Search results for ""birlinn""
Birlinn General Scottish Life and Society Volume 11: Education
This project of the European Ethnological Research Centre is planned in 13 volumes. Their overall aim is to examine the interlocking strands of history, language and traditional culture, in their international setting, that go into the making of a national identity. Other volumes cover Scottish ethnology; farming and landscape; Scotland's buildings; boats and fishing; coast and sea; the food and the Scots; hearth and home: the culture of the dwelling house; crafts, trades and professions; transport and communications; the individual and community life in Scotland; oral literature and performance culture; institutions of Scotland: religious expression; and institutions of Scotland: the law.
£25.00
Birlinn General Robert Fergusson
Originally published in 2000 by Polygon to mark the 250th anniversary of Fergusson''s birth, this new edition contains all Fergusson''s finest poems in both Scots and English, and features a new introductory essay, revised orthography, a substantial section of notes and a glossary.Acknowledged as a crucial influence on Burns, Robert Fergusson was a remarkable poet in his own right. All his work was produced during a few brief years, delighting readers with its vigour and power. Although he wrote much verse in the then fashionable style of Augustan English, it is his Scots verse which, in its great warmth, humanity, satire, and hilarious comedy, is his enduring legacy.His work covers the whole gamut of human emotions and experience and his subject matter ranges from drunken encounters with the notorious City Guard to quieter reflections on pastoral themes. Fergusson died in 1774 at the age of only 24.
£13.60
Birlinn General The Hollow Mountain
''The Hollow Mountain is possibly the best yet'' - S.G. MacLeanThe Tunnel Tigers were an elite group of construction workers who specialised in a lucrative but hazardous profession blasting tunnels through mountains and under rivers, in dangerous conditions few men could endure.Alice Larkin, the headstrong daughter of a millionaire and former news reporter, claims her lover, a Tunnel Tiger, died in mysterious circumstances many years ago, and she wants journalist Rebecca Connolly to investigate.Intrigued, Rebecca throws herself into investigating the story, but she soon comes face to face with an old adversary. Family legacies and influential reputations are at stake and danger is shockingly close to home.
£11.24
Birlinn General Night Train to Odesa
When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant.Millions of people were suddenly on the move. In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression. Her first-hand, vivid reporting brought the war home to readers in Scotland as she reported from front lines and cities across Ukraine. Stories from the night trains, birthday parties, military hospitals and bunkers: stories from the ground, from a writer with a deep sense of empathy, always seeking to understand the bigger picture, the big questions of identity, history, hopes and fears in this war in Europe.Night Train to Odesa begins in Russia and continues to focus on people, relationships and individuals in Ukraine. It is the account of a young female reporter with no institutional backup or security. Both in language and themes, it is acce
£17.99
Birlinn General Of Judgement Fallen: An Anthony Blanke Tudor Mystery
Spring, 1523. Henry VIII readies England for war with France. The King’s chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, prepares to open Parliament at Blackfriars. The eyes of the country turn towards London. But all is not well in Wolsey’s household. A visiting critic of the Cardinal is found brutally slain whilst awaiting an audience at Richmond Palace. He will not be the last to die. Anthony Blanke, trumpeter and groom, is once again called upon to unmask a murderer. Joining forces with Sir Thomas More, he is forced to confront the unpopularity of his master’s rule. As the bodies of the Cardinal’s enemies mount up around him, Anthony finds himself under suspicion. Journeying through the opulence of More’s home, the magnificence of Wolsey’s York Place, and the dank dungeons of London’s gaols, he must discover whether the murderer of the Cardinal’s critics is friend or foe. With time running out before Parliament sits, Anthony must clear his name and catch the killer before the King’s justice falls blindly upon him.
£11.24
Birlinn General Anamnesis
Iona Lee’s debut collection charts the journey of the writer, artist and performer into adulthood. Written in a unique voice, Iona playfully toys with thematic devices in this entertaining exploration of art and artifice, absence and impermanence, truth and tale telling. Characterised by a deep love of language, its music and its magic, these poems reflect on memory, the future and other hauntings. Wittily observed, this collection is an attempt to connect the stars into tidy constellations, and to join the tiny, inchoate dots of self into something traceable and translatable. Humorous and self-aware, gentle and philosophical, Anamnesis is written in the knowledge that in telling one’s life-story, one creates it.
