David Howe
David Howe OBE is a retired academic who has studied both Earth sciences social sciences. He has written books on psychology, relationships and social work. His passions include walking, popular science, and writing. He is the author of two previous non-fiction books, including Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance: The Landscape, History and People of the Lake District and Extraction to Extinction.
Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance
The Landscape, History and People of the Lake District
by David Howe
David Howe tells the story of the Lake District, England’s most dramatic landscape. Home to vistas of stunning beauty and a rich heritage, it is an area of England that fascinates, inspires – and has bewitched David for a lifetime.
With passion and an endless curiosity, he reveals how half a billion years of shifting ice, violent volcanoes and (of course) falling rain have shaped the lakes and fells that have fired the imaginations of the great sons and daughters of the area, the poets and the scientists. He shows that Lakeland is a seamless web where lives and landscape weave together, where the ancient countryside has created a unique local history: of farming and mining, of tightknit communities, of a resilient and proud people.
The Lake District is a place of rocks and rain, reason and romance, wonder and curiosity. And this book celebrates it all: the very character of Cumbria.
REVIEWS OF Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance
"Chapters on mountains, ice and lakes, on farming and national parks and Wainwright … set against Cumbria’s wider cultural importance … very accessible … [yet] holds a considerable weight of authority." Country Life
"Interesting … links the landscape with the scientists, the Romantic poets and other notable residents [of the Lake District] … forensic details of the geology and geomorphology of the Lakes … detailed biographies on the lives and loves of the Romantic poets." BBC Countryfile Magazine
"An ambitious and enjoyable biography of a landscape." Cumbria Life, Book of the Month
"Affectionately written … a ramble through the Lake District … elegiac … a reflection on the transience of life and beauty." Workington Times and Star
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 Spring
by Jim Crumley
A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, from the author of the Wainwright Prize-longlisted The Nature of Autumn Spring is nature’s season of rebirth and rejuvenation. Earth’s northern hemisphere tilts towards the sun, winter yields to intensifying light and warmth, and a wild, elemental beauty transforms the Highland landscape and a repertoire of islands from Colonsay to Lindisfarne. Jim Crumley chronicles the wonder, tumult and spectacle of that transformation, but he shows too that it is no Wordsworthian idyll that unfolds. Climate chaos brings unwanted drama to the lives of badger and fox, seal and seabird and raptor, pine marten and sand martin. Jim lays bare the impact of global warming and urges us all towards a more daring conservation vision that embraces everything from the mountain treeline to a second spring for the wolf.
REVIEWS OF The Nature of Spring
"Delightful … The lyrical prose elevates Crumley’s detailed descriptions of the natural world he encounters … Readers will be transported by this immersive outing." Publishers Weekly
"Nature writer and poet Jim Crumley returns with a third volume of close observations [and] charts the arrival of spring, from the February song of a mistle thrush to May’s drowsy warmth. Crumley quotes Margiad Evans – ‘Write in the very now where you find yourself’ – and takes her advice to heart." New Statesman
"There are books that transport us and Jim Crumley’s ode to spring takes us there on the wings of a sea eagle … Exquisitely observed … uplifting and disquieting … Crumley’s masterful words take you into the canvas of nature as into the work of a grand master … The joy, the passion, the complete understanding Jim has for his world is a portal. The world on our doorstep." Scottish Book of the Week, The Courier
"This thought-inducing paean to nature brings the issues of the natural world to the forefront … Crumley writes movingly about the season of rebirth and transformation which sees the hibernators awaken and the daffodils rise. A wonderful read." Kirstin Tait, Scottish Field
"A fantastic writer … exquisite observations of details in the landscape as well as sweeping vistas … remarkable." Ben Hoare, BBC Countryfile magazine
"Compelling … Radical … Crumley writes of the creatures and landscape before him like a James Guthrie or Landseer of print … He could be Ali Smith’s naturalist twin." Rosemary Goring, Scottish Review of Books
"Beautifully written … thoughtful and thought-provoking … Jim Crumley does not shy away from the important issues facing the natural world [in] a book you’d like to think could have real influence on the world we live in." Undiscovered Scotland
J. David Simons
J. David Simons is a Scottish author, media journalist and literary editor. His first novel, The Credit Draper, was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize, and his subsequent novels include The Liberation of Celia Kahn (2011), The Land Agent (2014), A Woman of Integrity (2017), The Responsibility of Love (2021), as well as An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful (new edition published in 2023). He has been awarded several bursaries from Creative Scotland and the Society of Authors and in 2012 was the recipient of a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship.
