New Iona Press The Bungalow Ardival Strathpeffer Scotland IV14 9DS Tel / Fax: 01997-421186 Int: 00 44 1 997 421186 Jpn: 010 44 1 997 421186 E-mail: mairimacarthur@yahoo.co.uk
FLOWERS OF IONA Jean M Millar
The only guide to the botanical richness of the Hebridean island of Iona. In this third edition, the list of flowering plants is brought up to 335, along with rushes, grasses and ferns; and information on the local habitats has been updated. The list has botanical, Gaelic and common names and there are eight fine watercolour illustrations by the author. The late Jean Millar was a botanist and artist, active in the Glasgow Natural History Society, and a regular visitor over many years to Iona, where she had family links. Publisher: New Iona Press Category: Travel / Nature Pages: 48pp Size: 210 x 148mm Pbk / Hbk: Pb Language: English ISBNs: 0-9538938-3-9; 978 0-9538938-3-6 Publication date: August 2006 Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact: Contact publisher
70 New Iona Press
Rucksack Readers Landrick Lodge Dunblane Scotland FK15 0HY Tel: 01786 824 696 Int: 0044 1 786 824696 Jpn: 010 44 1 786 824696 E-mail: info@rucsacs.com Web: www.rucsacs.com
THE SPEYSIDE WAY Jacquetta Megarry and Jim Strachan
The Speyside Way runs for 80 miles (129 km) from the fishing port of Buckie to Aviemore in the foothills of the Cairngorms. Following the lovely valley of the River Spey, you walk through countryside rich in malt whisky and wildlife, along riverside paths, railway trackbed and forest and moorland tracks. This fully revised edition of the essential trail guide, co-authored by the Speyside Way Route Manager, contains all you need to plan and enjoy your holiday. In 2000 Jacquetta Megarry devised the waterproof, open-flat Rucksack Reader format with dropdown maps for walking guidebooks. The first two titles were published in 2000 and she has since written or co-authored a further seven. In September 2006 she walked the entire Speyside Way to update the route description and photography for its second edition. A geography graduate from Aberdeen University, Jim Strachan is now a farmer on Speyside and Route Manager of the Speyside Way. He has been involved with countryside management for over 35 years, working for many of these years as a countryside ranger in some of Scotland’s finest scenic areas. His leisure interests include travel, walking, photography and curling.
Publisher: Rucksack Readers Category: Non-fiction / travel Number pages: 64 pp + 5pp dropdown map flap Size: 145 mm x 210 mm Pb / hb: concealed wiro pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-13: 978-1-898481-27-0 Publication date: April 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net - orders@booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Jacquetta Megarry, Rucksack Readers
72 Rucksack Readers
THE KINTYRE WAY Jacquetta Megarry
The Kintyre Way is a fully waymarked trail running for 89 miles (142 km) southward from the beautiful natural harbour of Tarbert to Dunaverty, near the Mull of Kintyre. Criss-crossing the entire peninsula, you pass castles, abbeys and prehistoric remains, sometimes walking along rugged coastline, sometimes high on forestry tracks with glorious views over Arran, the Firth of Clyde and Ireland. You will enjoy many wildlife sightings in this peaceful area, famous as Scotland only "mainland island". This essential trail guide contains all you need to plan and enjoy your holiday. Jacquetta Megarry has written or co-authored ten walking guidebooks since 2000 in the unique Rucksack Reader format which she devised. She walked the Kintyre Way in May 2007 to research the route for this book and to take the photographs and has worked closely with the Kintyre Way Marketing Group and Forestry Commission in its conception.
Publisher: Rucksack Readers Category: Non-fiction / travel Number pages: 64 pp + 5pp dropdown map flap Size: 145 mm x 210 mm Pb / hb: concealed wiro pb Language / dialect: English ISBN-13: 978-1-898481-29-4 Publication date: Autumn 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net - orders@booksource.net Rights available: World rights available Rights contact details: Jacquetta Megarry, Rucksack Readers
Rucksack Readers 73
Sandstone Press Ltd PO Box 5725 One High Street Dingwall Ross-shire Scotland IV15 9WJ Tel: 01349 862 583 Int: 00 44 1 349 862 583 Jpn: 010 44 1 349 862 583 Fax: 01349 862 583 Int: 00 44 1 349 862 583 Jpn: 010 44 1 349 862 583 E-mail: info@sandstonepress.com Web: www.sandstonepress.com
THE CHERRY SUNDAE COMPANY Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Isla Dewar The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. ‘You have to bide your time when you live a life of crime. That’s what we discovered when we founded The Cherry Sundae Company. It seemed to us there was only so much money in the world and some people had too much. Others hadn’t enough. You could say we were vigilantes.’ Isla Dewar worked as a journalist before turning to books. She lives in Fife with her husband, Bob, a cartoonist and illustrator. She has two sons. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd – Vistas Series Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FF Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-10: 0-9546333-2-6 Publication date: May 2004 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
75 Sandstone Press Ltd
THE BLUE HEN Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Des Dillon The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. The closing down of the steelworks meant the end of being in work – but John and his pal don’t intend it to be the end. ‘Keep hens! That’s the answer.’ Award winning poet, short story writer, novelist and dramatist for film, television and stage, Des Dillon was born and brought up in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, the setting of The Blue Hen.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FA Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-10: 0-9546333-0-X Publication date: May 2004 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 76
THE WHITE CLIFFS Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Suhayl Saadi The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. Far out to sea Adam and Lily can see a dark shape that moves and shifts. It looks like an island but no one seems to know what it is. When they reach the it it’s not black but white. White cliffs rise above them, beneath the sea itself lie the ghosts of the past. An award winning writer living in Glasgow, Suhayl Saadi’s work has been published internationally. His short story collection was short listed for the Saltire First Book Prize in 2001. His radio play The Dark Island and novel Psychoraag both appeared in 2004. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FA Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-10: 0-9546333-1-8 Publication date: May 2004 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
77 Sandstone Press Ltd
THE BLOOD RED ROSES Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Lin Anderson The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. A hen night in Glasgow leaves the bride-to-be dead on a toilet floor. Her body is twisted, her face wears a terrifying grin. Who would kill a girl just before her wedding? Dr Rhona MacLeod and her team are called in to find out. As they go through the evidence, they find themselves in a world where sex is bought and sold, and nothing is what it seems. Lin Anderson is a crime novelist and screenwriter. Her first novel, Driftnet, became a Scottish bestseller in August 2003 and has since sold to Germany, France and Russia. Blood Red Roses is a prequel to Driftnet. Lin lives in Edinburgh, with her husband, John. She has two sons and one daughter. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FF Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-10: 0-9546333-5-0 Publication date: May 2004 Distribution: Booksource, 50Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 78
GATO Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Margaret Elphinstone The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. An unusual love story set in the Middle Ages, Gato is the story of a young child brought up in a mill. The quiet hardworking lives of the people at the mill are disturbed by the arrival of a wandering Spanish Friar. What is going on between the miller and his wife, and the Friar? The child at the centre of the story tries to understand. The only creatures the child is close to are the mill cats. After the Friar comes, there is always one called Gato, Spanish for ‘cat’. Margaret Elphinstone has published six other novels, four of which are historical. She began writing in Shetland in the 1970s. As well as being a writer she has worked as gardener, library assistant, home help and lecturer. She now lives in Glasgow and is Professor of Writing at the University of Strathclyde. She has two daughters. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FRH/FV Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-10: 0-9546333-6-9 Publication date: May 2005 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
