Search results for ""birlinn general""
Birlinn General A Croft in the Hills
A Croft in the Hills, first published in 1960, is now acknowledged as a classic among Highland books. It captures, in simple, moving descriptions, what it was really like trying to make a living out of a hill croft near Loch Ness fifty years ago. A couple and their young daughter, fresh from city life, immerse themselves in the practicalities of looking after sheep, cattle and hens, mending fences, baking bread and surviving the worst that Scottish winters can throw at them. Their neighbours are few, but among them they find the generosity and community spirit that has survived in the Highlands for generations. Working as a tight family unit, they learn to cope, and in time grow to love their little croft. As Neil Gunn writes in his Foreword, their lives gain extra dimensions that ‘give the book its unusual quality, its brightness and its wisdom’.
£10.45
Birlinn General Butch Wilkins and the Sundance Kid
Butch Wilkins and the Sundance Kid chronicles the author's decade-long obsession with televised sport during his teenage years in the 1980s. Charting similar waters to Nick Hornby's classic Fever Pitch, but with the hopeless devotion of a teenager faithfully following his team around the country replaced by the hopeless devotion of a teenager faithfully following sport (any sport) around the TV schedules. It is memoir intertwined with nostalgia, ruminations on the changing face of sport during this time, portraits of its heroes and villains, and reflections on teenagehood and impending adulthood.Sweet, wise and witty, Butch Wilkins and the Sundance Kid is a hymn to televised sport in the 1980s as well as to the decade itself combining humour, insight and poignancy to vividly depict the way sport can transcend the television screen to impact on wider life, hopes and ambitions.
£11.24
Birlinn General Far Field
Far Field is the third and final book in The Auchensale Trilogy, a series of poetry cycles capturing the changing rural landscape of the West of Scotland. Following on from its predecessors Black Cart and Bale Fire, the book consists of three cycles bound together by footers. A number of poems in the early part of the book are in response to paintings by the Glasgow Boys particularly those painted during their time spent in agricultural communities. Many of the poems are highly personal with a number about family members. These include a series of elegies for his late father. It also focuses on the present day looking to the challenges ahead for the family farm and that passing baton to the next generation.
£10.00
Birlinn General The Pavilion in the Clouds
It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family: Bella, a precocious eight-year-old; her father Henry owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation and her mother Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, set in the idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess, Miss White's intentions. Her suspicion sparks off her mother's imagination and after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation is had with Miss White and a gunshot rings off around the hills.Years later, Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced, once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her Father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology?
£15.17
Birlinn General The Far Side of the Night
During a trip to China, Paul and Christine experience the nightmare of every parent: their four year old son is threatened with kidnap. The only safe place for the family is the US embassy in Beijing, but they are two thousand miles away, with the police searching frantically for them, and all airports, train stations and major roads under surveillance. They'll have no chance without help from strangers, but who will be willing to risk their lives for them?Suspenseful and rife with the page-turning storytelling that has come to define Sendker's work,Far Side of the Night is a brilliant and timely thriller that offers a penetrating look into contemporary China.
£10.45
Birlinn General Scotland: A History from Earliest Times
In this book, Alistair Moffat brings vividly to life the story of this great nation, from the dawn of prehistory through to the twenty-first century. Ambitious, richly detailed and highly readable, Scotland: A History From Earliest Times skilfully weaves together a dazzling array of fact and anecdote from a vast range of sources. The result is an imaginative, informative, balanced and varied portrait of Scotland, seen not just through the experience of the kings, saints, warriors, aristocrats and politicians who populate the pages of conventional history books, but also through that of ordinary people who have lived Scotland's history and have played their own important part in shaping its destiny.
£14.99
Birlinn General Best of Scotland: A Caledonian Miscellany
In this imaginative, informative and amusing miscellany, award-winning journalist John MacLeod explores some of the well-known symbols of Scottish culture (as well some of the quirkier ones) and looks beneath the surface to shatter some long-held assumptions that will surprise even the most well-informed Scotophile. Did you know, for example, that the kilt was actually banned in Scotland at one point, and that particular tartans were never originally identified with specific clans, let alone surnames? From bagpipes, haggis, whisky and the Forth Rail Bridge to Andy Murray, Mary, Queen of Scots and Irn Bru, this book is a fascinating celebration of Scotland that will appeal to visitors and locals alike.
