Jan Cameron
Jan Cameron has worked in therapeutic and community gardens for 40 years and has seen first-hand in many different contexts how gardening directly benefits our health. Jan has clocked up three years as a community education/youth worker; ten years working in residential school for distressed children; 25 years work in mental health training gardens and six years working in community gardens.
The Garden Cure, her first book, is set to be the primary resource on this important subject.
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This is a story of gardens and how people can grow well in them. Through a lifetime’s experience of award-winning work in community gardens and in mental health care and training, Cameron shows us how tending green spaces can bring tremendous benefits to mental health. Using the garden’s annual cycle, she reveals how stages of the growing year can act as a powerful metaphor and even mirror healing mechanisms that can help in times of distress, anxiety or depression. By exploring practices used in therapeutic and community garden settings we learn techniques that can be applied whatever your circumstances. The Garden Cure is full of ideas and tools that will help support your own and others’ physical and mental well-being, especially when life is challenging. How, in other words, gardening helps us all grow and thrive.
REVIEWS OF The Garden Cure
“A fantastic resource … Down to earth and powerful.” Julia Duncan, The Conservation Volunteers
“Full of inspiration with ideas and suggestions we can all use to carry us through these challenging times.” Jenny Mollison, The Scotsman
“Jan Cameron has distilled more than forty years of experience of working with groups in gardens and outdoors into a book full of wisdom and very sound advice … [The book is] as useful and as accessible to those who have mental health problems themselves as it is to those who guide them.” Reforesting Scotland Journal
“I would recommend The Garden Cure to both colleagues and users of the NHS. It explores both the therapeutic benefits and the joys of gardening. It captures and reflects on real people’s journeys, whilst exploring the relationship between wellness and illness … This book is an excellent reflection tool for anybody wishing to enhance lives by social prescribing.” Dr K Jones, Director, Salford Health Matters; Clinical Lead, Greater Manchester Training Hub (Dr Jones has been active in social prescribing at an allotment dedicated to this purpose since 2007)
“The Garden Cure is the book many community gardeners and anyone interested in gardening and good mental health have been waiting for … moving, insightful … Packed with real life stories and insights from the author's decades of experience working in the field … this book will be an invaluable read for anyone working alongside others in a garden setting …I will refer to it for many years to come.” Louisa Evans, Scotland Development Worker, Social Farms and Gardens
"Combines expertise and wisdom about gardening and mental health … an invaluable source of ideas and metaphors for anyone working in either field … offers stories of people for whom gardening proved lifesaving ... As GPs are exploring more options for social prescribing, this book provides good evidence to prescribe gardening." Dr Lesley Morrison, tutor, Edinburgh University Medical School and retired GP
"People involved in therapeutic and community gardens will find this book an invaluable guide to creating gardens and groups that offer maximum benefit to everyone involved. Both rookie and expert gardeners will see their vocation in a fascinating new light. For every reader, gardener or not, this book offers a wealth of profoundly thought-provoking ideas about what it means to be well and live well." Fiona Thackeray, Head of Operations & Development at Trellis Scotland
Fi Martynoga
Fi Martynoga is an environmental activist, journalist, museum researcher, and a renowned figure in Scottish nature, history, sustainability and food circles. She has several widely praised books to her name, including A Handbook of Scotland’s Wild Harvests, A Handbook of Scotland’s Trees, and A Handbook of Scotland’s Coasts.
A Handbook of Scotland’s Coasts
by Fi Martynoga
This handbook is an inspirational resource to help you discover the thousands of miles of Scotland’s spectacular coastline – from its stunning geology and diverse marine and bird life to its coastal history, culture and landmarks. Fishing ports, arts communities, clifftop castles, island hideaways, local legends: all have their place here.
With contributions from leading nature writer Jim Crumley, geologist Ronald Turnbull, historian Michael Kerrigan and sailor/poet Ian Stephen – a contemporary bard for our islands – Fi Martynoga adds her own expertise in foraging for seaweeds, shellfish and coastal plants, and exploring the rich flora of our shorelines, from dune grasses to wildflowers.