£11.25
Birlinn General Of Blood Descended: An Anthony Blanke Tudor Mystery
'Beautifully written ... a unique tale told in a unique voice' - S.G. Maclean Summer, 1522. In a wave of pomp, Henry VIII’s court welcomes the Imperial emperor, Charles V. Anthony Blanke, the son of the king’s late ‘black trumpet’, John Blanke, is called to Hampton Court by his former employer, Cardinal Wolsey. The cardinal is preparing a gift for King Henry: a masque of King Arthur and the Black Knight. Anthony is to take centre stage. The festive mood, however, quickly sours. Wolsey’s historian, charged with proving the king’s descent from King Arthur, is found murdered, his body posed in a gruesome tableau. A reluctant Anthony is charged with investigating the affair. His mission takes him on the path trod by the historian, through ancient monastic libraries and the back streets of London. On a journey that takes him from Hampton Court to Windsor and Winchester, and which sees him lock horns with secretive monks, historian Polydore Vergil, and a new face at court, Anne Boleyn, he must discover the murderer, secure the great masque, and avoid King Henry’s wrath.
£10.45
Birlinn General Memo for Spring: 50th Anniversary Edition
This is an exclusive limited edition with a preface by Liz Lochhead and a new introduction by Ali Smith. Liz Lochhead is one of the leading poets writing in Britain today. This, her debut collection, published in 1972, was a landmark publication. Writing at a time when the landscape of Scottish poetry was male dominated, hers was a new voice, tackling subjects that resonated with readers – as it still does. Her poetry paved the way, and inspired, countless new voices including Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie, Jackie Kay and Carol Ann Duffy. Still writing and performing today, fifty years on from her first book of poetry, Liz Lochhead has been awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and was Scotland’s second modern Makar, succeeding Edwin Morgan. Memo for Spring is accessible, vital and always as honest as it is hopeful. Driving through this collection are themes of pain, acceptance, loss and triumph.
£11.25
Birlinn General Terms of Restitution: A stand-alone thriller from the author of the bestselling DCI Daley Series
GANGLAND BOSS ZANDER FINN DISAPPEARED AFTER THE BRUTAL MURDER OF HIS SON. He fled to London, seeking salvation by walking away from his money, his career and his legacy. But when his old second-in-command Malky Maloney tracks him down, Finn knows he must return. Both his real family and his crime family face an existential threat from Albanian mobsters hellbent on taking control of the Scottish underworld and the forces of law and order determined to inflict their own retribution. Finn’s fight for survival is a rollercoaster ride of brutality, misplaced loyalties and the utterly unexpected. The road to redemption is perilous – and paved with blood.
£10.45
Birlinn General Where Demons Hide: A Rebecca Connolly Thriller
Fear is a state of mind . . . Something scared Nuala Flaherty to death . . . and when her body is found in the centre of a pentagram on a lonely moor, journalist Rebecca Connelly is determined to find the truth. Could she really have been killed by supernatural means, or is there a more realistic explanation? Rebecca's investigation leads her to a dangerous, shadowy cult and a vicious local drug ring. But she is unaware that gangster matriarch Mo Burke still seeks retribution for the death of her son. The crime boss has already failed to hurt Rebecca once before. This time, her vengeance could be lethal. 'A page turning novel in a fine series . . . going from strength to strength' – Scotland on Sunday
£10.45
Birlinn General Rizzio: Darkland Tales
'a tour de force work of art' – The Wall Street Journal, Best Books of the Year Longlisted for the 2022 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award It's Saturday evening, 9 March 1566, and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant. She's hosting a supper party, secure in her private chambers. She doesn't know that her Palace is surrounded – that, right now, an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They're coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary, the handsome Italian man who is smiling across the table at her. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done ... Denise Mina brilliantly portrays the sexual dynamics and politics of power – between men and women, monarch and subjects, master and servants. The period is masterfully researched yet lightly drawn, the characterisation quick, subtle and utterly convincing. This breathtakingly tense work is a tale of sex, secrets and lies, one that explores the lengths that men – and women – will go to in the search for love and power.