£15.17
Birlinn General Tales for Twilight: Two Hundred Years of Scottish Ghost Stories
Tales for Twilight offers a spine-tingling selection of unnerving tales by writers from James Hogg in the early eighteenth century to James Robertson, very much alive in the twenty-first. Scottish authors have proved to be exceptionally good at writing ghost stories. Perhaps it’s because of the tradition of oral storytelling that has stretched over centuries, including poems and ballads with supernatural themes. The golden age was during the Victorian and Edwardian period, but the ghost story has continued to evolve and remains popular to this day. Includes stories from Sir Walter Scott, George Mackay Brown, Muriel Spark, Margaret Oliphant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Guy Boothby, Algernon Blackwood, Eileen Bigland, Ronald Duncan, James Robertson and Ian Rankin.
£11.24
Birlinn General So Many Lives and All of Them Are Yours
From the author of the award winning The Sound of My Voice After being sacked from his day job as a business executive, Morris Magellan has cashed it all in – the house, the car, family life – to be free at last to pursue his true passion: music. He returns to his childhood home to escape city life, face his demons and compose his masterpiece. Very soon, things start to go wrong. Not only does his past catch up with him, but the future becomes more threatening by the day. Bad habits return with a vengeance. Then he meets Jess. Written with humour and compassion, this compelling novel, set in the Borders, sixties London and present-day Edinburgh, touches on music, love in later life and, most of all, how to make the most of one’s time before it is too late.
£12.83
Birlinn General Columba's Bones: Darkland Tales
The Isle of Iona, 825. In a bloody, brutal raid, Abbot Blathmac is slain on the steps of his monastery for refusing to give away the location of the sacred relics of St Columba, the missionary who first brought Christianity to Scotland. Following a night of rampage and mayhem, one Viking wakes up the next morning to find himself alone, hungover, and abandoned by his crew mates. He can't swim, there are no boats, and the only surviving monk on the island has taken his sword. With only his wits, he must survive long enough not only to rejoin his Viking comrades, but also to find the location of the elusive relics that brought him here in the first place. Rooted in the real history of Iona and its early monks, Columba's Bones is an utterly unique and thrilling read, exploring the clash of early Christianity and paganism, and expanding into a sharp, witty meditation on philosophy, redemption, shame, violence, love, transcendence and reality. 'Stupendously earthy, laugh out loud funny in places, visceral writing' - Sally Magnusson Shortlisted for the Bookmark Book Festival Book of the Year 2024
£11.25
Birlinn General Tiny Tales
Stories do not have to be long. In the space of a couple of sentences – or even a page or two – we can see the human heart exposed in a way that is more powerful than in a novel. In Tiny Tales Alexander McCall Smith explores romance, ambition, kindness and happiness in thirty short stories that range in length from the short to the tiny. The settings are as diverse as the characters – Scotland, England, Australia, the United States – combining to create a rich and always surprising selection. An Australian pope?. A persuasive cosmetic surgeon? The world’s laziest cat. A group of students living together and getting romantically entangled? All human and animal life is here – in miniature.
£10.45
Birlinn General Burnt Offerings
How far would you go to save yourself when the truth can’t set you free? Scotland, 1589. Besse Craw is a young mother whose husband has mysteriously vanished. And in a time when women were powerless, she is accused of witchcraft, abused by her employer, and destined to lose her daughter, her freedom and her life. Set during the infamous North Berwick Witch Trials, that saw many persecuted, tortured and killed, Besse uncovers long-held secrets as she fights for justice and truth in a world of suspicion and lies.
£11.24
Birlinn General And in the End: The Last Days of the Beatles
This is the story of the last acrimonious days of the Beatles, a final chapter reconstructing for the first time the seismic events of 1969, the year that saw the band reach new highs of musical creativity and new lows of internal strife. Two years after Flower Power and the hippie idealism of the Summer of Love, the Sixties dream had perished on the vine. By 1969, violence and vindictiveness had replaced the Beatles’ own mantra of peace and love, and Vietnam and the Cold War had supplanted hope and optimism. And just as the decade foundered on the altar of a cold, harsh reality, so too did the Beatles. In the midst of this rancour, however, emerged the disharmony of Let It Be and the ragged genius of Abbey Road, their incredible farewell love letter to the world.