Whether you yearn to watch the sunset or swim from achingly beautiful coves, discover quirky highlights of island life or hints of a prehistoric past, or seek out otters or dolphins, this volume is your indispensable companion.
REVIEWS OF A Handbook of Scotland’s Coasts
"An essential guide to discovering more about the communities , wildlife and landmarks along the coastline" Scots Magazine
"A perfect primer … What makes the book so good is the breadth of material packed within it, combined with the depth of expertise of those sharing their knowledge … Scotland's coasts are an integral part of what makes this, in many people's eyes, the best small country in the world. This book will help you gain more from the experience of visiting and exploring them." Undiscovered Scotland
Dick Capel
Dick Capel was Countryside Manager for the East Cumbria Countryside Project from 1992 to 2008, during which time he commissioned the Goldsworthy Sheepfolds and the Eden Poetry Path as well as working on a variety of initiatives to protect the natural and built heritage of this unspoiled part of Cumbria.
He was previously a warden for the Nature Conservancy Council.
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SHORTLISTED: Lakeland Book of the Year 2021, The Striding Edge Prize for Landscapes and Traditions Nestled between the Pennines and the Lake District Fells, the beautiful Eden Valley combines lush green countryside, abundant wildlife in hedgerows and woodlands, fertile farmland, ancient landmarks, and historic market towns and villages. Much like the valley itself, this book is a meeting of the natural world, the people who inhabit it, and their stories, history and skills – traditional and modern. In The Stream Invites Us to Follow Dick Capel takes us on a series of introspective ramblings from the source of the river in Mallerstang to the Solway Firth at Carlisle. He follows the Poetry Path, the Eden Benchmarks and the Goldsworthy Sheepfolds, and ventures into history with enchanting stories of old churches, hidden artefacts, and signs of ancient cultivation. As a long-time countryside manager for the Eden Valley, few people know this area quite as intimately as Dick Capel – and even fewer have worked as hard to protect the natural and built heritage of this unspoiled part of Cumbria. Covering natural history, myth and legend, this is an unrivalled companion to an unspoiled gem of the English countryside.
Prizes and awards
SHORTLISTED: Lakeland Book of the Year 2021, The Striding Edge Prize for Landscapes and Traditions
REVIEWS OF The Stream Invites Us to Follow
“A fascinating meander … a thoughtful and observant account of the river’s journey, full of intriguing snippets of history, local myths and sightings of wildlife, as well as comments on land management and conservation issues … [and] some intriguing asides and revealing insights.” Yorkshire Dales Review
“A wonderful book” Helen Millican, BBC Cumbria
“A rich and interesting perspective on the landscape…In looking at the particular and the local, Dick’s writing illuminates the universal” Will Smith, Cumbria Life
Bob Gilbert
Bob Gilbert is the author of Ghost Trees and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Passion in Plants. Airing on BBC Radio 4, Mon 06 April – Fri 10 April at 9.45am.
Ghost Trees – an urban nature book telling the story of an East London borough through its trees, past and present – is out now.
Bob Gilbert is the author of The Green London Way (Lawrence & Wishart, 2012) and has written a column for Ham & High on urban wildlife for the last twenty years. A regular contributor to TV and radio, including Natural World and BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, Bob has also been a stand-up comedian, a long-standing campaigner for inner city conservation and chair of ‘The Garden Classroom’, a charity that promotes environmental education in London.