Simons is also a former lawyer, charity administrator, cotton farmer and university lecturer. His nomadic lifestyle has allowed him to spend considerable time in Israel, Australia, Japan and the United States, and he currently lives in Javea, Spain.
A Woman of Integrity
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A beautiful novel about one woman’s obsession with the life of a silent movie star as she struggles to accept life’s compromises.
Finding herself to be on the wrong side of fifty for a female film star, Laura Scott’s career is on the slide. She has an opportunity to reverse this downward spiral when she is offered the starring role in a one-woman play about the life and loves of Hollywood silent screen actress turned pioneering pilot, Georgie Hepburn.
Laura jumps at the chance for Georgie is someone she has admired for her courage and integrity ever since she was a child. But as Laura discovers more about Georgie, she realises there is always a price to pay for integrity – in her own life as well as Georgie’s.
Acclaimed author J David Simons’ fifth novel, this is a subtle and complex exploration of a creative life and the challenges faced when a person’s desire to be authentic comes under pressure.
REVIEWS OF A Woman of Integrity
'A Woman of Integrity is an impressive read from an experienced pen. Beautifully textured Simons' elegiac prose is written with an admirable confidence' Lisa O'Donnell, winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize, author of The Death of Bees and Closed Doors
A Woman of Integrity introduces us to Laura, an actor no longer in the limelight. As Laura's life unravels, a parallel story comes alive through the memoirs of the feisty reclusive silent film star-turned-photographer, Georgie Hepburn, now deceased. As Laura finds out more about Georgie, her life begins to change. A wonderfully readable, well-researched and at times humorous exploration of two women's lives, loves and experiences in the 20th and 21st centuries.' Lisa Ballantyne, author of The Guilty One and Redemption Road
'Laura Scott and Georgina Hepburn are surely real people - so brightly do their passions and complexities burn. From Highgate to Hollywood, and across generations, J David Simons makes troubled, fascinating women speak to each other, and us, about ageing, flawed idols, movies, and theatreland in a rollicking, cleverly connected and thoroughly satisfying plot. Like Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding got together and wrote a postmodern comedy of manners together - with a captivating historical backstory and stardust thrown in. J David Simons is hilarious and insightful.' Rachel Holmes, author of Eleanor Marx: A Life and co-editor of Fifty Shades of Feminism
'The desire to be true to yourself and to an unshakeable set of values lies at the heart of J David Simons' precisely crafted novel in which he delicately plaits the fortunes of two women… There is a great deal of discipline and rigour in his writing; no chapter is more than a few pages long, and yet he offers enough plot and emotional heft to move everything forward and contribute to a growing sense of a bigger picture. His technique ultimately pays dividends as the twin stories gather towards a resolution that is cleverly handled and satisfying. A Woman Of Integrity is a very civilised, pleasingly unsentimental novel in which Simons confidently assumes the mantle of Elizabeth Taylor in creating nuanced, soul-searching tales of women that are propelled by moral dilemmas and the struggle for self-realisation.' Herald
'...well-written, strong women… I found myself completely taken in with the rhythm of the sentences I was reading… a lovely piece of well-crafted fiction.' -- Erynn Loves Books; 'A Woman of Integrity reveals the choices made by two exceptional women, exceptional by staying true to themselves. Not all decisions were correct, many life changing. Both Laura and Georgie determined what was meaningful in defining them as strong, resilient women. An excellent well written tome worthy of more than a 5 star rating!' NetGalley
'I devoured A Woman of Integrity over the weekend. It's a hard book to put down. […] This is a delicious, hugely enjoyable read and deserves to be a bestseller. If anyone asks me for holiday recommendations, it'll come top of the list. Pacy, full of great characters, with multiple twists and surprises, it's brilliant for the beach or if you need cheering up.' David Belbin, author of the Bone and Cane series
Amanda Thomson
Amanda Thomson is a visual artist and writer who teaches at the Glasgow School of Art. She graduated with a first from Glasgow School of Art and has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her arts-based PhD, from UHI/ the University of Aberdeen, is about the forests of Abernethy and Morayshire. Her artwork is often about notions of home, movement and migration, landscapes and how places come to be made. She lives and works in Glasgow and in Strathspey. A Scots Dictionary of Nature is her first book.