£11.24
Birlinn General Carve the Runes: Selected Poems
In this new Selected Poems, Kathleen Jamie explores the multi-faceted world of George Mackay Brown’s Orkney, the poet’s lifelong home and inspiration. George Mackay Brown’s concerns were the ancestral world, the communalities of work, the fables and religious stories which he saw as underpinning mortal lives. Brown believed from the outset that poets had a social role and his true task was to fulfil that role. This is not the attitude of a shrinking violet, tentatively exploring his ‘voice’. Art was sprung from the community, and his role as poet to know that community, to sing its stories. But there was also room for introspection; the poet’s task was simultaneously to 'interrogate silence'.
£13.60
Birlinn General Wojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero
This is the inspiring and charming true story of one of the Second World War's most unusual combatants - a 500-pound cigarettesmoking, beer-drinking brown bear. Originally adopted as a mascot by the Polish Army in Iran, Wojtek soon took on a more practical role, carrying heavy mortar rounds for the troops and going on to play his part as a fully enlisted 'soldier' with his own rank and number during the Italian campaign. After the war, Wojtek, along with some of his Polish compatriots from II Corps, came to Berwickshire, where he became a significant member of the local community before subsequently moving to Edinburgh Zoo. Wojtek's retirement was far from quiet: a potent symbol of freedom and solidarity for Poles around the world, he attracted a huge amount of media interest that shows no sign of abating almost 50 years after his death.
£10.45
Birlinn General Scottish Wild Flowers: Mini Guide
Scottish Wild Flowers - Pocket Edition, is an ideal pocket-size guide to over 350 plant species found throughout Scotland. Packed full of information, is a convenient guide for both visitors and residents of Scotland who wish to learn about the fascinating wealth of wild flowers that can be found there. Each species is illustrated in full colour with a comprehensive description, plus the plant's English, Latin and Gaelic names. For ease of use, the plants are grouped together by the type of habitat in which they can be found, including Highlands, Lowlands and Coasts. Habitats are arranged from those most influenced by humans, progressing towards wilder and more remote areas. The book includes a section with up-to-date details about places of interest and the best sites for finding some of the most attractive and special species of wild flowers in Scotland.
£8.10
Birlinn General Scottish Wild Flowers
Packed full of information, Scottish Wild Flowers is an ideal guide for both visitors and residents of Scotland who wish to learn about the fascinating wealth of wild flowers that can be found there. Each species is illustrated in full colour with a comprehensive description, plus the plant's English, Latin and Gaelic names. For ease of use, the plants are grouped together by the type of habitat in which they can be found, including Highlands, Lowlands and Coasts. Habitats are arranged from those most influenced by humans, progressing towards wilder and more remote areas. The book includes a section with up-to-date details about places of interest and the best sites for finding some of the most attractive and special species of wild flowers in Scotland.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Essential Gaelic-English / English-Gaelic Dictionary
Angus Watson's Essential Gaelic-English and English-Gaelic dictionaries are well-established as one of the leading dictionaries of the Gaelic language. This combined dictionary is ideal for learners of Gaelic at all levels, and its generous coverage of vocabulary from fields such as business and IT makes it a valuable tool for all those who require an up-to-date reference work. It contains a large amount of explanatory material, numerous examples of usage and idiomatic phrases and expressions. Many registers and styles are sampled, from the familiar (and occasionally the vulgar) to the formal and the literary. Cross-references draw the user to related words and expressions, and Scots equivalents are provided for a number of headwords.
£20.00
Birlinn General Italy's Paradise: A History of Tuscany
'A delicious trip through the geography, history and culture of the region' – Sunday Telegraph Ever since the days of the Grand Tour, Tuscany has cast its magic spell on foreign vistiors. Attracted by the perfect combination of history, art, architecture, superb natural beauty and weather – not to mention magnificent traditions of food and drink – British visitors and residents have been at times so numerous that the local word for foreigners was simply 'gli inglesi' – 'the English'. What is it that makes this exquisite part of Italy so seductive? Alistair Moffat embarks on a journey into Tuscany’s past. From the flowering of the Etruscan civilization in the seventh century bc through the rise of the powerful medieval communes of Arezzo, Luca, Pisa and Florence, and the role the area played as the birthplace of the Renaissance, he underlines both the area’s regional uniqueness as well as the vital role it has played in the history of the whole of Italy. Insightful, readable and imbued with the author’s own enthusiasm for Tuscany, this book includes a wealth of information not found in tourist guides. 'A sun-drenched meditation on the character of the place and its people' – The Scotsman
£12.02
Birlinn General The Bone Cave: A Journey through Myth and Memory
This is a book about stories – old stories of people and place, and of the more-than-human world. A vivid account of a journey through the Scottish Highlands, The Bone Cave follows a series of folktales and myths to the places in which they’re set. Travelling mostly on foot, and camping along the way amid some of Scotland’s most beautiful and rugged landscapes, Dougie Strang encounters a depth of meaning to the tales he tracks – one that offers a unique perspective on place, culture, land ownership and ecological stewardship, as well as insights into his own entanglement with place. Dougie sets out on his walk at the beginning of October, which also marks the start of the red deer rut. The bellowing of stags forms the soundtrack to his journey and is a reminder that, as well as mapping invisible landscapes of story, he is also exploring the tangible, living landscape of the present.