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LONGLISTED: Wainwright Golden Beer Prize 2019
LONGLISTED: Rathbones Folio Prize 2019
Even in the brick and concrete heart of our cities, nature finds a way. Birds and mammals, insects, plants and trees – they all manage to thrive in the urban jungle, and Bob Gilbert is their champion and their chronicler. He explores the hidden wildlife of the inner city and its edgelands, finding unexpected beauty in the cracks and crannies, and uncovering the deep and essential relationship that exists between people and nature when they are bound together in such close proximity. Beginning from Poplar, the East End area in which he lives, Bob explores, in particular, our relationship with the trees that have helped shape London; from the original wildwood through to the street trees of today. He draws from history and natural history, poetry and painting, myth and magic, and a great deal of walking, observing and listening. Beautifully written, passionate and defiant, Ghost Trees tells the secrets and stories of the urban wildscape, of glorious nature resilient and resurgent on our very doorsteps.
Prizes and awards
Wainwright Prize, 2019 Longlist; Rathbones Folio Prize, 2019 Longlist
REVIEWS OF Ghost Trees
“Ghost Trees is a reflective book, about personal reaction and engagement. Reading it is like spending time with a knowledgeable uncle who is keen to share his enthusiasms.” Jeremy Crump, Living Maps
“One of the best non-fiction books about London. Bob Gilbert’s gifted style of writing [and] simple, clear but hilarious storytelling helps to make this secret life of trees an unlikely page-turner.” The Londonist
“Absorbing.” Bookseller
“Its tone warm and its content wide-ranging, Ghost Trees spans history and social history, folklore, religion and walking as well as nature – but Gilbert wears his vast knowledge lightly and shares it engagingly and entertainingly.” Clare Wadd, Caught by the River
“Informative, enjoyable, enchanting. A book that, in the best sense, educates. It is well written with the occasional alliterative poetic cast. It is a book full of delights which makes one look again, achieving the mystic’s gift of seeing the ordinary as anything but.” Kevin Scully, Church Times
“This is the book for those that enjoy a…mix of learned natural history, historical anecdotes and dry humour.” Angus Hanton, Living Woods
“A spirited defence of the importance of recognising nature in our cities. This is a lyrical book of great imaginative scope … filled with fascinating nuggets of information.” Country and Town House
‘A joyous hymn to the urban wild and a clarion call for better – greener, wilder – cities.’ Patrick Barkham (author and naturalist)
“Ghost Trees maps in fascinating detail how the trees planted in Poplar have defined each of its contrasting epochs: from the mulberry and apple orchards of the 18th century to the grand ¬avenues of London planes and limes of the Victorian era.” Joe Shute, Sunday Telegraph
“Warm, rich and fascinating… [Gilbert] is a generous guide, with a deep knowledge of plant life and a fine turn of phrase.” Jon Day, Guardian
“Informative, enjoyable, enchanting. A book that, in the best sense, educates. It is well written with the occasional alliterative poetic cast. It is a book full of delights which makes one look again, achieving the mystic’s gift of seeing the ordinary as anything but.” Kevin Scully, Church Times
“Ghost Trees will awaken any Londoner to the plants that cling on in the city’s cracks.” Guardian: Books of the Year
“Lyrical and beautifully evocative … in a language as rich and lilting as the contours of the estuarine land … A delight.” Richard Jones, BBC Countryfile magazine
Jim Crumley
Jim Crumley is the author of more than forty books, mostly on the wildlife and wild landscape of his native Scotland, many of them making the case for species reintroductions, or ‘rewilding’. His Seasons series, a quartet of books exploring the wildlife and landscapes and how climate change is affecting our environment across the four seasons, is highly acclaimed. The Nature of Autumn was longlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2017 and shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize 2017. The third in the series, The Nature of Spring, was Radio 4’s Book of the Week. The Nature of Summer, was shortlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize. The Eagle’s Way was shortlisted for a prestigious Saltire Society award, and his Encounters in the Wild series – which sees Jim get up close and personal with Britain’s favourite animals – has found him many new readers. He has written about the return of the beaver to the UK’s wetlands in Nature’s Architect, and his most recent title is Lakeland Wild, his first to focus entirely on an English landscape. Lakeland Wild was longlisted for the 2022 Lakeland Book of the Year prize. Jim is also a poet, an occasional broadcaster on both radio and television and a widely published journalist who wrote columns for the Dundee Courier for many years and has a monthly column in The Scots Magazine.