79 Sandstone Press Ltd
THESE TIMES, THIS PLACES Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Muriel Gray The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. We need good writers to tackle hard topics. Maternity pay, public transport, gap year students, poor housing – things that matter to us all. Muriel Gray tells us why they do, and what needs to be done. You might agree with her or you might not – but you certainly won’t be bored. And you’ll think about them again when you read these articles from her regular Sunday Herald column. Author: Muriel began her media career in 1982 with Channel 4’s music show The Tube. She went on to present programmes such as Frocks on the Box, a long running fashion series, and Bliss, a teenage music and culture show. She has also presented many Edinburgh Festival programmes, as well as the The Media Show on Channel 4.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/JFCA Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-10: 0-9546333-7-7 Publication date: May 2005 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 80
WINNING THROUGH Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Brian Irvine The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. In Winning Through Brian Irvine tells the truth about his life as a footballer. From family life in Airdrie we follow him as he realises his boyhood dreams. He becomes an international player with Aberdeen and Scotland. But he has to cope with bad times, and worse, when he is told he has a serious and possibly fatal illness. Finally he has to come to terms with the end of a long playing career. Brian’s Christian faith and strong family ties help him to cope, and to ‘win through’. Author: Brian Irvine was a professional footballer with Falkirk, Aberdeen, Dundee and Ross County. He represented Scotland nine times before illness interrupted his career. When he retired from playing he became Football Development Officer with Ross County, a job that includes community work in schools and prison. He can often be heard giving his expert comment on radio.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd – Vistas Series Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/BGA/BGSA Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-05-3 Publication date: May 2006 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
81 Sandstone Press Ltd
THE HIGHWAY MEN Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Ken Macleod The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. The weather has gone crazy and the war has spread to China. Jase, Euan and Murdo are laggers: forced workers in a future Scotland. The laggers are helping to lay a new power line in the Highlands. Ailiss, a young woman from a secret settlement in the frozen hills, is going to strain their loyalties to breaking point – and beyond. Ken MacLeod was born in Stornoway in 1954 and grew up in Greenock. He has worked at many jobs, from road-mending to computer programming. He is now a full-time writer and has written nine science fiction novels. He is married with two children and lives in West Lothian. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FL Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-06-0 Publication date: May 2006 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 82
WICKED! Sandstone 'Vistas' Series Janet Paisley The Sandstone 'Vistas' Series has been developed for readers of English who are not used to reading full length novels, or for those who simply want to enjoy a ‘quick read’ which is satisfying and well written. The following titles are currently available in the 'Vistas' series. Jas overhears his wife in bed with an Italian. His plan to retire early and spend their winters in Italy is out the window. He tries to confront Linda but it all goes wrong. Is she toying with him? She’s toying with lots of other things - Italians, sexy underwear, massage oil. Jas tries to end it all but that goes wrong too. Is his life over? Or has he got the wrong end of the stick? Just when things can’t get worse, worse is what they get. Author: Janet Paisley is the award-winning author of five books of poetry, two fiction books and many plays, radio, TV and film scripts. She grew up in Avonbridge, near Falkirk, is the single-parent of six grown-up sons and a first-time grannie. Her writing is used in schools and universities in Russia, Europe and America. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: ELHF/ELXJ/FA Readership: G/S/ELT/X ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-07-7 Publication date: May 2006 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
83 Sandstone Press Ltd
IDEAS PACK FOR ADULT LEARNERS IN COLLEGES AND GROUPS Margaret Gilroy The Education packs are complementary to the 'Vistas' series for use by tutors and teachers in the various adult literacy areas. Aimed principally at those working with adult emergent readers, to support them in discussion and criticism about what they have read. Author: Margaret Gilroy took her MA Degree in Latin from the University of Glasgow. Later she took her Teaching Qualification Secondary Education at Notre Dame and followed this with an M.Ed in Lifelong Learning. At the time of writing this Ideas Pack she is completing a Degree in Psychology with the Open University. She works at Cardonald College in the south side of Glasgow where she is Programme Coordinator for Adult Returner courses. She also runs courses for disaffected 16-19 year olds and a transition course for 4th Year pupils between school and college. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Looseleaf Language / dialect: English BIC: EB/EBAR/ELM/ELP/ELX/ELT ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-03-9 Publication date: May 2006 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 84
TEACHING PACK FOR STANDARD GRADE, INTERMEDIATE AND GCSE ENGLISH Carol Taylor The Education packs are complementary to the series for use by tutors and teachers in the various adult literacy areas. The Sandstone Vista Series and the Schools Teaching Pack are increasingly recognised as valuable aids for teachers working with secondary pupils at Standard Grade, Intermediate and GCSE English. Author: Carol Taylor is from Kirkcudbrightshire. She was a school librarian in Glasgow and Inverness for the first part of her career, then retrained as an English teacher at Aberdeen University. Currently settled in Inverness, she teaches at Culloden Academy. She has a wide range of professional interests, including book reviewing for websites, organising and participating in junior and adult book groups, promoting reading for pleasure, developing the use of ICT in English teaching, and enjoying the librarian’s satisfaction of matching up the right book with the right reader.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Looseleaf Language / dialect: English BIC: EB/EBAR/ELM/ELP/ELX/ELT ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-10-7 Publication date: May 2006 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
85 Sandstone Press Ltd
IDEAS PACK FOR TUTORS AND LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE Lucy Hawkins This Ideas Pack is designed to provide a structure to support learners of English as an additional Language at three levels: pre-intermediate, intermediate and advanced. Author: After qualifying as an English Language teacher Lucy Hawkins spent the following two years teaching in Thailand. She worked in both schools and for business clients and for learners of all ages and abilities. She wrote curriculum for school programs and for learners with special needs. When she moved to Barcelona she worked in an International French school writing curriculum, programs and designed resources for five different levels of students. Now living in the Scottish Highlands she does support work for the North Highland College. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / English Language Learners Pb / hb: Looseleaf Language / dialect: English BIC: EB/EBAR/ELM/ELP/ELX/ELT ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-09-1 Publication date: February 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 86