£15.17
Birlinn General The Salt Roads: How Fish Made a Culture
This is the extraordinary story of how salt fish from Shetland became one of the staple foods of Europe, powered an economic boom and inspired artists, writers and musicians. It ranges from the wild waters of the North Atlantic, the ice-filled fjords of Greenland and the remote islands of Faroe to the dining tables of London’s middle classes, the bacalao restaurants of Spain and the Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe. As well as following the historical thread and exploring how very different cultures were drawn together by the salt fish trade, John Goodlad meets those whose lives revolve around the industry in the twenty-first century and addresses today’s pressing themes of sustainability, climate change and food choices.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Scottish Nature Colouring Book
Featuring iconic animals from red deer, golden eagles and Highland cows to red squirrels, pine martens and salmon as well as the plants, trees and flowers which thrive in mountain, forest, moor and seashore, this book is the ideal way to explore Scotland’s amazing range of flora and fauna. Many of the illustrations show the animals and plants in their natural habitats, so you can appreciate the extraordinary beauty of Scotland’s landscapes too.
£10.45
Birlinn General Orkney & Shetland: Landscapes in Stone
The archipelagos of Orkney and Shetland are the products of some of the most dramatic events which have occurred in the Earth’s history. The Shetlands are the eroded roots of a vast mountain range that once soared to Himalayan heights and extended from Scandinavia to the Appalachians. Around 65 million years ago, this mighty chain was split asunder by the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and the North Atlantic Ocean was formed. In earlier times, the area was occupied by a huge freshwater lake – Lake Orcadie – which existed for almost 10 million years and was home to a wide range of primitive species of fish. Later, during the last Ice Age, the area was completely submerged beneath ice sheets which left an indelible mark on the landscapes of both island groups. This book tells the incredible geological story of the most northerly outposts of the British Isles.
£9.47
Birlinn General The Colouring Book of Scotland
A unique Scottish colouring book suitable for adults as well as children featuring 20 of the country's most iconic places, including: Edinburgh Castle * Forth Rail Bridge * St Andrews * HMS Discovery, Dundee * Balmoral castle * Loch Ness/Urquart Castle * Dunrobin * Castle, Stromness, Orkney * Skara Brae * Callanish standing stones * Lews Castle, Lewis * Highland Games * Eilean Donan * Duart Castle, Mull * Tobermory, Skye * Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow * Caerlaverlock Castle * Abbotsford House * Melrose Abbey * Rosslyn Chapel * Falkirk Wheel * Stirling Castle * Edinburgh Christmas Market Eilidh Muldoon's are ideal for all levels of colouring - plenty of intricate detail for those who like a colouring challenge, yet simple enough for those with less patience to create beautiful colour artwork in a short time.
£10.45
Birlinn General The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings
During the first millennium AD the most northerly part of Britain evolved into the country known today as Scotland. The transition was a long process of social and political change driven by the ambitions of powerful warlords. At first these men were tribal chiefs, Roman generals or rulers of small kingdoms. Later, after the Romans departed, the initiative was seized by dynamic warrior-kings who campaigned far beyond their own borders. Armies of Picts, Scots, Vikings, Britons and Anglo-Saxons fought each other for supremacy. From Lothian to Orkney, from Fife to the Isle of Skye, fierce battles were won and lost. By AD 1000 the political situation had changed for ever. Led by a dynasty of Gaelic-speaking kings the Picts and Scots began to forge a single, unified nation which transcended past enmities. In this book the remarkable story of how ancient North Britain became the medieval kingdom of Scotland is told.
