The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Theatre tells the story of drama and performing in Scotland from the earliest traces of folk plays, performances, and royal ceremonies in the medieval period right up to the challenges of the present post-pandemic moment in the professional theatre. It brings together distinguished scholars, theatre professionals, critics and reviewers to share their experiences of studying and in some cases producing the most significant landmarks of Scottish stage...

From the Prime Meridian Conference of 1884 to the celebration of the millennium in 2000; from the fiction of Joseph Conrad to the novels of William Gibson and W.G. Sebald, Reading the Times offers fresh insight into modern narrative.

Ever since the major revival of dramatic writing and production in the 1970s, the style and the subject matter of Scottish writing for stage and screen has been a continuing influence on our contemporary culture, exciting, offending and challenging audiences in equal measure. Yet modern Scottish drama has a history of controversy, conflict and entertainment going back to the 1920s, notable at every turn for the vigour of its language and its direct confrontation with telling issues.

A MOVING FAMILY SAGA TELLING THE STORY OF A SINGLE MOTHER'S STRUGGLE TO BRING UP HER FAMILY IN WAR-TORN LEITHAll Rachel Campbell really wants is a better life for herself and her children. But as the Second World War rages throughout Europe, life in Leith gets tougher day by day. Her feckless husband Johnny isn't helping either, so finally Rachel has no choice but to fend for herself and the children through the poverty and dangers of wartime. This is their story, ...

Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting oan a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fuckin junk food intae yir mooth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total fuckin embarrassment tae the selfish, fucked-up brats ye've produced. Choose life.

"Not for the faint of heart, Long's story is a gritty, grueling, and heartbreaking testament to one girl's unbreakable spirit."—Publishers Weekly, starred reviewWhen Martha Long's feckless mother hooks up with the Jackser ("that bandy aul bastard"), and starts having more babies, the abuse and poverty in the house grow more acute. Martha is regularly sent out to beg and more often steal, and her wiles (as a child of 7, 8) are often the only thing keeping food on the table....

Ten years on from Trainspotting, Simon 'Sick Boy' Williamson is back in Edinburgh after a long spell in London. Having failed spectacularly as a hustler, pimp, husband, father and businessman, Sick Boy taps into an opportunity, which to him represents one last throw of the dice. However, to realise his dream of directing and producing a pornographic movie, Sick Boy must team up with old pal and fellow exile Mark Renton and a motley crew that includes the city's favourite ex-aerate...

A "remarkable" account of a family's years wandering Scotland and England in a bus, living the traditional life of their people ( Caledonia).From the ages of five to fifteen, Jess Smith lived with her parents and sisters and a mongrel dog in an old blue bus. They traveled the length and breadth of Scotland, and much of England too, stopping here and there until they were moved on by the local authorities or driven by their own instinctive need to travel. B...

This is a wonderfully colourful and deeply poignant memoir of growing up in a 'single end' - one room in a Glasgow tenement - during and immediately after the Second World War. Although young Robert Douglas's life was blighted by the cruel if sporadic presence of his father, it was equally blessed by the love of his mother, Janet. While the story of their life together is in some ways very sad, it is also filled with humorous and happy memories. "Night Song of The Last Tram" is a superb ev...

Frances Housden returns with her best–selling, award–winning Chieftain series in this short novel about a young woman with a strong will and a sharp mind, and the man who has nothing to offer but his heart.Maggie McArthur never thought she would meet her fate in a clash of swords. She may wield a sword more skilfully than a needle, but it was more luck than proficiency that led to her piercing Dhugal Robertson through the shoulder. Frightened she has kille...

In 'Rattlesnakes', three young Americans find themselves lost in the desert, held captive by armed Mexicans; in 'The DOGS of Lincoln Park', a mysterious Korean chef may or may not have something to do with the disappearance of a socialite's pooch; an English bar owner battles to keep all his balls in the air on the Costa Brava; a film biographer becomes a piece of movie memorabilia himself in 'Miss Arizona'; and in the 'Kingdom of Fife'; an ex-jockey and table-football star of Cowdenbeath ...

More "heartwarming reminiscences" of Scottish Traveller life from the author of Jessie's Journey and Tales from the Tent ( Sunday Post).In this book, Jess Smith concludes her riveting autobiographical trilogy, tracing her eventful life with Dave and their three children from their earliest years together. Their adventures and achievements are interspersed with stories of her parents' childhoods, her father's "tall tales," and the eerie ec...