LITIR a AMEIREAGAIDH Sandstone 'Meanmnach' Series Floraidh NicDomhnaill The Sandstone Meanmnach Series is aimed at Advanced Gaelic learners as well as accomplished readers. Recognising that most readers of Gaelic come from an English language background they open with an introduction from the author that will contextualise and lead into the story. These stories are of novella length and so less daunting to the developing reader of Gaelic. They should serve as an intriguing introduction to longer works such as those published by the Gaelic Book Council under the Ur Sgeul colophon. Letter from America tells of the life of Donald John who, in the years after the Great War, leaves Uist to work as a policeman, initially in Glasgow and later in New York. Donald John’s feelings and thoughts are very natural and affect most of us: love and hate, marriage and separation, deceit and violence, success and disappointment, good times and bad times. The end of Letter from America is a reminder that, ‘As a man sows, so he must reap.’ Flora MacDonald was born and brought up in Benbecula. She has been bestowed with a creative imagination and takes her writing skills from one of her relations, the Rev. Angus MacDonald, one of the two authors who wrote the history of Clan Donald.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: Fiction / Gaelic Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: Gaelic BIC: 2AFS ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-11- 4 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
87 Sandstone Press Ltd
SGEULACHDAN AN DA SHAOGHAIL ANN AN CEITHIR LITRICHEAN Sandstone 'Meanmnach' Series Michael Newton
The Sandstone Meanmnach Series is aimed at Advanced Gaelic learners as well as accomplished readers. Recognising that most readers of Gaelic come from an English language background they open with an introduction from the author that will contextualise and lead into the story. These stories are of novella length and so less daunting to the developing reader of Gaelic. They should serve as an intriguing introduction to longer works such as those published by the Gaelic Book Council under the Ur Sgeul colophon. Robeirt sends his foster brother Diarmad on a quest for the ‘Old Crone’. But there is more to her than mere superstition as Diarmad finds in a tale of sex, the natural world and reconciliation with the past on the fabled Green Isle. Michael Newton was born and raised in the south-eastern desert of California but gained fluency in Gaelic during a prolonged sojourn in Scotland (1992-1999). He completed a PhD in Celtic Studies at the University of Edinburgh during that time and has written numerous articles and books about Highland tradition and history, specialising especially in the story of Highland immigrant communities in North America.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd - Meanmnach Series Category: Fiction / Gaelic Learners Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: Gaelic BIC: 2AFS ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-12-1 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 88
THE RADICAL FIELD Sandstone 'Highliner' Series Tony McManus The Highliner Series follows and prolongs the high line of world culture as viewed by its director, Prof Kenneth White. Consisting mainly of relatively short books, finely written and cogently argued, the series aims at the opening up of a new space, critical and creative, in writing and thought. That the work of Kenneth White is a landmark not only in Scottish literature but in the field of world writing and thought is something that many people have known for a long time. But if the influence of White’s work has been spreading, and will continue to do so, relatively few people even yet have a sense of its complete range. The aim of Tony McManus, writer and musician, educationalist and political activist, who has been in touch with White for years, and who has had access to his French writings, is to do just that. Tony McManus, writer and musician, educationalist and political activist, was in touch with White for many years, and who had access to his French writings, died shortly after the completion of this book. Through his writings, not only on geopoetics but on education and many other subjects, and because of his lively engagement with public life, was a popular and highly respected figure. This first collection of his writings is eagerly awaited. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd – Highliner Series Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: BGL/DNF/DS/H/J/JH/JNM/1D/1DD/1DN/1DDF/ Readership: G ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-14-5 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
89 Sandstone Press Ltd
THE SHADOW BEHIND THE SUN Remzije Sherifi with Robert Davidson, Foreword by George Szirtes
In Shadow Behind the Sun Remzije Sherifi tells her own story, and that of her family, in the context of a deteriorating political environment that led over a number of years to the attempted ethnic cleansing of Kosova. In the same narrative she shows the work of the Integration Networks in day to day detail and invites the reader into the world of the Asylum Seeker. For the first time in English the horrible events that took place in Kosova are shown from an Albanian perspective.
In addition, they are put into an historical context that calls into question the accepted notion that the ‘cleansings’ of the 1990s are entirely a modern phenomenon. Instead, the author insists, they were part of a recurring historical pattern and as such are likely to happen again. The book contains direct speech interviews with Asylum Seekers and has, in two appendices, conversations with Janet Andrews, Secretary of MiN, and Dr Elinor Kelly (a freelance academic specialising in race and ethnic issues), and with Nick Hopkins, co-founder of Maryhill Integration Network. Author: Remzije Sherifi was for many years a broadcast journalist with Radio Gjilan in Kosova. She came to Great Britain with her family in 1999 as part of the humanitarian evacuation of refugees fleeing Serbian paramilitary forces. For health reasons she remains in the City of Glasgow but is in regular contact with family and other journalists who have returned. She now works as Development Officer for the Maryhill Integration Network, part of a UK wide network of organisations focussing on Asylum Seekers, their plight and their place in British society. Co-author Robert Davidson is the author of a wide body of work. Born and raised in Glasgow he has for many years made his home in Highland Scotland. Foreword author George Szirtes was born in Budapest in 1948 and came to Great Britain as a refugee in 1956. His first book, ‘The Slant Door’, was published in 1979 and won the Faber Memorial prize the following year. In 1982, he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and, since then, has published several books and won various other prizes including the T S Eliot Prize for ‘Reel’ in 2005. His work has been translated into numerous languages.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: History / Auto-biography Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: BGHA/JFFD/SG Readership: G ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-13-8 Publication date: May 2007
Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel.08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 90
THE KERRACHER MAN Eric MacLeod
Eric Macleod looks across the loch at the forlorn wreck of his family’s croft. ‘How would you like to live there?’ he asks his wife Ruth, half joking. After all, they have to think of something to do with the place. But he doesn’t expect her instant reply – ‘I would love to.’ A few short months later, fired by the challenge of an adventure like no other they’ve known, Eric has given up his promising career in London as an accountant with an international company, and moved to the remote shores of Loch Cairnbawn in the West Highlands. With Ruth and their two little girls, he plans to renovate the croft and make a living from the land. But it’s a long leap from management accountant to house builder and crofter – as they soon find out. The MacLeod family’s life at Kerracher will fascinate the many people who would love to live such a dream. An accountant by profession, Eric MacLeod, his wife and their two little girls, learn to mix concrete and to build, shear sheep and fish, live with otters and seals. Author: Eric MacLeod was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands having travelled over much of the world between times.