£11.25
Birlinn General Hamish Henderson: Collected Poems
Hailed by some as the most important Scottish poet since Burns, Hamish Henderson lived an epic life against the backdrop of some of the defining social, political and cultural battles – both national and international – of the twentieth century. A soldier, academic, folklorist, political activist, songwriter, translator and poet, he was a seminal figure in the Scottish folk revival and literary renaissance. His humanist legacy lives on in all of these spheres, but it is perhaps through his poetry that we may experience, most keenly, the ‘method in his magic.’ In every verse and lyric we catch glimpses of a brilliant, complex and highly original mind, whilst also developing a fuller understanding of Henderson’s lifelong mission to ‘make poetry become people.’ Published to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Hamish Henderson, this collected poems is the first since the poet’s death and makes available, for the first time, new material from the archive. The book opens with Freedom Becomes People, first published in Chapman 42, and reproduces, in full, his Ballads of World War II and Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica. This volume pushes at the boundaries between high modernist poetics and popular folk song; between the profound and profane; between works of individual and collective endeavour and between the poet and his purpose.
£15.17
Birlinn General The Blood is Still: A Rebecca Connolly Thriller
When the body of a man in eighteenth-century Highland dress is discovered on the site of the Battle of Culloden, journalist Rebecca Connolly takes up the story for the Chronicle. Meanwhile, a film being made about the ’45 Rebellion has enraged the right-wing group Spirit of the Gael which is connected to a shadowy group called Black Dawn linked to death threats and fake anthrax deliveries to Downing Street and Holyrood. When a second body – this time in the Redcoat uniform of the government army – is found in Inverness, Rebecca finds herself drawn ever deeper into the mystery. Are the murders connected to politics, a local gang war or something else entirely?
£10.45
Birlinn General Simple Fire: Selected Short Stories
George Mackay Brown was a master of the short story form and produced a steady stream of short fiction collections, starting with A Calendar of Love (1967) and include A Time to Keep (1969) and Hawkfall (1974), as well as his poetry collections and novels. In this selection, edited and introduced by Malachy Tallack, we explore the author’s Orkney and the ups and downs of the crofters and fishermen there. These magical stories, drawn from ancient lore and modern life, strip life down to the essentials.
£13.60
Birlinn General Redfalcon
Richard Hannay Returns.JULY, 1942. Once again veteran adventurer Richard Hannay is called into action on a mission that will test him as never before. At stake is the fate of the beleaguered island of Malta where Hannay's son is stationed as a fighter pilot. The German master spy Ravenstein has stumbled upon a centuries old secret which will give the Nazis the key to conquering Malta and so take control of the entire Mediterranean.To stop them, Hannay and his allies the Gorbals Diehards must track down the mysterious Karrie Adriatis, who alone knows the nature of the ancient secret. The quest takes them on a perilous journey from Gibraltar, to Casablanca, to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, and finally on to Malta itself. Here Hannay and Ravenstein come face to face in a battle that will determine the future of the war.Before James Bond, before Indiana Jones, fiction's greatest action hero was Richard Hannay, who first appeared in John Buchan's classic thriller The Thirty- Nine Steps. R
£11.24
Birlinn General Murder in the Merchant City
Annette Somerville, a young single mother, earns her living in a high-class Glasgow sauna parlour, scrupulously keeping her respectable home life separate from her professional activities. During a series of murders in the city, seemingly unconnected, Annette realises that all of the victims have been regular customers. What should Annette do? No one else seems interested, and her boss makes it clear that going to the police will cost Annette her job. But Annette’s new boyfriend, a former customer of the sauna, could be the murderer’s next victim. Can Annette continue to keep her two lives separate, or are they destined to violently clash?
£10.45
Birlinn General Fugitive Colours
This stunning collection features never before published work along with poems written during her time as Scots Makar, and marks the end of her term as Scotland's Poet Laureate (2011-2016). Whether commissioned works, such as 'Connecting Cultures', written for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 or more personal works, 'Favourite Place', about holidays in the west coast with her late husband, this collection is beautiful, sensitive and brilliant. Throughout her career Liz Lochhead has been described variously as a poet, feminist-playwright, translator and broadcaster but has said that 'when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. If I were a playwright, I'd like to be a poet in the theatre.'
