Moving, intelligent and quietly passionate.' - AL Kennedy. The brutal shooting of a bear cub galvanises ecologist Callis MacArthur into becoming an activist. Dreaming of bears roaming free - even in Scotland, a thousand years after their disappearance - she finds herself exploring Europe's remotest forests and meeting colourful characters who are as passionate about nature as she is. But as she begins to embrace her wild side, she faces escalating challenges: she must risk her career and e...

A haunting and compelling novel set one thousand years ago in the remote northwest Highlands of Scotland, The Last Bear recounts a tale of ecological and spiritual crisis from the viewpoint of one extraordinary woman.Taking the story of the extinction of the brown bear as its focal point, a story of love, jealousy, family and faith unfolds as Brigid, the last in a long line of medicine women, tries to live out her life in a time of upheaval without losing her cultural roots. Her pe...

"Ambitious and imaginative, believable and compelling." The ScotsmanNorthern Britain, Iron Age. Pytheas of Massalia, the famed Greek explorer, roves the icy northern lands of Celtic Britain and beyond, in search of amber and other precious goods. But he also craves another encounter with Rian, the slave he fell in love with during a former voyage, who continues to haunt him. Rian, however, has other ideas. She has no desire to see Pytheas, and she won’t let go of her famil...

Northern Britain, Iron Age. Rian, a carefree young woman and promising apprentice healer, is enslaved by a spiteful trader and forced aboard a vessel to embark on a perilous sea voyage.They are in search of the fabled hunter known as the Walrus Mutterer, to recover something once stolen. The limits of Rian's endurance are tested not only by the cruelty of her captor, but their mysterious fellow passenger Pytheas The Greek – and the mercilous sea that constantly endangers both their...

Northern Britain, c. 300 BC.Former slave, indomitable survivor and now matriarch Rian returns with her daughters to her Celtic homeland. She navigates everything 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, ...

A Guardian 'Book of the day' Winner of the Richard Jefferies Award for Nature Writing Shortlisted for the 2025 Highland Book Prize'A captivating book' - Independent'Her enthusiasm is contagious.' - Guardian'A meditation on life, culture and trees.' - FRED PEARCE'Unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands.' - Scotsman

The brutal shooting of a bear cub galvanises ecologist Callis MacArthur into becoming an activist.Dreaming of bears roaming free – even in Scotland, a thousand years after their disappearance – she finds herself exploring Europe’s remotest forests and meeting colourful characters who are as passionate about nature as she is. But as she begins to embrace her wild side, she faces escalating challenges: she must risk her career and endure agonising personal losses to ...

A Guardian 'Book of the day' Winner of the Richard Jefferies Award for Nature Writing Shortlisted for the 2025 Highland Book Prize'A captivating book' - Independent'Her enthusiasm is contagious.' - Guardian'A meditation on life, culture and trees.' - FRED PEARCE'Unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands.' -

From warrior queens to King Arthur, this epic collection explores the tribes, rulers and civilisations of Britain's Iron AgeIn the first millennium BC, the Iron Age arrived in Britain, bringing with it huge technological and social changes. New civilisations arose, the landscape was transformed, and societies developed new cultures and lifestyles.In this comprehensive collection, we take an in-depth look at Iron Age Britain and its inhabitants. The Essa...