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.
The Credit Draper
BUY THE EBOOK DIRECT
BUYING OPTIONS
Buy The Credit Draper
1911. Young Avram Escovitz is shipped off to Scotland to escape conscription into the Russian army. Living in the heart of Glasgow’s tight-knit Jewish community,?he dreams of playing for Celtic FC until World War I intervenes and he is sent to work as a credit draper, peddling goods on credit to the crofters and villagers of the Western Highlands. A stranger in a strange land, Avram is faced with the challenges of setting up a new business and capturing the heart of a Highland lass. But how easy will it be to shake off his Jewish roots? The award-winning The Credit Draper is the first book in J. David Simons’ magnum opus, a loose trilogy following his interconnected cast of characters from Glasgow to Galilee. The story continues with The Liberation of Celia Kahn and is concluded in the finale, The Land Agent, published in October 2014. Touching on issues of identity, displacement, community, feminism, alcoholism, socialism and idealism, the novels provide a valuable literary record of the Jewish community.
REVIEWS OF The Credit Draper
'An odyssey of cultural confusion and survival. Full of hope, honour and sadness.' - McKitterick Prize judges