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: History / Auto-biography Pb / hb: Pb with 16pp colour plates Language / dialect: English BIC: BM/Nature/family Readership: G ISBN-13: 978-1-905207-15-2 Publication date: April 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
91 Sandstone Press Ltd
WHITE RIVER Jamie Whittle with illustrations by Jo Darling
Jamie Whittle writes about his walk to the source of the River Findhorn in Morayshire and his canoe journey back to the estuary. On the way he meets many interesting characters and muses on ecological matters, the environment and our place in it. White River introduces a remarkable new talent in Jamie Whittle. Still a young man he has travelled in the Himalaya and in North America, where he also studied. He works as an environmental lawyer in Highland Scotland and brings a wide range of practical experience and cultural reference to ecological matters, as well as a holistic outlook that gives poetry and economics equal partnership. ‘White River’ is destined to be a classic work. Author: Jamie Whittle works as an environmental lawyer. He has travelled widely in America and Canada as well as Nepal and is equally widely read. He is an accomplished canoeist and outdoorsman. Jo Darling is a painter of landscapes and still life, and a printmaker. Although without formal art school training she studied for seven years with New York artist Randy Klinger at the Moray Art Studio on Findhorn Bay, drawing, discussing aesthetics and refining perception. She lives in Forres where she works as an artist and teacher. Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd Category: History / Auto-biography Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English BIC: AFH/BGA/BGX/GTB1DBKSH/KCN/RBKF/RNA/RNF/WNC/WSSN5 Readership: G ISBN-13: TBC Publication date: August 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 08453700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: World Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Sandstone Press Ltd 92
The Shetland Times Ltd Gremista, Lerwick, Shetland Scotland ZE1 0PX Tel: 01594 693622 Int: 00 44 1 595 693622 Jpn: 010 44 1 595 693622 E- mail: c.black@shetland-times.co.uk Web: www.shetland-books.co.uk
VICTORIANS 60 DEGREES NORTH The story of the Edmondstons and Saxbys of Shetland J. Laughton Johnston This is the saga of five Edmondston brothers of Shetland and their families, from the late 18th to the early 20th century, told through their personal correspondence, their many publications, private, scientific and literary and from archival material from their home, local records, Edinburgh, Cambridge, London and Charleston, South Carolina. Their story is woven through the events of their time, beginning with the marriage of the parents and the inheritance of the Buness Estate on the most northerly inhabited island in the British Isles and ending with its near loss some 100 years later. It is a story of generosity and avarice, ambition and hubris, of science and literature, sobriety and intemperance. The main characters are supported by a cast that includes the tenants of their Unst estate and the principal worthies of Shetland; an array of the great naturalists of the 19th century, including Charles Darwin; the forty-niners on their trek to California; the defenders of Charleston in the American Civil War; Lady Franklin; Joseph Bell, the model for Sherlock Holmes; Burke and Hare, and many others. Laughton Johnston was brought up in Edinburgh but has spent a number of years in Shetland from where his father’s family originated and where he and his wife are now resident. He has written and co-written four books on natural history and nature conservation, and has also published poetry in several Scottish poetry magazines and anthologies resulting, in 1980, in a Scottish Arts Council award. Publisher: Shetland Times Ltd Category: Biography Pages: 232 Size: 250x 200mm Language: English Pbk / Hbk: Pbk ISBN: 978-1-904746-25-6 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution: Contact Publisher Rights: Contact Publisher
94 The Shetland Times Ltd
A DREAM OF SILVER J. Laughton Johnston
An old man is forced to move from his retirement cottage on Shetland to live at the Edinburgh home of his 10-year-old grandson. As a way of making contact with the child the old man begins to tell the boy the story of his own childhood and of his encounter with the works of the two giants of Scottish literature of the 18th and 19th century. It is a moral and physical journey; the narratives of the grandfather and grandson, and that of the old man’s childhood, closely interweaving. The pair seek out the old man’s first home by the sea front at Newhaven where the nightly beam from a lighthouse, flickering on the wall above his bed, became the one dependable fixture in his otherwise unstable world. From the old fishing village they trace the path of the old man’s childhood misadventure along the shores of the Forth to Queensferry and then over the sea to Shetland. In Shetland, the narratives come to a climax at a lighthouse perched on the most southerly point of the islands, where the historical paths of the two Scottish novelists cross, and where grandson and grandfather face and comprehend uncomfortable and unavoidable truths. Laughton Johnston is better known for his writings on natural history and nature conservation. He has written and co-written four books in this field. He has also published poetry in several Scottish poetry magazines and anthologies resulting, in 1980, in a Scottish Arts Council award. Writing fiction has always been a long-term ambition and A Dream of Silver is his first novel. Although he was brought up in Edinburgh, Johnston has spent a number of years in Shetland from where his father’s family originated and where he and his wife are now resident. Publisher: The Shetland Times Ltd Category: Fiction Pages: 178 Size: 197 x 130 mm Language: English with some Shetland dialect Pbk / Hbk: Pbk ISBN: 978-1-904746-20-1 Publication date: November 2006 Distribution: Contact Publisher Rights: Contact Publisher
The Shetland Times Ltd 95
VOICES FROM THE PAST - A HISTORY OF NORTH ROE Karen Inkster
In 2001, a young woman stood at a ship’s rails watching the low-lying Shetland Islands come into view. Over one hundred years had passed since her great-grandfather, Peter Inkster, then a young man, had stood watching these same isles recede into the distance as he ventured to start a new life in Western Canada. In the latter years of his life, this same Peter returned to his native islands. He kept a diary of his thoughts and childhood memories which gave an intimate glimpse of his isolated home village at the end of the nineteenth century. Nearly fifty years after Peter’s death, his great-granddaughter has combined extensive research with his written recollections to create a unique vignette of the lives of the ordinary people of North Roe who, at the mercy of the weather and the landlord, struggled to survive at the edge of sea.
Publisher: The Shetland Times Ltd Category: Non-fiction Pages: 288 - 75 b/w illustrations Size: 210 x 148 mm Pbk / Hbk: Pbk Language: English ISBN: 978-1-904746-21-8 Publication date: December, 2006 Distribution: Contact Publisher Rights: Contact Publisher
96 The Shetland Times Ltd
THE FOY AND OTHER FOLK TALES Lawrence Tulloch Illustrated by Sheila Faichney
A spellbinding collection of folk tales told by Shetland’s foremost storyteller. “His stories are a pure slice of Shetland, and will bring joy to readers all over the world, regardless of their age.” Tom Muir, Orkney. Lawrence Tulloch is acclaimed as an international storyteller having participated in events in Sweden, Faroe, Iceland and the USA, as well as many festivals in Ireland and Scotland. He has also recorded three cassette tapes of stories on the Veesik label. Lawrence was born in North Yell, Shetland into a family that was, for generations, steeped in folklore and tradition. The School of Scottish Studies, for their archives, extensively recorded his father Tom and Lawrence himself has a long record as an amateur broadcaster. He has contributed to many, many, radio programmes both locally and nationally and he has written for magazines and newspapers.
Publisher: The Shetland Times Ltd Category: Fiction Pages: 192 Size: 210 x 148 mm Pbk / Hbk: Language: English ISBN: 978-1-904746-23-2 Publication date: December 2006 Distribution: Contact Publisher Rights: Contact Publisher
The Shetland Times Ltd 97
BENNY-BENNY SEAWATER Lisa Johnson Illustrated by Katherine Laidlay
Benny-benny Seawater spends all of his holidays on his Aunty and Uncle's croft in Shetland. He has plenty of freedom and he loves exploring the haystacks, the byre, the bridge and the burn, but most of all he loves being a Viking. In this book Benny-benny Seawater spends his best holiday ever - making his own Viking costume. Lisa Johnson lives in Lerwick with her daughter Tabitha and their sheepdog Moses. She looks after lots of little children every day who love having stories read to them. When Lisa was a little girl she spent all her holidays on the croft, and once she was a Viking at Up-Helly-A’. Katherine Laidlay grew up in Lerwick and now lives and works in Dundee as a graphic designer and illustrator. She always loves coming back to Shetland to see her friends and family for holidays - a bit like Benny-benny Seawater!