The Seasons quartet is now available in one handsome hardback edition, Seasons of Storm and Wonder.
The Nature of Summer
by Jim Crumley
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SHORTLISTED: Highland Book Prize
Larks cling to their slender columns of song held aloft on warm summer winds a dozen to an acre …
In the abiding light of summer, the nature in Jim Crumley’s heartlands of Scotland is burgeoning freely. Seals sing, brown hares bound, dragonflies dance. His silent vigils reveal not only an enchanting account of summer’s exuberant profusion, but the unfolding climate chaos. From declining puffin populations to the demise of entire glaciers, this is a world in crisis … and of everyday miracles on land, mountains, lochs, coasts and skies.
Jim Crumley’s intimate portraits branch out beyond the heart of the Highlands to memories of summers past: from kittiwake cliffs in far-flung St Kilda to the pure wilderness of Arctic Norway, where sea eagles rule. The Nature of Summer explores what is at stake as our seasons are pushed beyond nature’s limits.
Prizes and awards
SHORTLISTED: Highland Book Prize
REVIEWS OF The Nature of Summer
“Scotland’s foremost living nature writer” Dundee Courier
“The very essence of nature writing in Scotland today … poetically meditative, moving … a powerful message.” Dundee Courier, Book of the Week.
“A mesmerising blend of observation and in-depth knowledge about our wild landscapes … every bit as compelling and thought-provoking as its predecessors ... no better book to lose yourself in.” Herald
"This is a work of pure escapism as the throb of spring gives way to the reflective calm of our warmest months. Crumley’s writing effortlessly captures the majesty of a golden eagle eyrie, the magic of beavers returning to their old habitats, and the joy that arrives with a flock of whooper swans overhead … The perfect finale to this evocative seasonal collection" Tiffany Francis-Baker, BBC Wildlife Magazine
“[A] beautiful book … [an] exceptional and intense quality of observation glows from every page … He finds astonishing beauty in the landscape, and sheer wonder in his encounters … Nothing can diminish the sharpness of his eye, the ardour of his writing, and the pure wonder at the natural world that shapes every paragraph … A wisdom that we need now, more than ever before.” Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
Claire MacLeary
Claire MacLeary lived for many years in Aberdeen and St Andrews, but describes herself as “a feisty Glaswegian with a full life to draw on”. Following a career in business, she gained an MLitt with Distinction from the University of Dundee and her short stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies. She has appeared at Granite Noir, Noir at the Bar and other literary events.
Claire’s crime series, Harcus & Laird, has been recieved with wide acclaim. Her debut novel and the first in the series, Cross Purpose, was longlisted for the prestigious McIlvanney Prize, Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award 2017. Burnout was longlisted for the Hearst Big Book Award 2018. Runaway, her third novel, was published in 2019. Payback is Claire’s fourth novel and continues the Harcus & Laird series.
In Death Drop, the fifth Harcus & Laird novel, PIs Maggie and Wilma find themselves chasing leads on several fronts, including a missing Aberdeen schoolchild and the fallout from a disturbing hanging with a backstory of secrets and lies. Death Drop is out in July 2022.
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When the body of Aberdeen socialite Annabel Imray is discovered at her home, the police are under pressure to come up with answers – and fast. The last thing they want is the distraction of a series of baffling break-ins.
The victims, all of them women, are terrorised: just how did the intruder know so much about them? Meanwhile, local PIs Maggie Laird and Wilma Harcus are at rock bottom, their bills mounting. As Maggie prepares to sell her home and contemplates dissolving the agency, Wilma goes off-piste to get a loan. But when the clock starts ticking on repayment, she realises the price is too high. And before long, Maggie herself is in grave danger. Wilma fears the worst. Can she find her before it’s too late?
Payback is the fourth thriller in the Harcus & Laird series.
