Mavis Belfrage


Alasdair Gray - 1996
    Five other tales describe folk in Britain's lowest professional class between the late-1950s and 60s.

The Mysteries Of Shetland


Ann Cleeves - 2013
    Starting with the CWA awarding winning Raven Black, this special ebook also contains the second and third novels in the Shetland series, White Nights and Red Bones.Raven Black: It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter’s eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance . . . The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man – loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine’s neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.

Hell of a Journey: On Foot Through the Scottish Highlands in Winter


Mike Cawthorne - 2000
    On one level it is a vivid and evocative account of a remarkable trek - never attempted before - on another it celebrates the uniqueness of the Highlands, the scenery and ecology of 'the last wilderness in Europe'. The challenge Mike Cawthorne set himself was to climb all 135 of Scotland's 1,000-metre peaks, which stretch in an unbroken chain through the heart of the Highlands, from Sutherland to the Eastern Cairngorms, down to Loch Lomond, and west to Glencoe. His route traversed the most spectacular landscape in Scotland, linking every portion of wilderness, and was completed in the midst of the harshest winter conditions imaginable. Acclaimed on its first publication in 2000, this edition contains an epilogue in which Mike Cawthorne reflects on his trek and wonders what has changed since he carried it out. He warns that 'wild land in Scotland has never been under greater threat'. Hell of a Journey is a reminder of what we could so easily lose forever.

The Tea Dress Shop at Christmas


De-ann Black - 2012
    Findlay sets out to build a new life for herself in Glasgow, and opens a tea dress shop in the city centre.Is Gordan the man for Findlay, or perhaps McGarra? And will Christmas in Glasgow be everything she's wished for?

The Violet Fairy Book


Andrew Lang - 1901
    Perhaps the best English versions available of these classic stories. 74 illustrations.

The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses


Robert Service - 1907
    The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses by Robert Service.

Mythology of the British Isles


Geoffrey Ashe - 1990
    The origins and legends of the Giants, the Ancient Britons, the Picts, the Scots and the English are all explained, in a work aimed at both the specialist and the casual reader. Organised into a simple system based on Robert Graves' classic Greek Myths, Ashe describes the myth or theme first followed by discussion or analysis.

Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales


George Brisbane Douglas - 1892
    These include brownies, kelpies, trolls, mermen, and other beings from the unseen world that pop up again and again to assist, annoy, and otherwise meddle in the lives of simple country folk.This treasury was assembled by a noted folklorist who heard these picturesque traditional tales over a century ago while visiting in rural homes throughout Scotland. Recounted in their native vernacular, they include nursery tales and animal fables, stories of fairies, accounts of witchcraft, comic and literary lore, and more.Included in this collection are clever and imaginative stories of "The Strange Visitor," "How the Wolf Lost His Tail," "The Smith and the Fairies," "The Scottish Brownie," "The Witches of Delnabo," "The Witty Exploits of Mr. George Buchanan," "The Haunted Ships," and scores of other delightful tales. Together, they offer folklore lovers, readers, and listeners of all ages hours of imaginative storytelling entertainment.

A Book Of Silence


Sara Maitland - 2008
    She fell in love with the silence, and in this profound, frank memoir she describes how she explored this new love, searching for silence and solitude.

Celtic Myths and Legends


Peter Berresford Ellis - 1999
    Included are popular myths and legends from all six Celtic cultures of Western Europe-Irish, Scots, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Here for the modern reader are the rediscovered tales of cattle raids, tribal invasions, druids, duels, and doomed love that have been incorporated into, and sometimes distorted by, European mythology and even Christian figures. For example, there is the story of Lugh of the Long Hand, one of the greatest gods in the Celtic pantheon, who was later transformed into the faerie craftsman Lugh-Chromain, and finally demoted to the lowly Leprechaun. Celtic Myths and Legends also retells the story of the classic tragic love story of Tristan and Iseult (probably of Cornish origin-there was a real King Mark and a real Tristan in Cornwall) and the original tale of King Arthur, a Welsh leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons. In the hands of Peter Berresford Ellis, the myths sung by long-dead Celtic bards come alive to enchant the modern reader. "The casual reader will be best entertained by ... the legends themselves ...colored with plenty of swordplay, ... quests, shape-shiftings, and druidic sorcery."-Publishers Weekly

Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales


Gordon JarvieJames Hogg - 1992
    This is a collection of Scottish fairy tales, folk tales and legends, which have been passed on from generation to generation, and have been brought together in this one volume.