£13.60
Birlinn General The Rat Stone Serenade: A D.C.I. Daley Thriller
It's December, and the Shannon family are returning home to their clifftop mansion near Kinloch for their annual AGM. Shannon International is one of the world's biggest private companies, with tendrils reaching around the globe in computing, banking and mineral resourcing, and it has brought untold wealth and privilege to the family. However, a century ago Archibald Shannon stole the land upon which he built their home - and his descendants have been cursed ever since. When heavy snow cuts off Kintyre, DCI Jim Daley and DS Brian Scott are assigned to protect their illustrious visitors. As an ancient society emerges from the blizzards, and its creation, the Rat Stone, reveals grisly secrets, ghosts of the past come to haunt the Shannons. As the curse decrees, death is coming - but for whom and from what?
£10.45
Birlinn General Whisky from Small Glasses: A D.C.I. Daley Thriller
When the body of a young woman is washed up on an idyllic beach on the west coast of Scotland, D.C.I. Jim Daley is despatched from Glasgow to lead the investigation. Far from home, and his troubled marriage, it seems that Daley’s biggest obstacle will be managing the difficult local police chief; but when the prime suspect is gruesomely murdered, the inquiry begins to stall. As the body count rises, Daley uncovers a network of secrets and corruption in the closeknit community of Kinloch, thrusting him and his loved ones into the centre of a case more deadly than he had ever imagined. The first novel in the D.C.I. Daley series, Whisky from Small Glasses is a truly compelling crime novel, shot through with dark humour and menace.
£10.45
Birlinn General Mr. Standfast: Authorised Edition
Recalled from active service on the Western Front, Richard Hannay is sent undercover on a secret mission to find a dangerous German agent at large in Britain. Disguised as a pacifist, Hannay travels from London to Glasgow to the Scottish Highlands and Islands in his search, which eventually ends in a spectacular climax above the battlefields of Europe. John Buchan’s inside knowledge of trench warfare and government intelligence lend a formidable realism to this superlative story. A nail-biting classic from a master storyteller. With an introduction by Hew Strachan. This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.
£11.24
Birlinn General Kin: Family Poetry Anthology
Family is the one thing we all know about - whether family gives you strength, or breaks your heart, whether your idea of family stays steadfast through generations, or whether your family is a million miles away from kids or rosy-cheeked grannies. This book helps us think about and celebrate family moments and family members. The contents ranges from Robert Burns to Liz Lochhead, from happy babies to the death of a father. It is the fourth in the series of anthologies which provide words for important occasions ("Handfast", "Handsel" and "Lament", also published by Polygon and the Scottish Poetry Library).
£11.24
Birlinn General John MacNab: Authorised Edition
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 Macnab’ 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. With an introduction by Andrew Greig. This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Great Wood: The Ancient Forest of Caledon
The Great Wood of Caledon - the historic native forest of Highland Scotland - has a reputation as potent and misleading as the wolves that ruled it. The popular image is of an impassable, sun-snuffing shroud, a Highlandswide jungle infested by wolf, lynx, bear, beaver, wild white cattle, wild boar, and wilder painted men. Jim Crumley shines a light into the darker corners of the Great Wood, to re-evaluate some of the questionable elements of its reputation, and to assess the possibilities of its partial resurrection into something like a national forest. The book threads a path among relict strongholds of native woodland, beginning with a soliloquy by the Fortingall Yew, the one tree in Scotland that can say of the hey-day of the Great Wood 5,000 years ago: 'I was there.' The journey is enriched by vivid wildlife encounters, a passionate and poetic account that binds the slow dereliction of the past to an optimistic future.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Hebrides: An Aerial View of a Cultural Landscape
The Hebrides of Scotland - around 500 diverse islands - form the north-western Atlantic fringe of Europe. This book surveys the cultural landscape of this dramatically beautiful, complex and conflicted area, with emphasis on what may be interpreted through aerial photography. Its main themes are the mutual influences of people and environment, and the recent history and current issues in the area. Mobile maritime cultures flourished throughout the Hebrides from prehistoric times, including Mesolithic builders of wheelhouses, coracle-borne monastic travellers, Norse in longships and Lords of the Isles in birlinns. A prominent feature of the recent history of the Hebrides has been depopulation. The history and heartbreak of this phenomenon, experienced in differing degrees in rural areas throughout Europe from the mid-18th century, is clearly shown in aerial photographs and discussed in the accompanying text. Today's Hebridean landscapes have been heavily modified by various forms of human land use; current land-management options and controversies are also discussed in the context of photographs that draw attention to the various issues involved.