REVIEWS OF Payback
‘Time spent in the company of Maggie Laird and Wilma Harcus is never wasted … Claire MacLeary has a canny way with light and shade. Her books are not afraid to deal with dark and gritty subject matter, yet she manages to inject a degree of humour into them so that … we find ourselves laughing as often as we gasp at developments … Aberdeen springs to life in her vivid settings’ Live and Deadly
“A well written, excellently executed book. Dark, dangerous and full of suspense. If you enjoy detective drama this one is for you.” Cen-sational Reads
'Claire MacLeary has, with little fuss or fanfare, written a crime series that subverts and rejuvenates the crime genre' Scots Whay Hae
"Gripping…a real page-turner." Charlotte’s Pick
"Two fabulous, feisty, funny, ballsy and brave women of a certain age. It's fantastic to see two such well-drawn, engaging and entertaining female protagonists … Payback was a joy to read." Suze Reviews
"Payback is another fantastic addition to this series … With each page I turned I felt myself getting pulled in further and further … I’m really excited to see where we are taken next on Maggie and Wilma’s journey." It’s all about the books
"Horribly, hilariously entertaining … the complex … frightening story that emerges is a satisfying end to the novel … two feisty women whom we certainly hope to meet again." Rosemary Kaye
Helen Moat
Helen Moat is the author of A Time of Birds (Saraband, 2020), a travelogue of her journey across Europe, by bike, with her teenage son. She has also written multiple travel guides and is a regular contributor to Derbyshire Life, BBC Countryfile magazine, Wanderlu
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In A Time of Birds Helen Moat sets out to cycle across Europe, with her teenage son, on her sit-up-and-beg bike – aka ‘The Tank’. She’s not sure whether she is running away from the past or pedalling towards it. As she cycles the Rhine and Danube through the days of unfolding spring, the sky filled with birdsong, she senses her bird-loving father is by her side. Increasingly, she loses herself in her surroundings and memories of a childhood spent in the outdoors of rural Northern Ireland. Gradually, the natural beauty of Europe’s great waterways bring healing, as does the kindness of friends and strangers along the way. She feels a sense of belonging on a continent shaped by war and peace, peoples divided and reunited, a shared history. But when the birdsong fades across the parched, late summer landscapes of Bulgaria and Turkey, Helen finds herself recalling the Troubles and confronting a suppressed secret. This is her life-affirming account of an unforgettable, if sometimes bumpy ride.
REVIEWS OF A Time of Birds
“[A] wonderful narrative … harrowing and inspiring by rapid turns … Indispensable, heart-breaking, uplifting, beautifully-conceived and -written.” NI Arts Council
“Slow travel at its best.” Paul Cheney
“A perfect read for these times of isolation … a fantastic book.” John Toal, BBC Radio Ulster
“Lyrical and immediate … a reflective travel narrative about a bike tour through Europe, noting its histories of upheaval and change.” Wendy Hinman, Foreword Reviews
“A moving and thought-provoking set of meditations … detailed, vivid and lyrical” Patricia Carswell, WI magazine
“Glorious … an inspiring adventure … humorous encounters and joyful times.” Tom Chesshyre, Daily Mail
"There is more than one journey in this lovely, engrossing, book ... beautifully told, vivid in its colours and characters ... the prose twinkles and sparkles like birdsong ... a reminder of the healing power of nature, humanity and the active joy of slow, self-powered movement." Dead Deer blog
"This wonderful narrative of her epic mid-life trek across Europe with her son to Istanbul is harrowing and inspiring by rapid turns ... this pretty spectacular account of her childhood upbringing, 20 years after the Belfast Agreement, joins the small but potent library shelf of Brethren 'survivor diaries' on which sit such as Edmund Gosse's Father and Son and our own Max Wright's Told In Gath. Indispensable, heart-breaking, uplifting, beautifully-conceived and -written, Moat's contribution is of that standard." Damian Smyth, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
“Ideal reading for vicarious armchair travellers … rich in emotional flashbacks and keen observations … Moat is an exquisite stylist. Her unhurried, free-flowing narrative captivates the reader from the very first sentence … a thoroughly unputdownable travel book.” Vitali Vitaliev, Engineering & Technology Magazine