£11.24
Birlinn General Set in Stone: The Geology and Landscapes of Scotland
The land that was to become Scotland has travelled across the globe over the last 3,000 million years - from close to the South Pole to its current position. During these travels, there were many continental collisions, creating mountain belts as high as the present-day Himalayas. The Highlands of Scotland were formed in this way. Our climate too has changed dramatically over the last 3 billion years from the deep freeze of the Ice Age to scorching heat of the desert. And within a relatively short time - geologically speaking, we will plunge back into another ice age. In Set in Stone, Alan McKirdy traces Scotland's amazing geological journey, explaining for the non - specialist reader why the landscape looks the way it does todays. He also explores Scots and those working in Scotland have played a seminal role in the development of the science of geology, understanding Earth processes at a local and global scale.
£11.24
Birlinn General Hallaig and Other Poems: Selected Poems of Sorley MacLean
This selected works of Sorley MacLean brings together published poetry from MacLean's own edited volumes of Poetry. The poems will be given in their original Gaelic with English translations and introduced by Angus Peter Campbell and Aonghas Mac Neacail. Sorley MacLean was born on the island of Raasay in 1911. He was brought up within a family and community immersed in Gaelic language and culture, particularly song. He studied English at Edinburgh University from 1929, taking a first-class honours degree. Despite this influence, he eventually adopted Gaelic as the medium most appropriate for his poetry. He translated much of his own work into English, opening it up to a wider public. He fought in North Africa during World War II, before taking up a career in teaching, holding posts on Mull, in Edinburgh and finally as Head Teacher at Plockton High School. Amongst other awards and honours, he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1990. He died in 1996 at the age of 85.
£15.17
Birlinn General The Founder's Tale: A Good Idea and a Glass of Malt
This is the story of how one man, with a bit of help from his friends, created a revolution in the hitherto staid world of Scotch Whisky. But by creating the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, he gave whisky drinkers access to the finest distilled liquor on the planet – and what’s more, he had a great time doing it. The book is a collection of stories about Pip and his friends and how they brought Scotland’s finest product to a waiting world. It begins in a small farm in Aberdeenshire and moves through high places (The World Trade Centre) and low (a jungle dive in the South Seas), with the help of the famous and the obscure, the good, the bad and the mildly delinquent. There are high mountains and wild seas, and a trip (with whisky) to Communist eastern Europe in a vintage Lagonda.
£15.17
Birlinn General The Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake marked the pinnacle of Walter Scott's popularity as a poet, with record-breaking sales and ecstatic reviews which helped spread his fame far beyond Britain. It also inspired thousands to flock to Loch Katrine in the Trossachs to see for themselves the isle where the banished James of Douglas and his daughter Ellen take refuge, and where the mysterious knight, James Fitz James, arrives and sets in motion a chain of events which have far-reaching consequences for them all. A fictional work set during the reign of James V and featuring an astonishing range of themes, from political conflict, feud and mystery to love, loss and reconciliation, The Lady of the Lake is a key work of the romantic movement which swept Europe by storm in the early nineteenth century.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Good Pilot, Peter Woodhouse: A Wartime Romance
Val was working as a land girl when the Americans arrived at the nearby airfield in 1944. Mike, a young American airman, came into her life soon after, and so too did Peter Woodhouse, a dog badly treated on a neighbouring farm and taken in by her aunt. Little persuasion was needed for Mike to take Peter Woodhouse to the airbase and over time he became the mascot of the American squad, flying with them whenever their Mosquitoes took to the skies. When their plane is shot down over Holland both Mike and his canine companion are feared lost. But unknown to their loved ones at home, Mike and Peter Woodhouse survived the crash. Taken in by the Dutch resistance and with the help of Ubi, a German officer, the pair to remain in hiding till the end of the war when they are reunited with Val. We then follow Val, Mike and Peter Woodhouse as they rebuild a life in England. And Ubi as he returns to Germany at the end of the war and tries to build a new life for himself. His dream is to run a Wall of Death, a circus ring that pitts motorcyclists against gravity as they attempt to stay upright at ever increasing speed...
£8.09
Birlinn General The Little Book of Scottish Rain
Bleeters come and bleeters go, they never, never stay – if it’s not raining now more rain is on the way. It’s widely reported that Eskimos have over 50 words for snow. Given the equivalent ubiquity of rain in Britain’s northern climes, it is not surprising that Scots have coined just as many (and possibly many more) expressions for the many different types of precipitation that fall from our skies. In this book Ron Butlin introduces 50 of the most colourful Scottish words for rain in humorous and memorable verse, imaginatively accompanied with illustrations by Tim Kirby.