Publisher: The Shetland Times Ltd Category: Children's fiction Pages: 20 Size: 210 x 210mm Pbk/ Hbk: Pbk Language: English ISBN: 978-1-904746-22-5 Publication date: November 2006 Distribution: Contact Publisher Rights: Contact Publisher
98 The Shetland Times Ltd
Two Ravens Press Ltd Green Willow Croft Rhiroy Lochbroom Ullapool Wester-Ross Scotland IV23 2SF Tel: 01854 655307 Int: 0044 1 854 655307 Jpn: 010 44 1 854 655307 E-mail: sharon@tworavenspress.com Web: www.tworavenspress.com
LOVE LETTERS FROM MY DEATH-BED Cynthia Rogerson
There's something very strange going on in Fairfax. Joe Johnson is on the hunt for dying people while his wife stares into space and flies land on her nose; the Snelling kids fester in a hippie backwater and pretend that they haven't just killed their grandfather; and Morag, multi-bigamist from the Scottish Highlands, makes some rash decisions when diagnosed with terminal cancer by Manuel – who may or may not be a doctor. Meanwhile, the ghost of Consuela threads her way through all the stories, oblivious to the ever-watching Connie – who sees everything from the attic of the Gentle Valleys Hospice. Cynthia Rogerson's second novel is a funny and life-affirming tale about the courage to love in the face of death. ‘Witty, wise and on occasions laugh-aloud funny. A tonic for all those concerned with living more fully while we can.’ Andrew Greig Cynthia Rogerson is a Californian living in Ross-shire. Her first novel, Upstairs in the Tent, was published in 2001; her short stories and poems have been short-listed for competitions, anthologised, published in literary magazines and broadcast on BBC radio. She has four children, an ex-husband in her extension, a very tolerant boyfriend, and some hens. Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Category: Fiction Pages: 288 Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-00-9 Language: English Publication date: April 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Translation, digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial, TV/radio/film Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
100 Two Ravens Press Ltd
CASTINGS Mandy Haggith
A new collection of poems by Mandy Haggith, whose writing reflects her love for the land and her concern for the environment - not just in the North-West Highlands where she now lives on a woodland croft, but also in her travels around the world. ‘The poetry here shows real clarity of eye marking the dialogues of nature in a place, be that place the lonely Scottish crofting area that is home, or the course of the River Kelvin through the Lowlands, or a Russian forest.’ Tom Leonard Mandy Haggith first studied Philosophy and Mathematics and then Artificial Intelligence, and spent years struggling to write elegant computer programs that could help to save the planet. A decade ago she left academia to pursue a life of writing and revolution, and has since travelled all over the world researching forests and the people dependent on them, and campaigning for their protection. In 2003, she returned to Glasgow University to study for an MPhil in Creative Writing, gaining a distinction. This is her first book-length collection of poetry, though a pamphlet, letting light in, was published in 2005. She lives on a woodland croft in Assynt, in the Scottish Highlands.
Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Pages: 80 Size: 216x138mm Category: Poetry Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-01-6 Language: English Pub date: April 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Translation, digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial, TV/radio/film Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
Two Ravens Press Ltd 101
HIGHLAND VIEWS David Ross
Military jets exercise over Loch Eye as a seer struggles to remember his vision; the honeymoon is over for workers down at the Nigg yard, and an English incomer leads the fight for independence both for Scotland and for herself... This debut collection of stories provides an original perspective on the Highlands, subtly addressing the unique combination of old and new influences that operate today. ‘I’m a big fan. A fine organic collection that advances a viewpoint, culture and history quite other than the urban central belt that still lopsidedly dominates recent Scottish literature.’ Andrew Greig After completing a degree at Edinburgh University, David Ross stayed on in the capital for another fifteen years, working at a variety of jobs from lecturer to dish-washer. He ran a Creative Writing Workshop for Theatre Workshop as well as playing and song-writing in several bands, including Poetry Roadshow, a words/music fusion of performance poets and musicians. Returning to his home town of Tain in Easter Ross, he began writing Highland Views and worked as a musician and tutor, responsible for developing Music Performance and Sound Production courses for North Highland College in its Alness Centre. David Ross is currently self-employed as a guitar, composition and recording tutor. Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Pages: 80 Size: 216x138mm Category: Fiction (short stories) Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-05-4 Language: English Pub lication date: April 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Translation, digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial, TV/radio/film Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
102Two Ravens Press Ltd
RIPTIDE: NEW WRITING FROM THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS Sharon Blackie & David Knowles (eds) This diverse collection of new fiction and poetry from the Highlands and Islands showcases the work both of established writers and of new names to watch. Includes contributions from Andrew Greig, Anne Macleod, Cynthia Rogerson, Angus Dunn, John Glenday, Kevin MacNeil, Peter Urpeth, and many more. Sharon Blackie and David Knowles are partners in Two Ravens Press Ltd. They split their time between a croft on the shores of Loch Broom, near Ullapool, and a seaside cottage on the Moray coast. Sharon is a chartered psychologist specialising in the use of creative imagination techniques, and is a published writer of both fiction and non-fiction. David is a fast-jet pilot and writes poetry.
Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd ISBN: 978-1-906120-02-3 Pages: 192 Size: 216x138mm Category: Fiction (short stories) and poetry Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding Language: English Pub date: April 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Translation, digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial, TV/radio/film Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
Two Ravens Press Ltd 103
TYPES OF EVERLASTING REST Clio Gray
A collection of short stories by novelist Clio Gray, which includes her Scotsman/Orange prize-winning story, I Should Have Listened Harder. Gray’s unique stories represent the very best in literary historical fiction. ‘...Bleak and powerful with the ring of authenticity.’ Brian MacLaverty ‘...Incredible flair for atmosphere, imagery, setting and description.’ Alan Bisset
Clio Gray was born in Yorkshire, brought up in Devon and has lived in Scotland for the past 15 years, where she works at her local library. She has won many prizes for her short stories, most notably the Scotsman/Orange Award in 2006. Her first book, Guardians of the Key, a historical mystery, was published by Headline in 2006. Its sequel, The Roaring of the Labyrinth, will be published in August 2007. Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Pages: 112 Category: Fiction (short stories) and poetry Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-04-7 Language: English Publication date: July 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
104 Two Ravens Press Ltd
Nightingale Peter Dorward
On the second of August 1980, at 1pm, a bomb placed under a chair in the second class waiting room of the international railway station in Bologna exploded, resulting in the deaths of eighty-five people. Despite indictments and arrests, no convictions were ever secured. Exactly a year before the bombing, a young British couple disembarked at the station and walked into town. He - pale-blue eyes, white collarless shirt, baggy green army surplus trousers – and twenty yards behind him, the woman whom, in a couple of years he will marry, then eventually abandon. He is Don, she is Julia. Within twenty-four hours she’ll leave for home, and he will wonder into a bar called the Nightingale – and a labyrinthine world of extreme politics and terrorism. More than twenty years later their daughter Rosie, as naïve as her father was before her, will return to the city, and both Don – and his past – will follow. Nightingale is a hugely accomplished debut: a passionate, literary thriller that will grip until the final page. Peter Dorward was born in St Andrews in 1963. Having been a hop-picker, international aid-worker, pub musician and a runner for a film crew, he now works as a GP and medical teacher in Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner Deborah and their two boys. He has published a number of short stories and been a winner of literary awards, including the 2000 Canongate/Waterstones short story prize and the 1997 Fish short story competition. Nightingale is his first novel. Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Category: Fiction ISBN: 978-1-906120-09-2 Pages: 288 Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding Language: English Pub date: September 2007 Distribution: BookSource, Glasgow Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
Two Ravens Press Ltd 105
Leaving the Nest Dorothy Baird A collection of poetry by Dorothy Baird that represents a woman’s journey into adulthood, through childbirth and motherhood and then on, as her children grow up and passes into menopause and beyond... ‘From the first line and a half of the first poem you know at once that you are listening to a poet with an impeccably sure touch. Images, ideas and sounds fill eyes, ears, mouth and mind – and not just occasionally, but constantly. These pieces are the outpouring of a remarkable talent. They inhabit this universe in all its aspects: seasons, elements, animals, birds, land and sea. They are unobtrusively urgent, unashamed, and alive with longing lingering thoughts and feelings, with intensely personal experiences which Dorothy Baird has triumphantly universalised. They are an eloquent meditation on our lives, filled with the rich loam of humanity. In an increasingly ugly and unpredictable world, these poems are a reminder and an example of just how beautiful life can be.’ Christopher Rush Dorothy Baird was born in Edinburgh and after travelling widely, including spending a year teaching English in France and the Soviet Union and two years in the West Midlands, returned to the city in 1989 to bring up her three children. She has worked in a variety of places, including a biscuit factory, a shoe shop and, briefly, a gentleman’s outfitter’s; taught English in two Steiner Schools and for many years was a tutor of English and Communication Skills for adults with learning disabilities. She now facilitates creative writing groups for adults in the community and in mental health centres, and leads writing workshops for children. She also runs a correspondence course in creative and therapeutic writing and is a Human Givens therapist. Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Pages: 96 Category: Poetry Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-06-1 Language: English Publication date: July 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
106 Two Ravens Press Ltd
Parties Tom Lappin
Gordon yearns for a little power; Richard wishes reality could match the romantic ideal of a perfect pop song; Grainne wants life to be a little more like Tolstoy. Beatrice looks on and tries to chronicle the disappointment of a generation measuring the years to the end of the century in parties. Parties is a black comedy about young people getting older, and learning to be careful what they wish for, lest they end up finding it. Tom Lappin grew up in England and now lives in Scotland. He has written about books, music, sport and travel for numerous publications including The Sunday Times, The Scotsman and The Modern Review. Parties is his first novel.
Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Pages: 374 Category: Fiction Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-11-5 Language: English Publication date: October 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
Two Ravens Press Ltd 107
The Most Glorified Strip of Bunting John McGill
The US North Polar expedition of 1871-73 was a disaster-strewn adventure that counts amongst the most bizarre and exciting in the annals of Arctic exploration. The Most Glorified Strip of Bunting is a fictionalised account of its events, based on the firsthand accounts of the participants. A recurring theme of the novel is the clash of two civilisations – Inuit and European – and the mutual misunderstanding and hostility that arise from it. John McGill was born in Glasgow and now lives in Orkney. He has previously published a collection of short stories, That Rubens Guy, and a novel, Giraffes. His stories have featured in a number of anthologies and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.
Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Category: Fiction ISBN: 978-1-906120-12-2 Pages: 288 Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding Language: English Pub date: November 2007 Distribution: BookSource, Glasgow Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
108 Two Ravens Press Ltd
Prince Rupert’s Teardrop Lisa Glass
Mary undresses and wades into the boating lake. She dives and opens her eyes. In the blur, she perceives the outline of a head – she reaches... A dead bird. But she will keep searching. Because Mary’s mother, Meghranoush – a ninety-four year-old survivor of the genocide of Christians by the Turkish army early in the twentieth century – has vanished. Mary is already known to the police: a serial telephoner, a reporter of wrongdoing, a nuisance. Her doctor talks of mental illness. But what has happened is not just inside her head. A trail of glass birds mocks her. A silver thimble shines at the riverbed – a thimble that belonged to her mother. A glassblower burns a body in a furnace and uses the ash to colour a vase. Rumours circulate of a monster stalking the women of Plymouth. Has her mother simply left – trying to escape the ghosts of genocide in her mind – or has she been abducted? It is left to this most unreliable and unpredictable of daughters to try to find her, in this moving, lyrical, and very powerful work. Lisa Glass studied English at Swansea University, until she eloped to Cyprus with her RAF boyfriend. Several months later they married and she finished her degree. She went back to Swansea for her MA in Creative Writing, which she passed with distinction. She has worked as a cleaner, a bookseller and a promotional model. She lives on the north Cornish coast where she takes inspiration from the dramatic scenery and drunken tourists. She has two cats, and a collie puppy.
Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Category: Fiction ISBN: 978-1-906120-12-2 Pages: 288 Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding Language: English Pub date: November 2007 Distribution: BookSource, Glasgow Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
Two Ravens Press Ltd 109
The Zig Zag Woman Maggie Sawkins
‘Maggie Sawkins draws brilliantly on extended metaphor and the surreal to explore painful relationships, mental illness and problematic situations. She writes both from personal experience and beyond it. Her inventive and highly individual voice is always authentic. The taut writing carries emotional weight and sends that shiver up my spine which tells me I am reading real poetry. This is a very exciting first collection.’ Myra Schneider Maggie Sawkins was born in 1953 and spent her childhood on a large council housing estate north of Portsmouth. She began writing poetry at the age of nine and had her first poem published when she was seventeen. She returned to education in 1983 and went on to gain a distinction in an MA in Creative Writing. For the past twelve years Maggie has taught students with specific learning difficulties at South Downs College. In 2004 Maggie co-founded the popular Tongues & Grooves Poetry and Music Club in Southsea where she now lives with her husband, daughter and a growing menagerie. Flarestack published a pamphlet collection, Charcot’s Pet, in 2003. The Zig Zag Woman is her first full collection. Publisher: Two Ravens Press Ltd Pages: 80 Category: Poetry Size: 216x138mm Pb/hb: Pb, notched binding ISBN: 978-1-906120-08-5 Language: English Publication date: September 2007 Distribution: Contact publisher Rights available: Digest rights, book club, large print, hardback reprints, second serial Rights contact: Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press Ltd
110Two Ravens Press Ltd
University of Strathclyde CADISPA Project University of Strathclyde Faculty of Education 76 Southbrae Drive Glasgow G13 1PP Tel: Comman Eachdraidh Lios Mor – 01631 760257 Int: 0044 1 631 760257 Jpn: 01044 1 631 760257
SGEULACHD NO DHA AS AN LIOS A TALE OR TWO FROM LISMORE Domhnall MacIlleDhuibh / Donald Black Well known as a historian of his native island, and a member of the local historical society, Donald Black of Lismore has now gathered together the fruits of years of research into a fascinating bilingual book. Sgeulachd No Dhà às an Lios/A Tale Or Two from Lismore is a detailed account of the island’s past and present, and also looks to the future. Part autobiography, part historical survey, part account of customs, folklore and literature, the book is an absorbing and entertaining read.
