Book picks similar to
The Waves Burn Bright by Iain Maloney
fiction
scottish
under-100-ratings
contemporary-novels
Head for the Edge, Keep Walking
Kate Tough - 2014
Adrift at thirty-four, no-one does 'lost' quite like Jill. Wry, witty, resilient but bewildered, she's left asking, 'What does it take to stay sane in this life? And why does it look easier for everyone else?'Her nine-year relationship is over. She swaps one so-so job for another. She gets drunk with off-beat friends and internet dates with mixed results... Then life is flipped on its head by some shocking news. But average 'chic fiction' this ain't! There's nothing average about Jill and her distinctive, savagely honest voice; with sentences you'll want to read and re-read for their lyrical, original language and ringing clarity. An exploration of modern friendships and relationships, Jill's voice will penetrate and have you analysing your own life choices through her lens!When events take Jill to the edge - will tip herself over or turn things around and keep walking?
Justifiable Deceit
Mikael Carlson - 2020
A year later, he has become the country’s leading gun control activist and a media darling.When Ethan teams up with a powerful senator to push an extreme gun measure through Congress, a divided America watches the political fireworks in Washington. As both sides of the debate mobilize for an epic showdown, the public is about to discover that everything they know about the massacre that launched this movement may be wrong.Journalist Tierra Campos and FBI Special Agent Victoria Larsen begin questioning the official investigation into the shooting and find themselves caught in the political crossfire. Despite public condemnation, covert activities, and physical violence meant to stop them, they remain undaunted in their quest – but at what price? With their careers threatened and livelihoods at stake, they must race to unlock the secrets behind this horrible mass shooting before the truth disappears forever. Amidst the maelstrom of political agendas, personal vendettas, and brash cover-ups, the push to uncover the real motives behind the tragedy will have devastating consequences. When the dust settles, a shocked nation must make a fateful judgment: do the ends justify the means in politics, or is there no such thing as Justifiable Deceit?
The River Is Home
Patrick D. Smith - 2012
It is the story of Skeeter, a young boy growing up in a family poor in material goods but rich in the appreciation of their natural surroundings. The river they live on is the source of life—and death.
The Homecoming
Anna Smith - 2004
Nonetheless in this close community friendships go deep and the pub of an evening is a cheery place, at least until too much drink is taken. Fifteen years ago, Joe McBride left Westerbank under a cloud, and in his absence life has moved on, the secrets he took with him disturbing only occasionally those who were caught up in them. But now Joe McBride is coming home, a changed man, and one who needs to face up to the past before it's too late. The truth about the mysterious death of a young girl fifteen years ago is about to come out, and nothing in Westerbank will ever be quite the same again.
Jimmy Jazz
Roddy Doyle - 2013
Jimmy Rabbitte hates jazz, always has. But his wife Aiofe loves it, and Jimmy loves Aiofe. So when, in attempt to convert him, she buys him two tickets for a Keith Jarrett concert he decides to take Outspan, former member of Jimmy's band The Commitments, who has come back into his life after a chance meeting in the cancer clinic. Jarrett is famous for being intolerant of any noise at all - a cough, a sneeze, a wheeze - from the audience, stopping playing and shaming the perpetrator. And Outspan's diagnosis is lung cancer, it's pretty bad, and he needs an oxygen cylinder to breathe properly.Will Outspan create havoc? Will Jimmy learn to love jazz at last?
The Truth About Murder
Chris Collett - 2019
A MISSING WOMAN. THEN A MURDER. Stefan Greaves wakes up from a coma. He was brutally mugged while investigating a complaint about a local hospital. The woman who visited the law firm where Stefan worked had feared something very sinister was going on in the hospital’s postnatal ward. Now she has disappeared. Rookie policeman, Mick Fraser interviews Stefan. Mick’s new partner Denny Sutton is a cynical man with secrets of his own. They try to track down the missing woman. Then a body is found on the riverbank. HOW ARE THESE CRIMES LINKED AND WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON IN THE POLICE STATION?
The Casebook of Inspector Blackstone
Sally Spencer - 2017
Yet to Inspector Sam Blackstone, the case is as puzzling as any he has ever come across. As his investigation proceeds, Blackstone finds himself entering the world of the aristocracy and tramping the dangerous streets of London's Little Russia, where English law and order are not welcome. So begins the illustrious career of the talented inspector, who earns the equal ire and respect of his superiors for his controversial tactics. Absorbing in their detailed depictions of the period, gripping in their ingenious plots, this trilogy of historical whodunnits is the perfect box set for any mystery-lover. Praise for Sally Spencer 'Spencer's finest hour: a tightly plotted puzzler with surprises at every turn' – Kirkus Reviews 'Spencer is an accomplished craftsman who serves up a good puzzle and deftly solves it with intelligence and insight' – Publishers Weekly Sally Spencer worked as a teacher both in England and Iran - where she witnessed the fall of the Shah. She now writes full time.