A Scots Dictionary of Nature
Scotland is a nation of dramatic weather and breathtaking landscapes – of nature resplendent. And, over the centuries, the people who have lived, explored and thrived in this country have developed a rich language to describe their surroundings: a uniquely Scottish lexicon shaped by the very environment itself.
A Scots Dictionary of Nature brings together – for the first time – the deeply expressive vocabulary customarily used to describe land, wood, weather, birds, water and walking in Scotland.
Artist Amanda Thomson collates and celebrates these traditional Scots words, which reveal ways of seeing and being in the world that are in danger of disappearing forever. What emerges is a vivid evocation of the nature and people of Scotland, past and present; of lives lived between the mountains and the sky.
REVIEWS OF A Scots Dictionary of Nature
"So good." Robert Macfarlane
"Full of words and expressions which…[are] ripe for reappropriation." Scotsman
"A reminder of how easily the beauty of language and its connection with nature can be lost." Herald
"A stunning wee book detailing some of the wonderfully inventive Scots words that document the world around us." The List
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.
BUYING OPTIONS
Buy Runaway
When Aberdeen housewife Debbie Milne abruptly vanishes, her husband is frantic with worry and turns to local PIs Maggie Laird and ‘Big Wilma’ Harcus.
Maggie is reluctant to take on a ‘misper’ case, but Wilma cajoles her into a covert operation – trawling women’s refuges and homeless squats in search of a lead. But when a woman’s body is discovered in a skip, the unlikely investigators are dragged into a deeper mystery involving people-trafficking, gambling and prostitution – and they’re in deadly danger.
With the police struggling to make headway and the clock ticking, the race is on for Harcus & Laird to find answers, further straining their already fraying relationship.
With Runaway, Claire MacLeary delivers the goods again – creating a surprising, gritty, fast-paced tale with the warmth and wit of ‘women of a certain age’.
REVIEWS OF Runaway
“A vitality and verve which is rare … A great crime novel [featuring] two of Scottish fiction’s most engaging characters.” Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae
“Original and entertaining … With her quirky mix of grit and humour, Claire MacLeary is carving a niche for herself.” Crime Fiction Lover
“A gripping, dark and gritty read.” The Quiet Knitterer
“Surprising, compelling and brought to life by two of the most wonderful main characters.” Chocolate n Waffles
“Dynamite … The author loves to smash gender and age stereotypes … As an avid fan of this series, I have to say Runaway is my favourite.” Chapter In My Life
“Absolutely brilliant … A fast-paced and sometimes humorous story with lots of tense and downright scary moments.” Beauty and Balm
“Funny, full of tension and drama, and with some real stop-you-in-your-tracks moments.” Jen Med’s Book Reviews
“As true a portrait of the relationship between two quite different women as you are likely to get … The descriptions of people and places are extremely well done … Aberdeen springs to life in MacLeary’s vivid setting, adding yet another layer of authenticity.” Live and Deadly
“Whilst Runaway is an enjoyable and well written crime novel, it is also so much more than that. Claire MacLeary lays bare… the way [working] women view themselves and one another, and explores the complex relationships they must juggle just to get through each and every day. Wholeheartedly recommended.” Undiscovered Scotland
“This is a thoroughly entertaining series that could run and run.” Sunday Herald
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.