£30.00
Birlinn General Glasgow's Gaelic Place-names
It is time to bin – once and for all – the nonsense that Gaelic was never spoken in Glasgow. In fact, Glasgow's place-names tell us that Gaelic has been spoken in Glasgow for around a thousand years. Showcasing new research from the University of Glasgow, this illustrated guide to Glasgow's Gaelic namescape reveals how place-names are a key to unlocking Glasgow's hidden past and takes the reader on a journey of discovery the length and breadth of this great modern city – from Yoker in the west to Daldowie in the east, via Boclair, Carmunnock and many other places in between. The truth about Glasgow's past, present and future dispels myths and throws up countless surprises about Glasgow's deep Gaelic roots.
£13.60
Birlinn General Onion Johnnies: Recollections of Seasonal French Onion Sellers in Scotland
For almost 150 years until the late twentieth century, French Onion Johnnies (or ‘Ingan Johnnies’, as they were usually known in Scotland) were a familiar group of seasonal workers in towns and cities throughout Britain. In this book, nine Onion Johnnies (including one ‘Jenny’) who worked in Scotland at one time or another between the 1920s and the 1970s recount their lives. The recollections, recorded in interviews in Brittany and at Leith in 1999 by the Scottish Working People’s History Trust, provide a fascinating insight into the lives and experience of those whose livelihood and way of life have vanished forever. It paints a poignant picture of the past and a way of life about nothing in any detail has ever been published before.
£11.24
Birlinn General A School in South Uist: Reminiscences of a Hebridean Schoolmaster, 1890-1913
In 1889 Frederick Rea arrived from the Midlands to teach in South Uist, at that time one of the poorest places in the Outer Hebrides. Roads were often no more than rough tracks across the mountain moorland or over the storm-swept machair, and his Gaelic-speaking pupils were often frozen and starving. In this extraordinary book, he recounts the years he spent in this remote corner of Scotland, where he was welcomed with uncommon kindness and generosity by the islanders, who found him to be a sincere, conscientious man and an excellent teacher. The book also reveals Rea's keen powers of observation as he describes the lonely, ruggedly beautiful landscape and the customs and lifestyle of the people. Frederick Rea treasured his memories of South Uist for the rest of his life, and his love and respect for the islands and islanders is wonderfully conveyed in this vivid testament.
£11.24
Birlinn General The Last Dawn: The Royal Oak Tragedy at Scapa Flow
On 14 October 1939, HMS Royal Oak, one of the British navy’s top battleships, was destroyed at the Royal Navy’s main anchorage at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The audacious attack, by a German U-boat, was the first major blow against Britain of the Second World War. Over 800 lives were lost, including sailors as young as 14. This book is a revealing account of the tragedy. Told through declassified photographs and naval records, as well as statements from survivors, it is a dramatic and moving reassessment of one of the most shattering events in British naval history.
£13.60
Birlinn Ltd Nature Notebooks Mini Set
After gaining a degree in Zoology, Jane Smith became a wildlife film maker for the BBC Natural History Unit and National Geographic. She won an Emmy for her work and has also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Tweet of the Day. She now creates wildlife art from her home on the west coast of Scotland to communicate her passion for the natural world.
£7.32
Birlinn General The Chain Bridge Honey Bible
The earliest evidence of honey being enjoyed in Scotland dates back to 1000 years BC - an Iron-age beaker that once contained mead was found in a burial chamber in Fife. Since before history, honey has added delicacy and sweetness to the Scottish diet. Scottish honey, with its fragrances of heather, meadowsweet, clover and birch, is a unique, magical ingredient, and the Honey Bible features a host of easy-to-prepare recipes drawing on this wonderful resource.Liz Ashworth introduces us to its versatility from dishes as varied as Medieval sweet pickled salmon and honey-spiced beetroot, to the delectable cranachan and more contemporary chocolate honey fudge cake. Prepared in collaboration with one of the UK''s oldest and largest honey farms, Chain Bridge in the Borders, this book draws on the experience and traditions of generations of skilled beekeepers and Scottish cooks in the use of this quintessentially natural and organic food. Chain Bridge honey farm is a flourishing family busines
£7.32
Birlinn General My Scottish Nature Activity Book
This book is a fun way for children aged 7-10 to find out all about Scotland's amazing wildlife and natural history. From puffins, pine martens and Highland cows to red deer, eagles and butterflies, the range of animals is enormous, not to mention the huge variety of plants, flowers and trees. Many of them live in some of the most spectacular natural settings too forests, moors, mountains, rivers and the sea.The activities include stickering, colouring, drawing, wordsearches, counting, games, dot-to dots, mazes, alongside lots of practical activities - making animals with salt dough; making a bird feeder; making sock puppets; making eggbox crabs and jellyfish; making an egg tree and much more.