The Lady in the Veil
Leah Fleming - 2015
It must have been sitting on the garage shelf for years among all the other family rejects.'When a woman finds a lost photo album in a garage clearout, she is drawn to the images of her ancestors. But one image in particular stands out: a baby sitting in the lap of its mother, both draped from head to toe in a cotton lace curtain or something, completely enveloped and unrecognizable. Who are they and what has happened to them?In a story that moves between 2012 and 1850, the shocking secrets of one family are gradually revealed …
In the Matter of Michael Vogel
Drew Yanno - 2013
At first, the townspeople accept the initial ruling of an accidental drowning, despite the fact that the boy's body wasn’t discovered when the lifeguards searched the pool earlier in the day after his sister reported him missing. However, when an autopsy reveals an unanticipated result, it sets in motion a search for a killer, in a town unaccustomed to murder. The story is told from the perspective of three members of the community: a twelve year old boy with a future he hopes to avoid; a sheriff with a past he longs to forget; and a forty year old bachelor with a secret he wants desperately to protect. Their stories all come together in a stunning and heart-stopping conclusion that helps to provide each of them a measure of redemption.Librarian please note:This is an alternate cover edition. The original ISBN numbers are:ISBN10 - 0615757588ISBN13 - 9780615757582
The Life She Was Given
Ellen Marie Wiseman - 2017
On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn't allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She's never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists it's for Lilly's own protection, that people would be afraid if they saw her. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time--and sold to the circus sideshow. More than two decades later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents' estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place full of strict rules and forbidden rooms, and she hopes that returning might erase those painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl. At first, The Barlow Brothers' Circus is just another prison for Lilly. But in this rag-tag, sometimes brutal world, Lilly discovers strength, friendship, and a rare affinity for animals. Soon, thanks to elephants Pepper and JoJo and their handler, Cole, Lilly is no longer a sideshow spectacle but the circus's biggest attraction. . .until tragedy and cruelty collide. It will fall to Julia to learn the truth about Lilly's fate and her family's shocking betrayal, and find a way to make Blackwood Manor into a place of healing at last. Moving between Julia and Lilly's stories, Ellen Marie Wiseman portrays two extraordinary, very different women in a novel that, while tender and heartbreaking, offers moments of joy and indomitable hope.
Luisa: The Final Chapter of A Jewish Family Saga
Roberta Kagan - 2021
An Unlamented Death
William Savage - 2015
Adam Bascom trips over a body in Gressington churchyard, he never imagines it will change the whole direction of his life. As a recently-qualified physician trying to establish a practice in a small market town in north Norfolk, Adam should be devoting all his energy to his business. But it soon becomes clear that the authorities are intent on making sure the death is accepted as an accident and refuse any deeper investigation. Adam’s curiosity and sense of justice cannot accept this. He knows there are many unanswered questions about the death, but he has no standing that would allow him to become involved formally. Instead, he uses friends, old and new, unexpected contacts and even his own mother to help him get to the truth. Set against the turbulence of late-Georgian England, a country on the brink of war with Revolutionary France, the book reveals a land where spies keep constant watch on everyone the government deems ‘undesirable’, religion is polarised between the established church and a mass of dissenting sects, and the perennial ‘Irish question’ has at last spilled over into outright terrorism. Bad weather, poor harvests and enclosure have driven many people in the countryside into abject poverty. Only the smugglers along the coast offer regular and highly-paid ‘work’ helping to unload contraband. Yet here too, the Revenue’s Riding Officers, backed up by troops of dragoons, are waging an increasingly successful campaign to stamp out the major gangs. Adam must thread his way through all of this, encountering many new demands along the way, from a family torn apart by religious bigotry, and a teenage thief turned informer, to a secret section of The Alien Office, a government department dedicated to keeping a close eye on anyone likely to prove a threat to the realm. As he becomes more and more essential to the government’s efforts to combat internal dissension and prepare for war, Adam finds he must draw on all his medical and personal skills to bring the case to a successful conclusion.
Winter Rage
John Legg - 2016
Leander Melton thought could lead his pack of greenhorn would-be trappers into the mountains. And deep in Blackfoot territory, Squire must teach the youths to face the ways of survival, the rage of the Blackfeet, the cunning of a traitor — and what it means to be a mountain man.
Reluctantly Home
Imogen Clark - 2021
But then a tragic accident stops her life in its tracks, and in an instant everything changes. Retreating to her family’s rural farm and the humble origins she has been trying to hide, Pip is haunted by what she has done.When she discovers the diary of actress Evelyn Mountcastle in a box of old books, Pip revels in the opportunity to lose herself in someone else’s life rather than focus on the disaster that is her own. But soon she sees parallels—Evelyn’s life was also beset by tragedy, and, like Pip, she returned to Southwold under a dark cloud.When Pip and Evelyn’s paths cross in real life they slowly begin to reveal the hidden stories that are holding them back. Can they help each other forgive what happened in the past and, perhaps, find happiness in the future?
The Sewing Machine
Natalie Fergie - 2017
For her, nothing will be the same again. Decades later, in Edinburgh, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook, as her mother did before her. More than 100 years after his grandmother’s sewing machine was made, Fred discovers a treasure trove of documents. His family history is laid out before him in a patchwork of unfamiliar handwriting and colourful seams. He starts to unpick the secrets of four generations, one stitch at a time.