Robert the Bruce: A Life from Beginning to End (Scottish History Book 4)


Hourly History - 2020
    

A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands


Lorne Rubenstein - 2001
    A bit too far removed for the taste of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the Royal Dornoch Golf Club has never hosted a British Open, but that has hardly diminished its mystique or its renown. In an influential piece for The New Yorker in 1964, Herbert Warren Wind wrote, "It is the most natural course in the world. No golfer has completed his education until he has played and studied Royal Dornoch." If any town in the world deserves to be described as "the village of golf," it's Dornoch. You can take the legendary links away from St. Andrews, and you'll still have a charming and beautiful university town with great historic significance; take the links away from Dornoch and it would be as little noted or known as its neighbors Golspie, Tain, and Brora. (The town is forty miles north of Inverness, generally thought of as the northernmost outpost of civilization in Scotland.) The game has been played in Dornoch for some four hundred years. Its native son Donald Ross brought the style of the Dornoch links to America, where his legendary, classic courses include Pinehurst #2, Seminole, and Oak Hill. Lorne Rubenstein decided to spend a summer in Dornoch to clear the muddle from his golfing mind and to rediscover the natural charms of the game he loves. But in the Highlands he found far more than bracing air and challenging greens. He found a people shaped by the harshness of the land and the difficulty of drawing a living from it, and still haunted by a historic wrong inflicted on their ancestors nearly two centuries before. Rubenstein met many people of great thoughtfulness and spirit, eager to share their worldviews, their life stories, and a wee dram or two. And as he explored the empty, rugged landscape, he came to understand the ways in which the thorny, quarrelsome qualities of the game of golf reflect the values, character, and history of the people who brought it into the world. A Season in Dornoch is both the story of one man's immersion in the game of golf and an exploration of the world from which it emerged. Part travelogue, part portraiture, part good old-fashioned tale of matches played and friendships made, it takes us on an unforgettable journey to a marvelous, moody, mystical place.

Celtic Folklore Cooking


Joanne Asala - 1997
    It is also a terrific introduction to Celtic culture. The recipes in this book were gathered during four trips the author took to Ireland and Britain, as well as visits to Scotland and Wales. She searched for people who still cooked in the traditional of their ancestors, passing down recipes from generation to generation. The result is a book that is rich in Celtic tradition. And the foods are delicious any time, too!Like a well-stocked larder, Celtic Folklore Cooking offers plenty of tempting choices for daily meals or special celebrations. Pick from more than 200 tasty traditional dishes, all nestled among colorful food-related proverbs, poems, tales, customs, and other nuggets of folk wisdom. Each recipe lists ancient and modern holidays associated with the dish so you can select the perfect fare to complement the season. Recipes include: - Mushroom and Scallop Pie - Heather Wine - Pratie Oaten - Beestings Pancakes - Hot Cross buns - Figgy Pudding - Boxty on the Griddle - Barm Brack - Sweet Scones - Scotch Eggs - Colcannon - Cockle Soup - Flower Pudding - Flummery - MeadThe ancient Celts celebrated their Sabbats with music, dance, games, food, and drink. Whether you are a solitary practitioner or a part of a larger group, food and drink should always be a part of your festivities, rituals, and ceremonies. This book can be the key to a wide variety of foods that will make you the talk of the town!If you are involved in Celtic traditions, this book is a must. If you simply like unique recipes for foods that are as tasty today as they were hundreds, even thousands of years ago, you'll want this book, too.

The People of the Sea


David Thomson - 1954
    In the early 1950's he took a journey to seek the legend out, in the Hebrides, on the east coast of Scotland, on the west coast of Ireland - places where magic co-exists with reality and pre-Christian traditions and beliefs somehow endure. He gives us here the fruits of his search as he found it, and tells us something of the men, women, and children from whom he heard the stories. He also tells of his own encounters with seals, and the dreamlike hold that these have had on him. The result is, in the words of his friend Seamus Heaney, a poetic achievement - a work of "intuitive understanding, perfect grace, and perfect pitch."