Down to the Sea
by Sue Lawrence
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When secrets from the past won’t stay hidden
When Rona and Craig buy a large Victorian house up from Edinburgh’s Newhaven district – once teeming with fishing boats – they plan to renovate and set it up as a luxury care home. But something is not quite right: disturbing sounds can be heard when the sea mists swirl; their unpredictable neighbour makes it clear that the house was not always a happy family home. And their ‘characterful’ historic pile has a gloomy cellar harbouring relics from days gone by.
Back in the 1890s, superstitious fishwives blame young Jessie for the deaths of their menfolk in a terrible storm, and she’s forced into the Newhaven Poorhouse. In those less enlightened times, life was often severe, cruel even, and Jessie is entirely at the mercy of a tyrant matron. But one inmate is not all she seems. Jessie begins to pick at the truth, uncovering the secrets and lies that pervade the poorhouse – and which will have profound and dangerous consequences in the future.
REVIEWS OF Down to the Sea
“Lawrence has produced a well woven story, the historic passages suitably Gothic in feel, the more contemporary passages tense, with an unpredictability of plot that sustains interest and keeps us on our toes.” The Literary Shed
“An eerie thriller … perfectly creepy and atmospheric … will help cement Lawrence as a skilled creator of historical mysteries.” Matthew Keeley, The Wee Review
"Fascinating… Lawrence’s skill of storytelling allows for the tension to really build throughout." Scottish Field
"Plenty of intrigue, there is much to enjoy here … tension … smart twists … particularly strong descriptions of food and scents … her cast of characters, most of them women, are all distinct individuals." Louise Fairbairn, Scotland on Sunday
"Exciting … With secret tunnels, hidden treasures, plenty of mystery, drama and danger." Portobello Book Blog
"Combines mystery, human interest and a beautifully crafted sense of place … a great read." Wardie newsletter
"Excellent… Intriguing… Full of fear and danger. This page-turning historical novel holds many twists and turns." Historical Novels Review
"Fast-paced and full of fear and intrigue… Creates a sense of unease in the reader that persists right through to the book's satisfying conclusion." Undiscovered Scotland
"A haunting, moving story." Kirsty Wark
Donald S Murray
Writer and poet Donald S Murray is an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Scottish Literature who has won the Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize (2012, for As the Women Lay Dreaming,) and the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award (2021), among many awards for his historical fiction, creative non-fiction and poems. His critically acclaimed books bring to life the culture and nature of the Scottish islands, and he appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland and as a live performer.
Paul Torday Memorial Prize, WINNER The Herald Scottish Culture Awards, Outstanding Literature Award, SHORTLISTED Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, SHORTLISTED Walter Scott Prize, “Academy Recommends List” Highland Book Prize, LONGLISTED In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community. Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY Iolaire when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod – a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips – the disaster would mark him indelibly. Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the Iolaire shipwreck – by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed. A deeply moving novel about passion constrained, coping with loss and a changing world, As the Women Lay Dreaming explores how a single event can so dramatically impact communities, individuals and, indeed, our very souls.