“Glorious … an inspiring adventure … humorous encounters and joyful times.” Tom Chesshyre, Daily Mail
“A perfect read for these times of isolation … a fantastic book.” John Toal, BBC Radio Ulster
“A stand-out work of honesty and integrity, loss and hope.” Alan Brown
“A prayer of a book. A hymn to the healing power of cycling slow.” Chris Dolan
Sue Lawrence
Sue Lawrence is the author of several historical thrillers that cast fascinating light on the perils and injustice that characterised women’s lives in Scotland through centuries past – whether born into penniless or powerful families: Lady’s Rock, The Green Lady, The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange, Down to the Sea, The Night He Left and Fields of Blue Flax. She is also one of the UK’s leading cookery writers and broadcasters. Having trained as a journalist, she won BBC’s MasterChef in 1991 and became a food writer, Cookery Editor of the Sunday Times and a regular contributor to Scotland on Sunday and many leading magazines, and she appears frequently on BBC Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet. Born in Dundee, she was raised in Edinburgh, where she now lives. She has won two Guild of Food Writers Awards and a Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award and is the author of more than 20 books.
The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange
by Sue Lawrence
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Edinburgh, January 1732: It is Lady Grange’s funeral. Her death is a shock: still young, she’d shown no signs of ill health. But Rachel is, in fact, alive and (mostly) well. She’s been brutally kidnapped by the man who has falsified her death – her husband of 25 years, a pillar of society with whom she has raised a family. Her punishment, perhaps, for railing against his infidelity – or for uncovering evidence of his treasonable plottings against the government. Whether to conceal his Jacobite leanings, or simply to ‘replace’ a wife with a long-time mistress, Lord Grange banishes Rachel to the remote Hebridean Monach Isles, from where she’s removed again to distant St Kilda, far into the Atlantic – to an isolated life of primitive conditions, with no shared language – somewhere she can never be found. This is the incredible and gripping story of a woman who has until now been remembered mostly by her husband’s unflattering account. Sue Lawrence reconstructs a remarkable tale of how the real Lady Grange may have coped with such a dramatic fate, with courage and grace.
REVIEWS OF The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange
“A compelling narrative … fitting current trends in historical fiction, where women’s history is centralised and new light shed on their position in the past … An enjoyable read.” Historical Novels Review
“An imaginative telling of an extraordinary true story, played out against a wild landscape in unforgiving times.” Sarah Maine
“A superlative page-turner” Rosemary Kaye
“The wronged lady finally has her say … One of the strangest and most disturbing stories to have emerged from Scotland’s Jacobite past.” The Times
'A fascinating historical novel... utterly compelling... a book we'd highly recommend.' Undiscovered Scotland
'Swept me along breathlessly... The cruelty and complexity of eighteenth-century Scottish society is richly represented.' Dr Annie Gray
'From the Jacobite intrigues of eighteenth-century Edinburgh to Scotland's dark and sea-battered islands, Lady Grange's life is one of eye-popping incident. An amazing story.' Sally Magnusson
Mandy Haggith
Mandy Haggith lives in Assynt in the northwest Highlands of Scotland, where she combines writing with sailing, environmental activism and teaching – she is a lecturer in literature and creative writing at the University of the Highlands and Islands. Her first novel, The Last Bear, won the Robin Jenkins Literary Award for environmental writing in 2009. Bear Witness was published in 2013 and Into the Forest followed shortly after.
The Lyre Dancers is her fifth novel and the third in the Stone Stories trilogy, which began with The Walrus Mutterer (2018), longlisted for the Highland Book Prize, and continued with The Amber Seeker (2019).
Mandy is also the author of three poetry collections, a non-fiction book and numerous essays, and the editor of a poetry anthology.