£7.32
Birlinn General English Rugby 101
English Rugby 101 is a compendium of fascinating facts, stats, stories, personalities and trivia - perfect for all fans of English rugby. From the very first Test match against Scotland in 1871 all the way through to the present day, England's rugby's rich history is distilled into 101 facts, stats and stories. This entertaining volume is an instructive, if sometimes irreverent - but always affectionate - guide to some of the groundbreaking firsts, controversies, innovations, characters, achievements and disasters that have taken place in at Twickenham and around the world. Whether an expert or a novice, this is the perfect companion for those who follow the exploits of the red-rose warriors on the field and love to bask in light of their glorious (and sometimes inglorious) past.
£11.24
Birlinn General A Promise of Ankles
At the bottom of a sharply descending street in the topographical sense in Edinburgh's Georgian New Town, new residents have moved in to number 44 Scotland Street, joining the already well-known and much-loved denizens of that remarkable building. They appear to be a bit of a mystery, but so, too, do other things. What exactly did Sister Maria-Fiore, the aphorism-coining socialite nun, find on the No. 23 bus? Could it be the remains of a hitherto unknown Neanderthal, homo Watsoniensis?On the romantic front, long-suffering Stuart's hopes of kindling a new relationship are dashed, thanks to chino-wearing narcissist Bruce, effortlessly exercising his powers of charm. The Promised Land beckons for Bertie who is off to Glasgow for a school exchange that takes him doon the watter. Back in Edinburgh, the Duke of Johannesburg's desire to learn a new language, involving his Gaelic-speaking driver Padruig, has gone horribly wrong; to be immersed in a language, it seems, can be a captivating li
£16.19
Birlinn General The Queen of the Birds
After a terrible storm, the Kingdom of Birds is looking for a leader. Will it be the bird with the loveliest song, or the brightest plumage? The fastest in the air, or underwater? The bird who flies highest, or those who stick together and work as a team? All across the sky, birds are flocking together. Nightingales and robins, barn owls and blackbirds. The eagle, the flamingo, the birds of the moor. Curlews and cuckoos and herons and hoopoes. And Wee Jenny Wren. Let the contest begin!
£6.29
Birlinn General 'Unsuitable for Females': The Rise of the Lionesses and Women's Football in England
Shortlisted for the 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Football Writing of the Year Discover the origins of the Lionesses that brought football home. England's Lionesses are on the front and back pages; their stars feature on prime-time television; they are named in the national honours lists for their contribution to their sport and to society. The names of Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton and Ellen White are emblazoned across the backs of children’s replica jerseys. These women are top athletes – and top celebrities. But in 1921, the Football Association introduced a ban on women’s football, pronouncing the sport 'quite unsuitable for females'. That ban would last for half a century - but despite official prohibition the women’s game went underground. From the Dick, Kerr Ladies touring the world to the Lost Lionesses who played at the unsanctioned Women's World Cup in Mexico in 1971, generations of women defied the restrictions and laid the foundations for today's Lionesses - so much so that in 2018 England's Women’s Super League became the first fully professional league in Europe...when just a few decades previously women were forbidden to play the sport in England at all. This book tells the story of women’s football in England since its 19th-century inception through pen portraits of its trailblazers. The game might have once been banned because of its popularity – find out about the subversive women who kept organising their teams and matches despite the prohibition, who broke barriers and set records – the legends of the game who built the foundations of the stage upon which today’s stars flourish. 'At what feels like a pivotal moment, Carrie’s forensic research and depth of knowledge make her the perfect person to guide us through the constantly changing landscape of women’s football' - Kelly Cates, TV presenter
£11.24
Birlinn General A History of Scottish Football in 100 Objects: The Mayhem, Mavericks and Magic of the Beautiful Game
From Socrates to Arthur Montford, via Bovril, Buckfast and, of course, pies, this is a unique journey through the extraordinary world of Scottish football. Packed with anecdotes and observations, Andy Bollen wallows in a nostalgic haze, a time of hatchet-men with moustaches, a magic sponge that should have been granted miracle status and big-money strikers who couldn't hit a cow's posterior with a banjo. Opinionated, forthright and funny, Bollen reluctantly concedes that tattoos, hair weaves and VAR are now part of the game. This idiosyncratic ride through the wonderful absurdity of Scottish football will chime with every fan.
