A 'gowk storm' is an untimely fall of snow in early Spring - a fitting symbol for the anguished story that unfolds. Nearly a hundred years ago, three girls were born to a minister and his wife in a remote Highland manse; the rigid patriarchal structure of the timesis set against their approaching womanhood and growing awareness of life beyond the safety of home.After the disposal by marriage of the eldest, the sisters' lives reach a new level of intensity. Emmy, the middle sister, ...

Half-Scots and half gypsy, beautiful Tamsin Armstrong boldly raids across the Border with her kinsmen—until she is captured and held hostage by William Scott, a laird with royal ties.Amid plots and counterplots, Tamsin and William discover a powerful attraction. Then fate thrusts them into a diabolical scheme to abduct the infant, queen of Scots, and a grave danger that could destroy them all.AWARDS:Nominated for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, Best Medieval

'Vastly original. Bessy is surely one of the most striking characters in recent fiction: cynical, disruptive, tender and very, very funny.' Independent on SundayShortlisted for the Orange PrizeScotland, 1863. In an attempt to escape her past, Bessy Buckley takes a job working as a maid in a big country house. But when Arabella, her beautiful mistress, asks her to undertake a series of bizarre tasks, Bessy begins to realise that she...

A novel of seduction, mystery, and danger set in New York's Hudson Valley in the nineteenth century, by the author of Foxfire.There was, on the Hudson, a way of life such as this, and there was a house not unlike Dragonwyck . . .In the spring of 1844, the Wells family receives a letter from a distant relative, the wealthy landowner Nicholas Van Ryn. He has invited one of their daughters for an extended visit at his Hudson Valley estate, Dr...

In 1925, John Buchan published his second most famous novel, John Macnab.Three high-flying men – a barrister, a cabinet minister and a banker – are suffering from boredom. They concoct a plan to cure it. They inform three Scottish estates that they will poach from each two stags and a salmon in a given time. They sign collectively as 'John Macnab' and await the responses. This novel is a light interlude within the Leithen Stories series – an evocative look at the hunting, ...

The Quarry Wood, although published well before Sunset Song, inhabits a similar world; the progress of its heroine could almost be the alternative story of a Chris Guthrie who did go to university. Compassionate and humorous, the grace and style of Shepherd's prose is heightened by a superb ear for the vigorous language of the north-east.The Weatherhouse, Shepherd's masterpiece, is an even more substantial achievement which belongs to the great line of Sc...

Join William Brown for more mischief, mayhem and muddles as he gets up to his old tricks in More William, Richmal Compton's second set of classic William adventures, with an introduction by Martin Jarvis. When Aunt Lucy tells William that 'a busy day is a happy day', William does his best to keep himself very busy indeed. Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates his efforts to cheer up Christmas Day – and when a conjuring trick with an egg goes very badly wrong, William finds himself in mor...

From the author of “The Snow Goose”.“I was aware, from the very beginning, that I was a most unusual cat…”Thomasina is the beloved pet cat of 7-year-old Mary Ruadh, whose strict father is the town's vet. When Thomasina falls ill, her father sees no other option but to put the cat down. Heartbroken by his cruelty, Mary stops speaking to her father and falls dangerously ill herself.Meanwhile, Thomasina is rescued by Lori, a young woman who lives alone in an isolated gl...

Bates's famous loveable rogue, Uncle Silas, has a unique range of work to his name. For the first time, all of these stories are gathered together in one collection, allowing readers to experience Silas from multiple perspectives.Some tales offer sly, affectionate glimpses of the narrator's great-uncle Silas – the rural oldster of the earthy, boozy, incorrigible school. But there is also an active tenderness as seen in 'The Revelation,' where the narrator watches old Silas being gi...

Four classic adventure novels starring Scottish hero Sir Edward Leithen from the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps, who "invented the modern spy novel" ( New Statesman).Sir Edward Leithen, lawyer, politician, sportsman and occasional philosopher, was probably the most autobiographical of John Buchan's heroes. This collection of four novels, written over a span of thirty years, shows Leithen/Buchan in all his moods—from the urban menace of The Po...

Passionate, headstrong and imaginative, Sybylla Melvyn is one of the most endearing heroines of Australian literature.'I am given to something which a man never pardons in a woman. You will draw away as though I were a snake when you hear.' With this warning, Sybylla confesses to her rich and handsome suitor that she is given to writing stories and bound, therefore on a brilliant career. In this ironically titled and riotous first novel by Miles Franklin, originally published in 190...