Reviews
When the capital goes to work – through the years
Edinburgh is a city that’s different from the rest of the UK. It has its own feel about it – so few cities can claim to have a stunning centrepiece like the castle at its heart. It has its festivals in August; it has a proud history; its own myths and legends; and it has…
Read MoreAn insight into Scotland’s lost love of pewter
Pewter was in everyday use in most households, churches and places of commerce in Europe for hundreds of years. But it fell out of favour in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as new materials and manufacturing methods became available. The pewter wares of Scotland have for a long time interested collectors, who have been attracted…
Read MoreAn amusing look at 50 of the ‘worst’ Scots
Acclaimed writer Allan Brown has amassed a hilarious collection of portraits of 50 of the most prominent offending villains and numpties. He cast a sharp over those who he considers have hindered rather than helped Scotland throughout its history. The list includes historic ambassadors such as Robert Burns to popular personalities such as Billy Connolly.…
Read MoreA cool read as writer goes on the search for snow
Like a pirate in search of treasure, Iain Cameron scours Britain’s mountains for patches of surviving robust snow. From the opening story of Cameron battling a ferocious snowstorm in the Highlands to seek out an elusive patch of snow, I was enthralled. Yet, what I didn’t expect to feel was moved. Cameron’s childlike wonder and…
Read MoreStirling’s picture past is a joy to behold
One of the joys of visiting cities and towns around Scotland is seeing how much they have changed over the years. I’ve always had an interest in finding pictures of places as they used to be, and then comparing with them in the 21st century, to see how things have evolved and changed. Stirling –…
Read MoreThe amazing real life story of the Shetland ‘Bus’
Sometimes, real life events are so incredible that you’d think they were an elaborate plot from a spy novel. The Shetland ‘Bus’ tells the tale of the clandestine Special Operations Executive plan which from 1942 transported secret agents across the North Sea between Shetland and Norway during World War Two. With Norway under Nazi occupation,…
Read MoreMcCall Smith’s latest novel brings joy and light
There really is no stopping Alexander McCall Smith, with the release of his latest novel, The Joy and Light Bus Company. This is the 22nd installment in the internationally beloved No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is equally as brilliant as the previous editions. Mma Ramotswe is wary of her husband’s potential business venture and is…
Read MoreA fascinating look at the time of Mary, Queen of Scots
The Survival of the Crown is hefty tome that is definitely one for the history scholar, rather than the casual reader. This is volume two, and the concluding part of Stedall’s heavily researched history of Mary, Queen of Scots, offering a detailed contribution to our understanding of this most significant period in the history of…
Read MoreThe fascinating rise of a Scots statesman
The eventful life and career of Sir John Malcolm, a distinguished combatant, statesman and man of letters who spent most of his life in India, has been a story little told in his native Scotland. An ambitious and bold man who left his impoverished beginnings as one of 17 children of a tenant farmer in…
Read MoreA fascinating look at the world in 100 moments
You are not alone in wondering how one goes about filtering through a million years to form an articulate narrative. Yet Neil Oliver achieves this incredibly succinctly and with rare wit. Travelling through space and time on a whistlestop tour of the world, Oliver offers a tangible array of moments which give an invaluable and…
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