£11.24
Birlinn General Running the Smoke: 26 First-Hand Accounts of Tackling the London Marathon
This updated edition features a new introduction, and an exclusive interview with long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe. It is the world's most iconic road race. It is twenty-six-point-two miles of iconic landmarks, cheers, tears, sweat, pain, courage, determination and inspiration. It is triumph over adversity on a colossal scale. It is the London Marathon - and it's an event unlike any other. Running The Smoke tells the story of what it's like to take part in this race in the most enlightening and enriching way possible: from the perspectives of twenty-six different people who have participated in it since its inception in 1981. Candid and inspiring if you are preparing for your first marathon or your 100th, Running The Smoke will give you the encouragement, insight and belief you need to cross that line.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Antonine Wall
As the most advanced frontier construction of its time, and as definitive evidence of the Romans' time in Scotland, the Antonine Wall is an invaluable and fascinating part of this country's varied and violent history. For a generation, from about AD 140 to 160, the Antonine Wall was the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire. Constructed by the Roman army, it ran from modern Bo'ness on the Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde and consisted of a turf rampart fronted by a wide and deep ditch. At regular intervals were forts connected by a road, while outside the fort gates clustered civil settlements. Antoninus Pius, whom the wall was named after, reigned longer than any other emperor with the exception of its founder Augustus. Yet relatively little is known about him. In this meticulously researched book, David Breeze examines this enigmatic life and the reasons for the construction and abandonment of his Wall.
£15.17
Birlinn General The Gaelic Otherworld: John Gregorson Campbell's Superstitions of the Highlands and the Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands
John Gregorson Campbell (1834–91) was one of the most outstanding folklorists working in Scotland during the nineteenth century. Based on materials which he had gathered in the 1850s and 1860s, his Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands were published posthumously in 1900 and 1902. Engagingly written in an anecdotal style, they introduce us to a galaxy of fairies, witches, ghosts and supernatural creatures, as well as general superstitions and the beliefs and rituals of the traditional calendar. Having been written as a single work, they are now reunited as one volume. In a lively introduction, Ronald Black illuminates Campbell’s work with extensive explanatory notes and a radically revised biography of the collector, supported by bibliography, maps and index.
£30.00
Birlinn General The Northern Earldoms: Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470
The medieval earldoms of Orkney and Caithness were positioned between two worlds, the Norwegian and the Scottish. They were a maritime lordship divided, or united, by the turbulent waters of the Pentland Firth. This unlikely combination of island and mainland territory survived as a single lordship for 600 years, against the odds. Growing out of the Viking maelstrom of the early Middle Ages, it became an established and wealthy principality which dominated northern waters, with a renowned dynasty of earls. Despite their peripheral location these earls were fully in touch with the kingdoms of Norway and Scotland and increasingly subject to the rulers of these kingdoms. How they maintained their independence and how they survived the clash of loyalties are themes explored in this book from the early Viking age to the late medieval era when the powerful feudal Sinclair earls ruled the islands and regained possession of Caithness. This is a story of the time when the Northern Isles of Scotland were part of a different national entity which explains the background to the non-Gaelic culture of this locality, when links across the North Sea were as important as links with the kingdom of Scotland to the south.
£20.00
Birlinn General The New History of Orkney
For much of its history, Orkney had its own language, culture and institutions. The prehistoric inhabitants created monuments which are unmatched anywhere in Europe, and the medieval period saw the magnificent earldom that expressed itself through the Orkneyinga Saga and the building of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. Like Shetland, Orkney was heavily influenced by Viking traders and raiders from Scandinavia, and for a long period it formed an outlying part of the kingdom of Norway. Over 500 years ago, however, the islands lost their Scandinavian links and since then have had a sometimes difficult association with mainland Scotland. More recent times have seen the use of Orkney as a strategic stronghold during two world wars, and the far-reaching impact of oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea. This classic book covers the whole fascinating story and will be of interest to readers far beyond the rocky shores of Orkney itself.
£25.00
Birlinn General Run Forever: Your Complete Guide to Healthy Lifetime Running
In Run Forever, Boston Marathon winner and former Runner’s World editor-in-chief Amby Burfoot shares practical advice and wisdom on how to run with greater joy and health for an entire lifetime. Everyone learns how to run at an early age. It’s naturally wired into your body. Yet in recent years, running has become complicated by trendy gadgets and doctrine. With a Boston Marathon win and over 100,000 miles run on his resume, Amby Burfoot steers the sport back to its simple roots in Run Forever. From a warm and welcoming perspective, Burfoot provides clear, actionable guidance to runners of every age and ability level. Whether you are a beginner runner or experienced marathoner, Run Forever will show you how to motivate yourself, avoid injuries, increase speed and endurance, and reach your goals. Best of all, you’ll enjoy optimal health throughout your life.