£10.45
Birlinn General The Hebrides
Paul Murton has spent half-a lifetime exploring some of the most beautiful islands in the world the Hebrides. He has travelled the length and breadth of the Scotland's rugged, six-thousand-mile coast line, and sailed to over eighty islands.In this new and updated edition of his acclaimed book, Paul visits each of the Hebridean islands in turn, introducing their myths and legends, history, culture and extraordinary natural beauty.In addition he also meets the people who live there and learns their story. He has met crofters, fishermen, tweed weavers, Gaelic singers, clan chiefs, artists, postmen and bus drivers people from every walk of life who make the islands tick. This blend of the contemporary and the traditional creates a vivid account of the Hebrides and serves as unique guide to the less well known aspects of life among the islands.
£15.17
Birlinn General Ferry
Find out what happens when Captain Kit welcomes his passengers aboard his ferry in this charming board book. Benedict Blathwayt's award-winning illustrations are full of detail which are guaranteed to stimulate the interest of very young children (ages 0-5 years) and help develop their powers of observation.
£8.88
Birlinn General The Gravity of Feathers
When the last 36 inhabitants of St Kilda, 40 miles west of the Scottish Hebrides, were evacuated in 1930, the archipelago at the edge of the world' lost its permanent population after five millennia.It has long been accepted that the islanders' failure to adapt to the modern world was its demise. Andrew Fleming overturns the traditional view. Unafraid of highlighting dark times, he shows how they sacrificed their reputation as an uncorrupted, ideal society to embrace and exploit the tourist trade. Creating a prestigious tweed, exporting the ancestors of today's Hebridean sheep, the islanders gained access to consumer goods and learned how to play politics to their advantage.This book tells the absorbing and eventful story of St Kilda from up to the evacuation and its aftermath. Previously untapped sources and fresh insights bring to life the personalities, feelings, attitudes and rich culture of the islanders themselves, as well as the numerous outsiders who engaged with the remote isl
£25.00
Birlinn General The Wisest Fool
James VI and I, the first monarch to reign over Scotland, England and Ireland, has long endured a mixed reputation. To many, he is simply the homosexual King, the inveterate witch-roaster, the smelly sovereign who never washed, the colourless man behind the authorised Bible bearing his name, or the drooling fool whose speech could barely be understood. For too long, he has paled in comparison to his more celebrated Tudor and Stuart forebears.But who was he really? To what extent have myth, anecdote, and rumour obscured him?In this new and ground-breaking biography, James's story is laid bare and a welter of scurrilous, outrageous assumptions penned by his political opponents put to rest. What emerges is a portrait of Elizabeth I''s successor as his contemporaries knew him: a gregarious, idealistic man obsessed with the idea of family, whose personal and political goals could never match up to reality. With reference to letters, libels and state papers, it casts fresh light on the perso
£15.17
Birlinn General Scottish Vegan Baking
Scotland is renowned for its rich tradition of baking.In this follow-up to The Scottish Vegan Cookbook, you will find all the recipes you might need for making vegan versions of classic Scottish bread, biscuits, fruit loaves, tarts and cakes. The book begins by outlining the baking substitutes you will need for dairy butter, eggs and milk as well as alternative sweeteners, spices and flours. It then provides recipes for Basics, including Lemon Curd, Sweet Wholemeal Shortcrust Pastry, Whipped Cream and Salted Date Caramel that you can use time-and-time again.The following sections cover Biscuits from Abernethy Biscuits to Shortbread; Bread, Buns, Oatcakes and Fruit Loaves including Baps, Barm Loaf and the famous Selkirk Bannock. Further sections cover Cakes such as Dundee Cake and Sticky Gingerbread; Scones; Tarts including Border Tart and Ecclefechan Tart and lastly Tray Bakes such as Flapjacks and Tiffin. The book closes with suggestions for holding your own Cookie Shine' a Scott
£18.99
Birlinn General My First Colouring Book Scottish Animals
Young children will love these colouring books featuring simple illustrations of a variety of Scottish animals.Contents feature:Puffin * Ducks * Garden birds * Hedgehog * Hare * Owls * Capercaillie * Wildcat *Geese * Eagle * Scottie Dog * Pine marten * Squirrel * Badgers * Deer * Butterflies * Salmon * Highland Cow * Sheep * Farm animals * Clydesdale horse * Otters * Beavers * Seals * Seagulls * Dolphins * Haggis
