A few month’s back my comments about Gillian Hamer’s The Charter caused a bit of a furore and now Gill is back with another offering which is already on my TBR pile. It sounds alike a fascinating story and here’s Gill to make her case for breaking the genre ‘rules’. What’s that saying … something about once … Continue reading A second stab at cross-genre for Gillian Hamer
Knowing this Scottish historical novel by Margaret Skea had battled through the scrutiny of Authonomy authors and the Alan Titchmarsh People’s Novelist Competition, I was really keen to read it, but at first I was uncertain. The writing was polished and clearly backed up by detailed research but could I be gripped by this tale … Continue reading Turn of the Tide: Scottish history comes to life
This week I’ve been reading the new best-seller Thursdays in the Park, so we’re talking age, not era I’m afraid. But as I’m zooming towards the decade in question, it seems like something to think about. Is the older generation neglected by fiction writers, and has this one done them (us!) justice? Interestingly, the oldies … Continue reading Sex in the Sixties
Appropriately for Book Week Scotland (and St. Andrews Day of course!) I’ve been reading a Scottish mystery which has thrown up some fascinating connections. The Lewis Man is the second in Peter May’s trilogy and I’m grateful to the friend who tipped me off about it as it’s a haunting and intriguing read against a … Continue reading Book Week Scotland: Dark Secrets of The Dean
Today I’m with leading Scottish indie author Janice Horton where I’m saying a bit more about the locations in A Kettle of Fish most of which are in my home town and the surrounding area. As I was writing that piece I discovered via another former pupil that my old school, Dunfermline High has just been … Continue reading Labor Omnia Vincit – or old school ties