The Lyre Dancers
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Northern Britain, c. 300 BC. Former slave, indomitable survivor and now matriarch Rian returns with her daughters to her Celtic homeland and navigates changing fortunes from plundered riches and feuding warlords to betrayals and menacing curses. But when a disaster befalls her older daughter mirroring the cruellest events in Rian’s own past, Rian finds herself conflicted. A beautifully written, engrossing tale, The Lyre Dancers takes place in a richly imagined world that, despite its distance from our own times, is peopled with readily identifiable characters whose emotions and circumstances we relate to instantly. Haggith’s innovative, widely praised research is worn lightly in a powerful narrative that challenges our modern views of family, gender roles and our place in the environment. Above all, the storytelling soars as grudges, peril and passions take their turn across the pages of this early Celtic saga.
REVIEWS OF The Lyre Dancers
“A beautifully woven conclusion to a fascinating trilogy of ancient adventures … Haggith has worked to extensive lengths to breathe life into an age that has long been forgotten … she approaches [the] story with eloquence that makes the reading itself an adventure of its own.” Charlie Ceats, Cultured Vultures
"Convincing, provocative … evoked with lyrical detail … triumphantly draws together all the threads … while successfully eluding any simplistic resolution." Margaret Elphinstone, Northwords Now
Olga Wojtas
Olga Wojtas is an unconventional – and witty – writer of cosy crime fiction whose surrealist humour has been compared to the likes of P.G. Wodehouse, Jasper Fforde, Blackadder and the Marx Brothers. She was born and brought up in Edinburgh, where she attended James Gillespie’s High School – the model for the Marcia Blaine School for Girls (in Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). Olga won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2014, and has amassed an impressive following for the Miss Blaine’s Prefect series, as well as several award nominations. A journalist for more than 30 years, Olga was Scottish editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement before she began adding creative writing to her portfolio.
Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace
by Olga Wojtas
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SHORTLISTED: CrimeFest Last Laugh Award, 2021
LONGLISTED: Comedy Women in Print Prize, 2020
The intrepid librarian Shona McMonagle, erstwhile Marcia Blaine Academy prefect and an accomplished linguist and martial artist, finds herself in an isolated French mountain village, Sans-Soleil, which has no sunlight because of its topography. It’s reeling from a spate of unexplained deaths, and Shona has once again travelled back in time to help out.
Forging an uneasy alliance with newly widowed Madeleine, Shona is soon drawn into a full-blown vampire hunt, involving several notable villagers, the world-renowned soprano Mary Garden – and even Count Dracula himself. Will Shona solve the mystery, secure justice for the murder victims and make it through a deathly denouement in the hall of mirrors to return to present-day Morningside Library?
Cover for first edition. Still distributing whilst stocks last.
Prizes and awards
LONGLISTED: Comedy Women in Print Prize, 2020
SHORTLISTED: CrimeFest Last Laugh Award, 2021
REVIEWS OF Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace
“A thoroughly enjoyable romp.” York Press: Book of the Week
"The genius of Olga Wojtas’ writing is that she is able to combine fact and fiction to delightful effect." Live and Deadly
“Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace is so clever, hugely enjoyable and absolutely hilarious.” Portobello Book Blog
“I couldn’t wait to be reunited with this character. I utterly love her company. So funny, so brisk, and above all, so well educated! More, more, more, please.” Lynne Truss
“The plot is engaging and keeps you turning the page … it is the journey itself that is the reward. Highly recommended.” Undiscovered Scotland
“Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace is a marvellous romp through history, myth, and legend, and delights by playing with all of these … often impish and wry … rip-roaring, genuinely thrilling, and laugh-out-loud funny.” Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae
“Effortlessly blends together a number of genres … Smart, funny and all-round good company, wherever Shona goes, readers will eagerly follow.” Rhona Shennan, Scotsman
“Audacious … witty and fun.” Alastair Mabbott, Herald
