Posts Tagged ‘memoir’
Book Review: ‘Annie’s Boy’
Annie’s Boy Gary Todd New Holland Publishers [review rating=”4″ align = “left”] A WELL-KNOWN name in the boxing world, Gary Todd lets the reader get up close and personal, not dodging any blows in his new memoir, Annie’s Boy. Telling the story of his earlier days, over a span of 15 years, he focuses on…
Read MoreThe autobiography of a true Scottish rugby great
Ken Scotland, a fullback for Heriot’s, Cambridge University, Scotland and the British & Irish Lions in the fifties and sixties, was one of the finest players this country has ever produced. An exponent of running rugby and an outstanding sportsman (he also played cricket for Scotland), celebrated Lions skipper Tom Kiernan reckoned he was the…
Read MoreThe hills are in this author’s blood
Born in Bonnybridge, author Ian McNeish is an unlikely climbing enthusiast, but the hills are in his blood. This endearing memoir details the lifelong love aff air with the mountains enjoyed by this self-confessed ‘dedicated amateur’, yet there is much to like about this book. While its production values are weak and it could do…
Read More‘Frank – get the book!’
COMEDIAN Janey Godley is among presenter Damian Barr’s guests in the first episode of The Big Scottish Book Club, which returns to the BBC Scotland channel on Sunday. Godley, who has become an internet sensation during the pandemic thanks to her satirical voiceovers of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s daily briefings, will discuss her memoir, Handstands in…
Read MoreThe story of Scotland’s sea eagle population
Sea eagles divide opinion; they’re a treat for birdwatchers but are despised by some crofters. John A Love was part of the team that brought the birds back to Scotland in the 1970s and chronicled their reintroduction in his 1993 book, The Return Of The Sea Eagle. Twenty years later, he brings the story up…
Read MoreOvercoming her grief in the mountains
This beautifully candid memoir follows the life of Munroist, Sarah Jane Douglas, and her battle with grief. After losing her mother to cancer, Douglas finds solace in climbing Scotland’s forbidding mountains. A heart-wrenching read, it is testament to the cathartic nature of the wilderness. True stories do not always see the ‘happily ever after’ ending,…
Read MoreBoswell Book Festival returns for its 10th outing
The 10th Boswell Book Festival will take place at Dumfries House in Ayrshire later this year. Running from 8-10 May, the event was founded to celebrate the life and work of the great writer and long recognised inventor of modern biography, James Boswell of Auchinleck. Set in the beautifully restored house, saved for the nation…
Read MoreA compelling account of highs and lows in India
A compelling and mesmerising account of India under a turbulent century of British rule, The Tears of the Rajas is a sweeping history of the British in India, seen through the experiences of a single Scottish family – author Ferdinand Mount’s ancestors, the Lows of Clatto. It tells the story of three intertwined families: The…
Read MoreThe tragic story of a Scots soldier – in his own words
So many Scottish families have their own stories from World Wars I and II. This is the biography of Charles Grant Tennant, a pacifist who joined the Army at the outbreak of the Great War and died in May 1915. Cumbrae-based Fergus Boyle has assembled a fascinating first-hand account of the life of his great-uncle,…
Read MoreDiscovering the darker side of her family tree
Cal Flyn was holidaying at her childhood home in the Highlands of Scotland when she stumbled upon a little-known, dark family secret. The journalist discovered that her great-great-great uncle, Angus McMillan, who had been mythologised as a great explorer and pioneer of early Australia, had in fact been the leader of a number of gruesome…
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