Mr Black ranges widely, writing on prehistoric monuments, the traditions surrounding Saint Moluag (thought to have given the island its name), the clearances and emigrations of the nineteenth century, island occupations and trades, Gaelic poetry and song, proverbs and other sayings. He provides biographies of well known Lismore people such as the folklorist Alexander Carmichael and the botanist Captain Dugald Carmichael, as well as of others whose fame was of a different kind! He gives interesting accounts of his experiences of travel with members of his family to Canada and Australia, where he often met with descendants of Lismore people and, in one or two cases, with Lismore people he knew. The link to the homeland seemed to the Blacks to be as strong as ever. The text is largely bilingual, with most chapters in Gaelic being followed by an English version and a central section, ‘A Look from Inside’, being in English only. With a colour cover and recordings of a number of the stories by the author in CD-Rom format, the book retails at £14.99 and is distributed by Comann Eachdraidh Lios Mòr (the Lismore Historical Society), for whom it was published by the CADISPA Project, based at the University of Strathclyde’s Jordanhill campus, which has been closely involved in various aspects of developments in Lismore. Financial and other support was received from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Comhairle nan Leabhraichean (the Gaelic Books Council). Publisher: CADISPA Project University of Strathclyde Category: History / Non-fiction Number pages: 208 Size: 190mm X 245mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: Gaelic / English Isbn/s 10: 1 9007 4318 3 Publication date: October 2006 Distribution: Jennifer Baker, Comann Eachdraidh Lios Mor (Lismore Historical Society), Isle of Lismore, Argyll, PA34 Rights: Contact publisher
112 University of Strathclyde
Whittles Publishing Caithness Scotland Tel: 01593 731333 Int: 0044 1 593 731333 Jpn: 010 44 1 593 731333 Fax: 01593 731400 Int: 0044 1 593 731400 Jpn: 010 44 1 593 731400 E-mail: info@whittlespublishing.com Web: www.whittlespublishing.com
BROTHER NATURE Jim Crumley
- A face-to-face encounter with wildness - A passionate study of a nature writer’s home territory - A culmination of half a lifetime’s work – a book that draws on rich personal experience and considers hopefully the future of a Scotland wilder than it has been for 300 year. Acclaimed nature writer Jim Crumley turns his poet’s instinct, his naturalist’s eye, and occasionally his camera on his core territory in Highland Perthshire to
produce a book of rare intimacy. Brother Nature is based on thirty years of exploring and thinking about the country on his doorstep. He also applies to that country lessons learned at first hand in other lands, notably on a life-changing trip toAlaska. The book is in two parts. The first, The Brotherhood, is a series of vivid and intensely personal encounters with grizzly bears, badgers, deer, otters, orchids, ospreys, red kites, golden eagles, ravens, and his beloved swans. The second part, The Long Way Back, considers how his native Scotland might achieve a closer, more thoughtful relationship with nature. In a powerful conclusion, Jim Crumley makes the case for the reintroduction of wolves as a catalyst in the process of achieving that relationship. He writes: 'Again and again, walking these wolfless mountains, I feel their absence, or rather I feel thedistant, elusive nature of their old presence, for no landscape that has sustained wolves ever loses completely the imprint of their reign. When I go alone among wild places, I feel as if I am trying to repair an old and broken connection, a bridge between landscapes. We broke it when we exterminated the wolf. That was the watershed.' This beautifully written and thought-provoking book is sure to be of immense interest to Jim Crumley’s wide sphere of readers, all those interested in nature writing, wild places and the natural world. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: Nature Number pages: 176 illustrated with b/w photographs and drawings Size: 234 x 156mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN: 978-1904445-34-0 Publication date: February 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
114 Whittles Publishing
CHRONOMETER JACK – THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE SHIPMASTER, JOHN MILLER OF EDINBURGH (1802 – 1883) Edited by Robin Craig, Ann Nix and Michael Nix From a chance acquisition of a battered leather-bound notebook, an extensive and extremely well-written narrative was revealed which recounted the life of a midshipman in the East India Company, through to the time when he owned his own vessels and settled in Tasmania. Chronometer Jack is an outstanding autobiography by John Miller, an Edinburgh-born Shipmaster and Coastguard officer, an educated man whose working life commenced on
board East India Company ships. It provides many insights into the tough but sometimes amusing life under William Younghusband on the Lord Castlereagh, the tyrannical Tommy Larkins on the Marquis Camden and Thomas Balderston on the Asia. Seconded to an opium vessel and the associated risks of trading in opium in the 1820s, Miller experienced the trauma of capture by the Chinese. Returning to Scotland, he married Jessie Adamson, the sister of John and Robert, famed pioneers of photography. Later, Miller set up in business as a master-shipowner in the convict colony of Tasmania, trading mainly with Sydney and Port Phillip. The gripping narrative is full of incident and unforgettable characters and his first-hand observations on society in Van Diemen's Land when still a convict colony make compelling reading. Bankrupted, Miller and his family were forced to return to Britain where circumstances forced him to join the Coastguard, serving in Northumberland, Tynemouth and Lincolnshire. His frustrations with bureaucracy, the higher status accorded former Royal Navy Officers and, in his recruiting capacity, the relatively poor quality of seamen joining the Royal Naval Reserve, constantly surface in the text – a rare insight into the occupation and tribulations experienced by a Coastguard officer in the 1850s and '60s. A book that will appeal greatly to anyone who enjoys naval and maritime history, modern history and autobiographies. It will also be of interest to ships and shipping enthusiasts and anyone looking for an engrossing and entertaining read. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: History / Autobiography Number pages: 224 Size: 240 ˘ 170 mm Pb / hb: Hb - illustrated Language / dialect: English ISBN: 978-1904445-33-3 Publication date: August 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Whittles Publishing 115
KING CAMERON David Craig
Over the generations, people dragooned by government have risen up and struggled against the bonds of law and ownership which oppressed them. So it was on Tayside at the end of the 18th century and in the Outer Isles in 1849. From time to time a person of unusual resolve and clarity of mind finds him- or herself thrown up into the vanguard of the rising, to speak and decide and rally. Angus Cameron, a wright from Lochaber, spoke up for the
families around Loch Tay who were faced with losing their young men to a Conscription Act in the summer of 1797. Cameron knows how his people have suffered through decades of eviction and military recruitment and is anguished by how little the ordinary people can do against a heartless Establishment which has weapons, powers and privileges. Arrested and outlawed, he survived to live on. King Cameron imagines a later life for him, as husband and father, then again as spokesman forcrofters facing eviction on North Uist. These are times of famine, emigration, and the desperate fight with stones and tangle-stems against clearance from the homeland. David Craig writes with power and anger of lives which have few memorials. Past times are not museum-frozen, they are brought near enough to hear and touch and smell. This book will appeal to everyone with an interest in the Clearances, Scottish history or anyone who appreciates a good read by an expert storyteller. For a fuller appreciation of the story, readers will enjoy its sequel, the acclaimed The Unbroken Harp. David Craig's writing career spans around 40 years he is an acclaimed author and poet, academic and expert on the Clearances. His previous publications include Latest News; Native Stones; On the Crofters' Trail; The Grasshopper's Burden; Arch, with Andy Goldsworthy, The Glens of Silence with David Paterson and The Unbroken Harp, which is a sequel to King Cameron. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: History Number pages: 224 Size: 198 x 127mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN: 978-1870325-17-2 Publication date: April 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
116 Whittles Publishing
LISTEN TO THE TREES Don MacCaskill
A new, enhanced hardback edition of the evocative story of Don’s life, complemented by 60 additional photographs and specially commissioned drawings. In his introduction, Don MacCaskill wrote modestly, ‘I think I became a naturalist’. He was, in fact, one of Scotland’s foremost naturalists and a remarkable wildlife photographer as well. In a flashback to his early years in Kilmartin, a village in Argyllshire, we learn of his