£7.32
Birlinn General My First Colouring Book Scotland
Young children will love these colouring books featuring simple illustrations of a variety of Scottish themes.Contents feature:Castles * Unicorns * Scottish Country Dancers * Bagpipes * Loch Ness Monster * Seashore * Farmyard * Boats and trains * Forth Rail Bridge * Woodland and animals * Scottish food and produce * Lochs and rainbows * City scenes * Tartan * Winter sledging
£7.32
Birlinn General Polly
Early on a wartime winter's morning in 1941, the 8,000-ton cargo ship SS Politician ran aground in the beautiful but treacherous seas of Scotland''s Outer Hebrides. Among its cargo were 260,000 bottles of whisky destined for the American market a godsend to the local Eriskay islanders whose home-grown supply had dried up due to wartime rationing.News quickly spread and boats came from as far as Lewis, and before local excise officer Charles McColl could intervene, more than 24,000 bottles had been ''rescued''. Villages were raided as bottles of whisky were hidden in the most ingenious ways or simply drunk to get rid of the evidence. Meanwhile, official salvage operations foundered, and in order to pre-vent what the islanders themselves regarded as legitimate salvage, the hull of the Politician was dynamited.The story is well known through Compton Mackenzie's bestselling book Whisky Galore and the famous 1949 Ealing comedy of the same name. In this book, acclaimed journalist and Hebri
£10.45
Birlinn General The Fresh and the Salt
Shortlisted for the Lakeland Book of the YearFirths and estuaries are liminal places, where land meets sea and tides meet freshwater. Their unique ecosystems support a huge range of marine and other wildlife: human activity too is profoundly influenced by their waters and shores.The Solway Firth the crooked finger of water that both unites and divides Scotland and England is a beautiful yet unpredictable place and one of the least-industrialised natural large estuaries in Europe. Its history, geology and turbulent character have long affected the way its inhabitants, both human and non-human, have learnt to live along and within its ever-changing margins.
£13.60
Birlinn General The Big Book of Scottish Mazes
Follow the knights as they battle their way into Edinburgh Castle; find the seals’ route under the Forth Bridge, help Mary, Queen of Scots escape from Loch Leven Castle; find the route to avoid the monster in the waters of Loch Ness; work out which of the golfers will make a hole in one – and much more besides. This beautifully illustrated maze book for children features some of Scotland’s most famous places, people and wildlife as themes.
£10.45
Birlinn General Glasgow: The Autobiography
Glasgow: The Autobiography tells the story of the fabled, former Second City of the British Empire from its origins as a bucolic village on the rivers Kelvin and Clyde, through the tumult of the Industrial Revolution to the third millennium. Including extracts from an astonishing array of contributors from Daniel Defoe, Dorothy Wordsworth and Dr Johnson to Evelyn Waugh and Dirk Bogarde, it also features the writing of bred-in-thebone Glaswegians such as Alasdair Gray, Liz Lochhead, James Kelman and 2020 Booker prize-winner Douglas Stuart. The result is a varied and vivid portrait of one of the world’s great cities in all its grime and glory – a place which is at once infuriating, inspiring, raucous, humourful and never, ever dull.
£13.60
Birlinn General The Greatest Viking: The Life of Olav Haraldsson
Raider. Conqueror. King. Saint. This is the story of Olav Haraldsson, the greatest Viking who ever lived. A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Thousands were put to the sword, enslaved or ransomed. In England, Canterbury was sacked, its archbishop murdered and London Bridge pulled down. The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway, and a century after his death he was proclaimed ‘Eternal King’ and has been a national hero there ever since. Despite his bloodthirsty beginnings, Olav converted to Christianity and, in a personal vendetta against the old Norse gods, made Norway Christian too, thereby changing irrevocably the Viking world he was born into. Told with reference to Norse sagas, early chronicles and the work of modern scholars, Desmond Seward paints an intensely vivid and colourful portrait of the life and times of arguably the greatest Viking of them all.
