A Scottish perspective on the world of publishing, plus brilliant books for you to buy
THE RACE TO THE NORTH BY DAVID WRAGG,
WHARNCLIFFE TRANSPORT, HARDBACK, £19.99
An interesting account of the 19th-century competition between the West Coast and East Coast railroad companies, fuelled by the prospect of power and wealth, to provide the fastest service between London and Scotland. The book includes a highly informative summary of the events of the steam age, marked by incidents like the collapse of the fi rst Tay Bridge.
THE INDIAN EQUATOR BY IAN STRATHCARRON, SIGNAL BOOKS, PAPERBACK, £9.99
The second in a trilogy dedicated to
rediscovering the route the American writer Mark Twain followed in 1895 on his lecture tour around the world. This book focuses on the leg between Mumbai and Rawalpindi in India, in which Strathcarron visits the same Raj clubs and travels on the same train lines as Twain, and marvels at the wonders of Twain’s favourite country.
SCOTTISH CLANS: LEGEND, LOGIC AND EVIDENCE, VOLUME I-II. BY ADRIAN C GRANT, FAST PRINT PUBLISHING, PAPERBACK, £30
This two-volume work is dedicated to exploring the history of 57 different clans of Scotland, exploring the myths surrounding their existence and looking into heraldry, DNA and place names related to them. A CD is included to make this scholarly tome more accessible.
KIRKCALDY & CENTRAL FIFE’S TRAMS AND BUSES BY WALTER BURT, AMBERLEY, PAPERBACK, £14.99
A gem for vehicle enthusiasts, this book takes readers through the history of public transport in the Kirkcaldy area. Kirkcaldy was the fi rst town in Fife to build a tramway, which was soon followed by a bus network. Walter Burt, a bus driver himself, illustrates the story with colour and black and white images.
HEARTS: THE GOLDEN YEARS BY TOM PURDIE, AMBERLEY, PAPERBACK, £14.99
This highly illustrated
book gives the year-by-year account of the most successful decade in the history of Hearts football club. The defeat of Motherwell in the fi nal of the Scottish League Cup in 1954 started a period in which Hearts would win the Scottish Cup, the League championship twice and the League Cup on three more occasions.
SCOTS WHO ENLIGHTENED THE WORLD BY ANDREW FERGUSON, POLWARTH PUBLISHING, PAPERBACK, £25
Television, pneumatic tyres, steam ships, and antibiotics are just some of the results of the Scottish Enlightenment. Through enjoyable and informative stories, Andrew Ferguson introduces readers to creative Scotsmen and women who, in one way or another, contributed to the development of the modern world.
We have teamed up with the Watermill Book Shop in Aberfeldy to launch the Scottish Field Book Club. By simply logging on to
www.scottishfi eld.
co.uk/books or ringing 01887 822896 readers can now order any of the books that appear this month in Cover-to-Cover, plus many of the most popular books that have been reviewed here over the years.
For the best Scottish books
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 147
The Devil’s Recruit
BY S.G. MACLEAN
QUERCUS FICTION. HARDBACK, £18.99
This is the fourth book in author Shona
MacLean’s Alexander Seaton series and is a must-read for fans of The Redemption of Alexander Seaton, A Game of Sorrows and Crucible. Set in 1635 in Aberdeen, against
the backdrop of the Thirty Years’ War, MacLean draws on the knowledge gained while studying for a PhD in history and the events of the war, to weave this tale of murder, mystery and intrigue. MacLean’s passion for history shines through in the narrative and ensures that the characters and events are believable and fascinating in equal measure. This combination of scholarly substance and vivid imagination makes for a tale that brings the city and residents of Aberdeen at that time to life. This is a fi ne thriller written with a real Scottish hero at its centre. The whodunnit element of The Devil’s Recruit and the intricate plotting that keeps the reader guessing right until the very end makes this a book that is diffi cult to put down – certainly one for reading on holiday, or a long, lazy day in the garden.
buy
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