Prizes and awards
Paul Torday Memorial Award, WINNER
The Herald Scottish Culture Awards, Outstanding Literature Award, SHORTLISTED
Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2019, SHORTLISTED
Historical Writers' Association Debut Crown, LONGLISTED
Highland Book Prize 2018, LONGLISTED
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2019, 'Academy Recommends List'
REVIEWS OF As the Women Lay Dreaming
“A haunting, poignant, meticulously researched novel about the 1919 Iolaire ferry disaster and its effect on the local community. An extraordinary piece of storytelling.” Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award judges
“Atmospheric and evocative… masterful writing.” The Wee Review
“A beautifully drawn novel. …Achingly well realised.” Roger Hutchinson, West Highland Free Press
“A poignant novel.” Nicola Sturgeon
“A searing poetic meditation on stoicism and loss.” Mariella Frostrup, BBC Radio 4 Open Book
“A powerful novel… A poignant exploration of love, loss and survivor’s guilt.” Nick Rennison, Sunday Times
“Triumphant… The writing is breath-taking, poignant and takes great pains to immerse the reader in ideas of trauma, suffering and the shared culture of a grieving generation. [A] rich and lyrical writing style.” Lochaber Life, Book of the Month
“Timely, clever, evocative… Murray has said that this novel took him around sixteen years to complete and on the strength of this poignant offering one hopes we will not have to wait so long for his second.” Shetland Times
“A classic bildungsroman… It is that rarity: a work of imagination which reads like experienced truth. It’s the kind of book you want to read again as soon as you finish it, because you know there is so much that will be revealed on that second reading: the kind of novel which can enrich your life.” Allan Massie, Scotsman, Scottish Books of the Year, 2018
“Murray is an evocative painter of landscapes and a deeply sympathetic writer… This diligently researched book exists principally as a space for forgotten voices to sound, bearing witness not just to this tragedy, but to the terrible cost of World War I itself.” Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail
“Beautifully and sensitively told, by one of the great lyrical writers of our time, D S Murray ... [A] brutal reminder of how resilient and tangled are the tentacles of tragedy.” Cathy MacDonald
“[A] tightly structured, time-hopping memoir-but-not-a-memoir… A story spanning 74 years whittled meticulously into shape… Murray pulls off the perfect combination of fact and fiction… [His] assured journey through the disruption, trauma, love and loss threaded unspoken through one Lewis family, with barely a word of the shipwreck, is on every page a novel of the Iolaire disaster.“ Catriona Black, Herald and National
“A very special book… a poignant tale of family, love and relationships lived out in the hardest of places… Donald S Murray is superb in bringing his characters to life and making the incidents they encounter feel utterly real.” Undiscovered Scotland
“A powerful book…which reveals new layers with every reading. It is history brought to life through fiction, and when it is done in a manner as moving and beautiful as this it is invaluable.” Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae.
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.
Wainwright Prize 2019, LONGLISTED Rathbones Folio Prize 2019, LONGLISTED 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.
REVIEWS OF Ghost Trees
'“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
“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
“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
“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
'Profoundly uplifting: Gilbert’s keen eye reveals the wealth of wild – and weird – species that cling on against the odds in a global city, and enrich its residents’ lives in unheralded ways.' Guardian
'Absorbing.' The 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
'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
'Fascinating.' Joe Shute, Sunday Telegraph
'Full of deep truths and improbable marvels, this beautifully observed book is a joyous hymn to the urban wild and a clarion call for better – greener, wilder – cities.' Patrick Barkham, natural history writer
Karen Lloyd
Karen Lloyd is an award-winning writer of non-fiction and poetry based in Kendal, Cumbria. Her 2022 book, Abundance, was long- listed for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. Both her debut, The Gathering Tide, and her second book, The Blackbird Diaries, won Lakeland Book Awards and were selected as books of the year, in the Observer and the Birdwatcher’s Handbook. She has contributed to the Guardian, Royal Geographical Society magazine, BBC Wildlife and Countryfile, and she edited and produced Curlew Calling Anthology. Karen gained her PhD from Lancaster University, where she taught on the Creative Writing MA and was writer in residence at the university’s Future Places Centre.
With its enchanting song, striking orange bill and endearing willingness to share our living space, the blackbird is one of our best-loved birds. And, in common with all our garden wildlife, it plays a critical role in Britain’s fragile and precious biodiversity. In The Blackbird Diaries, Karen Lloyd shares her deep-rooted knowledge and affection for the flora and fauna of these isles. And she issues a clarion call for the conservation of endangered habitats and species – most notably the curlew, Europe’s largest wading bird. Over the four seasons, Karen intimately chronicles the drama of the natural world as it all unfolds in her garden and in the limestone hills and valleys of Cumbria’s South Lakeland. What emerges is a celebration of landscapes that rarely feature in nature writing. But more than that, at a time of critical species loss, she offers rare insights into the lives of animals that may be common but are no less remarkable.