awakening interest in man’s relationship with the wildlife all around him – why was it necessary to kill it? And when accident, or fate, took him into a career in forestry, an inborn love of trees, both in woodland and forest, flourished and became his life. Photography came a little later, mostly as a record of what he was discovering in the natural world, but is of a remarkable quality in a time when modern aids to getting that special photograph of mammal or bird did not exist. This book is an account of his first year at Ardgarten, as a young forester newly out of college. Full of enthusiasm and confidence, he thought he knew everything and there was many an occasion when he had to discover that he didn’t! It is an honest and often humorous account of forestry in the days after the Second World War when the forest folk of that time, who often lived in isolated communities ‘far from the madding crowd’, were genuinely interested in the work they were doing. There were some fascinating characters too! A truly delightful book that will be a joy to read especially for those with a particular interest in trees and woods, the natural world and anyone looking for an engrossing read told with humour. Don MacCaskill began his career as a forester and subsequently became one of Scotland’s foremost naturalists, conservationists and wildlife photographers. He also worked on various environmental projects to study and protect wildife such as eagles, merlins, buzzards, foxes, wildcats, badgers and otters. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: Nature Number pages: 176pp illustrated with b/w photographs and drawings Size: 234 X 156 mm dust jacket Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN: 978-1870325-34-9 Publication date: April 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Whittles Publishing 117
LIGHT OVER LUNDY A History of the Old Light and the Fog Signal Station Myrtle Ternstrom Set atop the rocky plateau of Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, the Old Light stands proudly – a monument to the skill of its builder, Joseph Nelson. It is of a pleasing construction, both solid and graceful, and when built in 1820 it had two lights – an upper and a lower, and was the highest lighthouse in the country. In this fascinating history of the old lighthouse and the fog signal station, the author has combined her wide knowledge of the island’s history with
118 Whittles Publishing
information gleaned from extensive research into Trinity House’s archives. Some tantalising insights into the life of the keepers and their families have emerged – the keeper who was too tall for the lantern room; the keeper’s wife who tragically died of water contamination, and the gunners who poached their dinners and hid their numerous children when the Elder Brethren came to inspect the cottages! Interwoven throughout the story are details of the numerous wrecks from the 15th century until 1897. Accounts from newspapers are often included, and the wrecks are linked to the lighthouse keepers of the time and the heroic rescues performed by the lighthouse staff. There are also some wonderful snippets of island history – one owner regarded Lundy as independent of mainland authorities and issued his own ‘puffin’ coins and stamps – the latter are still in use to cover postage to the mainland although the coins are now collectors’ items. The height of the Old Light soon proved to be its downfall and eventually the reason why it was extinguished. Due to Lundy’s plateau-top fogs which completely obscured the lantern, although there was clear visibility at ground level, a programme of alterations and intensifications took place under the advice of Professor Faraday. In 1862 a fog signal station was built on the west coast, providing shipping with another warning. This was not wholly successful either and it was not until 1897 that the Old Light was replaced by new lights on lower levels at the north and south ends of the island. This is another collectible maritime book, which will be of particular appeal to all lighthouse enthusiasts, anyone who is interested in history and everyone with an affection for Lundy Island. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: Maritime / History Number pages: 144pp illustrated Size: 240 ˘ 170 mm Pb / hb: Pb - softback Language / dialect: English ISBN: 978-1904445-29-6 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
THE MOUNTAINS LOOK ON MARRAKECH A Trek Along The Atlas Mountains Hamish Brown After an initial visit of three months to the Atlas Mountains in 1965, well-known travel writer, climber and photographer Hamish Brown has been back every year since, and this book is something of a love story about one man's lifelong devotion to the Atlas Mountains and the Berber Highlanders who so strongly remind us of Scottish history, although in a harsher, bigger world where storms and flash floods can cause havoc. In his own words, 'I had put feet to my dream and this book is the story of that dream , the end-to-end trek of the Atlas
Mountains, a 900-mile walk in 96 days, which I want to share before everything recedes like a tide into the flat waters of memory.' Hamish makes light of what was a complicated and notable journey with endless passes, gorges and peaks taken in. With his wide knowledge of the Atlas and careful planning, the journey was kept in steady flow despite the many hazards, but it is the many cameos of description, meetings with villagers, entertaining folk tales, etc. which will beguile the reader and surely make this one of the classic stories of modern adventuring. This richly-satisfying travelogue, which is complemented by a selection of stunning photographs of landscape, people, buildings and plant life, is sure to be of enormous appeal to anyone interested in travel writing, the landscape and looking for an absorbing and engrossing read. Hamish Brown is a professional writer, lecturer and photographer specialising in mountain, outdoor, travel and related topics, etc. the editor has written over 20 books including Hamish's Mountain Walk, his first and award-winning book. He is also a frequent contributor to magazines, the press, radio scripts and book illustrations and has become an inveterate wanderer. Other notable books include The Last Hundred; 25 Walks, Fife; 25 Walks, Skye and Kintail; Along the Fife Coastal Path & Speak to the Hills. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: Travel Number pages: 304pp inc.16pp colour section Size: 240 ˘ 170 mm Pb / hb: Hb Language / dialect: English ISBN: 10: 1-870325-29-X ISBN 13: 978-1870325-29-5 240 Publication date: March 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisher Rights contact details: Contact publisher
Whittles Publishing 119
THE LOST GLEN Neil M Gunn
The Lost Glen vividly portrays a clash of cultures and personalities against a background of a landscape in visible decay. The cultural collision and its effects are explored through Ewan, a young local man recently returned from university in disgrace, and a retired English colonel staying at the village hotel. Both men in a sense are alienated from the community, the younger because of a haunting sense of failure, and the older through an unwillingness to understand the local culture. They
have a mutual antipathy. The Colonel's self-imposed cultural isolation leads to aggressive bullying and an openly lascivious attitude towards local young women. His unworthiness as a representative of Anglo-Saxon culture is largely compensated for by his young niece, who behaves with sensitivity and integrity. She is clearly attracted to Ewan whose sense of failure is complex and does not only concern his enforced withdrawal from university and his involvement in an incident at sea that cost his father his life; it concerns the feeling he has of himself as a spiritual exile a man who had intended to emigrate but who had remained as an outsider in the land that meant so much to him. He is fascinated by the experience of a local piper, whose finding of a lost glen that had a strange beauty and primordial freshness had been translated into a pibroch. The haunting tune acts as a stimulant to Ewan's Hamlet-like musings on the possibility of a rejuvenation of the landscape or a final disappearance of its life and meaning. The antipathy between the two main protagonists leads to a physical struggle between them that brings to an end a novel, layered with meanings, that is more a symbolic drama than a novel of realism. One of the earliest novels to appear in the Scottish Literary Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, The Lost Glen is a powerful novel of satire, irony and anguish, that can both disturb and intrigue the thoughtful reader. It will be of immense interest to all who enjoy classic Scottish fiction, good writing, and collectors of the work of Neil M. Gunn. Publisher: Whittles Publishing Category: Fiction Number pages: 256pp Size: 198 x 127mm Pb / hb: Pb Language / dialect: English ISBN: 978-1904445-43-2 Publication date: May 2007 Distribution: Booksource, 50 Cambuslang Rd, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel. 0845 3700067 www.booksource.net Rights available: Contact publisherRights contact details: Contact publisher
120 Whittles Publishing