Tag: books

Posted on

Full orchestra or string quartet? Two novels set in Victorian Scotland #photohistory #historical fiction #highlandclearances #scottishbooks

As soon as Sara Sheridan’s The Secrets of Blythswood Square crossed my radar I pounced on it as it’s a novel which springs from the exact scenario (and some of the characters) I drew on for In the Blink of an Eye. Coincidentally in the same week Sally Magnusson’s Music in the Dark was a … Continue reading Full orchestra or string quartet? Two novels set in Victorian Scotland #photohistory #historical fiction #highlandclearances #scottishbooks

Posted on

Kindness at Christmas: R.L. Stevenson’s ‘A Christmas Sermon’

I was introduced to Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Christmas Sermon (first published 1888) at an online lecture in December 2020 by Stevenson expert amd fan Robert Louis Abrahamson. If I’m unconsciously replicating any of what RLA (whom I’ve since met) said, apologies and also thanks to him. Thanks too to Debbie Young for inviting me to … Continue reading Kindness at Christmas: R.L. Stevenson’s ‘A Christmas Sermon’

Posted on

Strange Maps

One of the fun things about writing a novel is that it takes you to places you would never have gone otherwise, and serves up some interesting reading experiences. While I was writing Landscape I found myself gravitating towards books about maps and spotted Intimate Cartographies by L. A.  Alexander on the chucking out shelf at … Continue reading Strange Maps

Posted on

Fun and games

I confess to playing around with Facebook at work (strictly as a learning experience, of course!) and really like the Virtual Bookshelf feature I found on a colleague’s page.  It lets you build a personal library with links through to Amazon, but it has a separate shelf for books you have read, are reading or would like to read. Tried … Continue reading Fun and games