Awa' An' Bile Yer Heid!


Book Description

David Ross has produced an extraordinary, eclectic and hilarious collection of thematically arranged Scottish insults, abuse and invective which has been wonderfully illustrated throughout by Rupert Besley. The best insults, according to the author, occupy an indefinite space between wit and abuse, containing elements of both to varying degree; they must always sting the victim, or else they are a failure. This book is full of rich and expressive examples of insult and invective for all occasions from all over Scotland. These have been passed down through the centuries or have emerged in modern times, proving that clever insults are infinitely more amusing and memorable than good jokes. And so, happy reading. If you don't like it, awa' an' bile yer heid!




Across the Pond


Book Description

Moving to a Scottish castle allows seventh-grader Callie to escape friendship problems in San Diego, but finding new friends, even in the birding club an old journal inspires her to join, proves challenging.




The Return of John Macnab


Book Description

'Highly Engaging' - Sunday Herald 'You could easily make a case that Andrew Greig has the greatest range of any living Scottish writer' - Scotsman The wager To poach a salmon, grouse and a deer from three Royal Estates. The challengers Three men in a mid-life crisis who should know better. The wild card A flirtatious female journalist who won't take no for an answer. Striding over the Scottish Highlands with a poet's eye on the wilderness and a firm grip on the adventure, Andrew Greig re-imagines John Buchan's classic novel with a little less tweed, a little more sex, and just the right measure of whisky.




Sergt. Spud Tamson, V.C.


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The Scots Magazine


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Heart Of Jet


Book Description

In the back garden of Fier Estate lies buried a tragic secret, and there lurks a spectral victim so deeply scarred that no living woman can satisfy his demands. The Grant sisters, reserved, competent Caroline and spritely, silver-haired Lottie are tasked with the cryptic last request of their beloved grandmother to: “Revive the tormented soul of Fier.” Now they must cross the Atlantic, from Manhattan to the top of a cursed Scottish moorland. Looking forward to independence, adventure, and men wearing kilts, the girls instead find they have inherited roles in a gruesome legend. Atop their Highland cliffs, a long dead lover impatiently waits for his mistress to return…and his heart is black as jet.




The Little Book of Scotland


Book Description

Land of spectacular landscapes, rich history and fabulous legends. With its jaw-dropping beauty, magnificent architecture, superb art and culture, and friendly, hospitable people, Scotland is consistently ranked as one of the world's best-loved destinations. Packed full of fabulous facts, as well as wise and witty quotes from famous Scots, The Little Book of Scotland captures the nation at its glorious best. Covering everything from sparkling lochs and brooding castles to spellbinding legends and famous sons and daughters – not to mention tartan, haggis and whisky – it's a wonderful celebration of this vibrant, extraordinary land. 'This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.' - Alexander McCall Smith, on Edinburgh 'There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.' - Billy Connolly The Edinburgh International Festival is one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world. It attracts over 300,000 people annually. Scotland has more than 790 islands, 94 of which are inhabited. One of its most famous and spectacular is the enchanting Isle of Skye. It is the second-biggest island, though it has more sheep than people. Scotland's national dish is the much-loved haggis. It is made with the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, which are boiled in the animal's stomach.




Mr. Pennycook's Boy


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A Science Fantasia


Book Description

The author, Francis A. Andrew, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in the United Kingdom. Although not a scientist by training or profession, he has always maintained an interest in science and technology throughout his life. He was greatly influenced by the works of the late Sir Fred Hoyle which he started reading at a very young age. Hoyle taught him to think in a critical and logical fashion. Hoyles works of fiction have built into them the possibility of their becoming science fact at some future date. It is with this concept in mind that Francis Andrew has written A Science Fantasia. While we forge ahead ever onwards and upwards with our scientific and technological achievements, our moral state seems not only to be static but in actual regress. Andrew believes that unless mankind faces up to its moral obligations and places its scientific research within a viable ethical framework, the technology upon which our lives so much depend could well prove to be the rope by which the human species collectively hangs itself. Francis Andrew currently works at the College of Applied Sciences in Nizwa, Oman where he teaches English.




Alindarka's Children: Things Will Be Bad


Book Description

Alindarka’s Children is the masterful English debut of Alhierd Bacharevic, a new voice from Belarus It’s not Avi’s fault, it’s those sourish, mind-bending little berries that are to blame, those tiny wee spheres. Bilberries, bletherberries that befuddle the mind, babbleberries that give you a kick. The beautiful green forest scales, the timber songs, play out like a kaleidoscope before his eyes. It’s hard tae breathe, yer haunds skedaddle awa… In a camp at the edge of a forest children are trained to forget their language through drugs, therapy, and coercion. Alicia and her brother Avi are rescued by their father, but they give him the slip and set out on their own. In the forest they encounter a cast of villains: the hovel-dwelling Granmaw, the language-traitor McFinnie, the border guard and murderer Bannock the Bogill, and a wolf. A manifesto for the survival of the Belarusian language and soul, Alindarka's Children is also a feat of translation. Winner of the English Pen Award, the novel has been brilliantly rendered into English (from the Russian) and Scots (from the Belarusian): both Belarusian and Scots are on the UNESCO Atlas of Endangered Languages.