Prizes and awards
Lakeland Book of the Year 2018, WINNER of the Bookends Prize for Art and Literature
REVIEWS OF The Blackbird Diaries
"A writer of rare talent, always with a sharp eye and an open heart, Lloyd quietly and unassumingly shares her observations of nature, drawing you into a world made rich with the company of birds." Miriam Darlington, BBC Wildlife
"Sure to delight readers and fans of British wildlife… The writing is eloquent and enables the readers to conjure the scenes in their mind…Like all good nature writing books, Lloyd’s prose is to be savoured. Not raced through and devoured like the latest crime thriller, but to be absorbed, enjoyed and reflected upon." Megan Shersby, BBC Countryfile
"Captivating… A charming and informative account." Katharine Norbury, Caught by the River
Douglas Skelton
Douglas Skelton, shortlisted for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2016, is a writer who specialises in the darker side of things: he’s a former journalist who has published eleven true crime books. In 2011 he made the leap to writing crime fiction, beginning with the hugely successful series of Davie McCall thrillers and continuing with the Dominic Queste series: The Dead Don’t Boogie and Tag – You’re Dead. His latest thriller, The Janus Run, is NYC noir at its finest.
The Janus Run
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When Coleman Lang finds his girlfriend Gina dead in his New York City apartment, he thinks nothing could be worse… until he becomes the prime suspect.
Desperate to uncover the truth and clear his name, Coleman hits the streets. But there’s a deranged Italian hitman, an intuitive cop, two US Marshals, and his ex-wife all on his tail. And trying to piece together Gina’s murky past without dredging up his own seems impossible. Worse, the closer he gets to Gina’s killer, the harder it is to evade the clutches of the mysterious organisation known only as Janus – from which he’d long since believed himself free.
Packed with plot twists, suspense and an explosive climax, The Janus Run is an edge-of-the-seat, breathtaking thriller – NYC noir at its finest.
REVIEWS OF The Janus Run
“To call The Janus Run gripping is understatement writ large. But perhaps all you need to know is this – while reading it on the train I missed my station, completely absorbed by what was unfolding, which is the first time that has happened… Douglas Skelton has written a thriller truly worthy of the name.” Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae
“Wow! If ever there was a book that was crying out to be made into a film, it’s this one… Brilliantly executed, packed with colourful and vibrant characters. It’s pacy, with smart dialogue and a fabulous sense of place. This is thriller writing of the highest quality.” Random Things Through My Letterbox blog
“Dynamite … whip-smart dialogue … high-octane and full of tension, littered with car chases, shootouts, and cross and double-cross … Highly recommended.” Raven Crime Reads
“A book that sinks its teeth into its readers like a Rottweiler and simply never lets go: the main difference being that this is an extremely enjoyable experience.” Undiscovered Scotland
“A breakneck New York thriller - I can’t wait to read the next one.” Mason Cross
“Skelton really delivers with The Janus Run: the pace is relentless, the sense of place authentic, a story that draws you in and won’t let go till the final page.” Craig Russell
“Ludlum meets Grisham in this fast-paced, fast-talking New York City thriller. Fascinating and utterly compelling.” Denzil Meyrick
“What do you get if you mix a deep-cover agent, a witness protected mob member, a psychotic killer and more action than you can pull a trigger at? Welcome to the wonderful, high speed, rollercoaster planet that is Douglas Skelton’s The Janus Run.” Gordon Brown
Bullet-ridden, bold, brilliant, The Janus Run hits its stride on the first page and hurtles to its conclusion with the speed of a runaway subway. Utterly unmissable.” Neil Broadfoot
“This is brilliant-black-diamond hard writing. The reawakening of Coleman Lang after the murder of his girlfriend, and the ever-growing realization of the depth of his predicament, and of those around him, both loved and despised, is brutal and enthralling. You never know where the next bullet is coming from. You’d better hang on tight for this one.” Mark Leggatt
“A defining work by our finest emerging crime fiction talent.” Quintin Jardine