£13.49
Birlinn General The Perfect Passion Company
The Perfect Passion Dating Company at No. 24 Mouse Lane in Edinburgh's New Town is run by Katie Donald who has an innate instinct for bringing people together. She has developed a skill for finding out what it is that people really want. Along the way, Katie learns profound lessons about her own desires as she works at better understanding others. Although Katie has little in the way of direct experience, with the help of her amiable and handsome office neighbour William Kidd, she soon finds herself making matches for the lonely hearts tired of meeting online – and who want a more personal touch. For fans of Alexander McCall Smith's many beloved series and romantic standalone novels, The Perfect Passion Company shows him at his most perceptive, playful, and generous. In the way that only McCall Smith can, this novel offers a glimpse inside the psychology of matchmaking, the search for love and companionship, and the mysterious spark of attraction that can, at times, catch hold of us all.
£18.99
Birlinn General A Country of Eternal Light
Margaret Bryce has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. In a place beyond, we join Margaret as she revisits her life, from her Aberdeen prefab childhood to the birth of her twin girls, through Thatcher’s Britain, the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, Australia’s Black Summer bushfires, the death of Princess Diana and the COVID pandemic. But something isn’t quite right. Margaret is trying to remember, but also fighting to forget. A Country of Eternal Light will take you on a journey like no other. It is an utterly original, bitingly funny and poignant novel about life, death, what we choose to remember - and what we’d do anything to forget. A Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month Shortlisted for the Readings New Australian Fiction Prize Shortlisted for the Age Fiction Book of the Year
£11.24
Birlinn General No Sweet Sorrow: A D.C.I. Daley Thriller
Be sure your sins will find you out . . . one day. A potent new drug has hit the streets of Kinloch, and DCI Daley and Scott are struggling to catch the notorious gang behind this evil trade. After a party of Oxford students arrives in town for a camping trip before a Himalayan expedition, one of the group seeks out an illegal high and is violently assaulted. However, these students are well connected, and this brings further unexpected problems for Daley. Ultimately, he and Scott will discover crimes as disturbing in nature as anything they have ever confronted.
£10.45
Birlinn General The Gap in the Curtain
'For three minutes you will turn your eyes inward – into the darkness of the mind which I have taught you to make. Then – I will give the sign – you will look at the paper. There you will see words written, but only for one second. Bend all your powers to remember them.' What begins as a welcome, if slightly dull, weekend at his friend Lady Flambard's house in the Costwolds becomes for Sir Edward Leithen something altogether more intriguing. A fellow guest – the brilliant Professor Moe – enlists the help of Leithen and his companions in an experiment. If they do as he says, each will get a glimpse a year into the future in the pages of The Times. One of Buchan's most unusual novels, The Gap in the Curtain is a tense tale of unexpected from the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps. With an introduction by Stuart Kelly. This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.
£10.45
Birlinn General Greenvoe
Greenvoe, the tight-knit community on the Orcadian island of Hellya, has existed unchanged for generations, but Operation Black Star requires the island for unspecified purposes and threatens the islanders’ way of life. A whole host of characters - The Skarf, failed fishermen and Marxist historian; Ivan Westray, boatman and dallier; pious creeler Samuel Whaness; drunken fishermen Bert Kerston; earth-mother Alice Voar, and meths-drinker Timmy Folster - are vividly brought to life in this sparkling mixture of prose and poetry. In the end Operation Black Star fails, but not before it has ruined the island; but the book ends on a note of hope as the islanders return to celebrate the ritual rebirth of Hellya.
£10.45
Birlinn General The Translator
The Translator is a story about love, both human and divine. Sammar is a young Sudanese widow, working as an Arabic translator at a British university. Following the sudden death of her husband and estrangement from her young son, she drifts – grieving and isolated. Life takes a positive turn when she finds herself falling in love with Rae, a Scottish academic. To Sammar, he seems to come from another world and another culture, yet they are drawn to each other. 'Aboulela is a wonderfully poetic writer ... It is a pleasure to read a novel so full of feeling and yet so serene' – The Guardian
£9.67