£22.00
Birlinn General Majestic River: Mungo Park and the Exploration of the Niger
One of the greatest stories of world exploration ever told. By the late eighteenth century, the river Niger was a 2,000-year-old two-part geographical problem. Solving it would advance European knowledge of Africa, provide a route to commercial opportunity and help eradicate the evil of slavery. Mungo Park achieved lasting fame in 1796 by solving the first part of the Niger problem – which way did the river run? Park died in 1806, in circumstances which are still uncertain, in failing to solve the second – where did the Niger end? Numerous expeditions explored the river in the decades following Park’s death, but not until 1830 was its final course revealed following in-the-field exploration. By then, however, the Niger problem had been solved by ‘armchair geographers’ who had never even visited Africa. Majestic River celebrates Mungo Park's achievements and illuminates his rich afterlife – how and why he was commemorated long after his death. It is also the thrilling story of the many expeditions that sought to determine the Niger’s course and the facts of Park’s disappearance, as well as a biography of the Niger itself as the river slowly took shape in the European imagination. Shortlisted for the Saltire Society History Book of the Year Award
£30.00
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.
£17.99
Birlinn General The Moray Way Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to The Dava Way, The Moray Coast Trail and the Speyside Way
The Moray Way consists of all or part of three previously existing routes: the Moray Coast Trail, the Speyside Way and the Dava Way. Together they cover a huge and varied range of landscapes.This book is the ideal guide to much of what this beautiful and richly historical part of Scotland has to offer. The largest town, Forres, is an ancient royal burgh. Between it and the next biggest town of Lossiemouth lie the coastal villages of Findhorn, Burghead and Hopeman, connected by some of Scotland’s finest coastal scenery and beaches. Eastwards, beyond intact remains of second world war defences, lie Garmouth and Fochabers, the former, many centuries ago, the main port of Moray Here the Moray Way turns south, following a course through the fertile Spey valley. Its many distilleries are part of the considerable variety of interest as the route continues to the resort town of Grantown. A final stage northward crosses the wild openness of Dava Moor, reaching eventually the spectacular Divie viaduct where there is a dramatic change to gentler woodlands and pastoral landscapes as the trail leads back to Forres.
£15.17
Birlinn General James Hutton: The Genius of Time
Discover one of the Scottish Enlightenment's brightest stars. Among the giants of the Scottish Enlightenment, the name of James Hutton is overlooked. Yet his Theory of the Earth revolutionised the way we think about how our planet was formed and laid the foundation for the science of geology. He was in his time a doctor, a farmer, a businessman, a chemist yet he described himself as a philosopher – a seeker after truth. A friend of James Watt and of Adam Smith, he was a polymath, publishing papers on subjects as diverse as why it rains and a theory of language. He shunned status and official position, refused to give up his strong Scots accent and vulgar speech, loved jokes and could start a party in an empty room. Yet much of his story remains a mystery. His papers, library and mineral collection all vanished after his death and only a handful of letters survive. He seemed to be a lifelong bachelor, yet had a secret son whom he supported throughout his life. This book uses new sources and original documents to bring Hutton the man to life and places him firmly among the geniuses of his time.
£25.00
Birlinn General A Taste for Treason: The Letter That Smashed a Nazi Spy Ring
A gripping true story of wartime espionage. Dundee, 1937. When housewife Mary Curran became suspicious of hairdresser Jessie Jordan's frequent trips to Nazi Germany, she had no idea that she was about to be drawn into an international web of espionage. Thanks to a tip off from Mary, MI5 and the FBI launched major spy hunts on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the true story of a decade-long series of Nazi espionage plots in Britain, Europe and the United States. It shows how a Nazi spy's letter, posted in New York and intercepted in Scotland, broke spy rings across Europe and North America. And it reveals, for the first time, how that letter marked the genesis of an intelligence and security alliance that today includes the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 'Fascinating, gripping and expertly researched... an extraordinary true tale of espionage told with all the drama and panache of a spy thriller' – Michael Smith, bestselling author of The Secrets of Station X
£15.17