A passionate affair in The Sound of the Hours

Occupation during the Second World War in Barga, Tuscany, turns plans for the future of 17-year-old Vita on their head, in The Sound of the Hours by Karen Campbell. The arrival of Frank Chapel, a young black US soldier, finds the Scottish-Italian heroine falling deeply in love. The vividly portrayed characters embark on a passionate…

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You can have your Cake – and read it

Refrigerator Cake is an enjoyable, humorous and contemporary collection of short stories from young Falkirk-based author, Dickson Telfer. With subject matter which guides the reader through subjects as diverse as teaching the class from hell to a 92-year-old man’s quest for peace, this is not one for the fainthearted, but Telfer’s humour will resonate with…

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The Tobermory Cat is a fun story for children

The Tobermory Cat is the enduring tale of one feline’s quest to fill his empty stomach. Illustration is vivid, with a charming rusticity and acres of pastel illustrations. Besides its educational value, which will help younger readers to become more familiar with counting from one to ten, Gliori’s story is faithful to her setting: full…

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Fringe: No place to Hyde in a great one man show

Michael Tonkin-Jones is a busy performer – in this one man show,Hyde and Seek, he demonstrates considerable skill, playing all the characters, he sings, is a puppet master and dances too. The play is based on Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and narrated by Albert, the stage door manager of a theatre who is…

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Mango and pineapple gin gives a taste of paradise

Eden Mill has launched Mango & Pineapple Liqueur, as part of the Love Gin Liqueur which flew off the shelves this year. The brand-new flavour will now join the Love Gin Liqueur range, which features the titular Love Gin Liqueur, a raspberry and vanilla flavoured tipple which sold over 100,000 bottles since its launch. The…

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Flora’s ready to get Romantic at the Fringe

Following being runner-up at Get Up Stand Up and Laughing Horse New Act Of The Year finalist, Flora Anderson brings her debut full Fringe show, Romantic, to Edinburgh. Borne from her love of the Romantic Poets the show sees ridiculously self-aware, middle-class dreamer Flora doing a show about trying and failing to be creative in…

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Monsters and more in a book for the wee ones

For a child, there’s nothing scarier than a story with monsters – but they always lose in the end. Lea Taylor has tapped into traditional Scots stories of our beasties, and written some new tales which will terrify and entertain children in equal measure. With stories like The Greedy Trows of Orkney and Kelpie Capers,…

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Scotland’s Islands beautifully captured in print

Scotland’s incredible natural beauty is captured perfectly in the lavish Scotland’s Islands, which is so beautifully presented to the reader. The photography of island enthusiast Allan Wright is stunning and shows off places we may have visited, and indeed many places that most of us won’t have seen, capturing the soul of each area and…

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Selling with The Scottish Gallery

The Scottish Gallery offers a comprehensive and discreet service to those seeking advice on valuation or wishing to sell works of art. Sometimes it will be their advice to seek an appraisal with an auctioneer but these days the costs of conducting business at auction, particularly for a potential vendor, are such that the Gallery…

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Gripping thriller will keep you glued into the night

Fans of the Inspector McLean crime novels will not be disappointed by this instalment, The Damage Done, with Oswald delivering another gritty page-turner that will keep you reading late into the night. When an Edinburgh Police vice squad raid goes embarrassingly awry, Inspector Tony McLean finds himself haunted by echoes of his first case. With…

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