A Calendar of Love is George Mackay Brown’s first collection of short stories set in Orkney.

This book is a parable: a moving story of stubbornly heroic resistance and of extraordinary personal achievement. It is the story of a statement made from the depths of one man’s heart in the most practical and indisputable of ways against the unnecessary destruction of his homeland.

This book is a parable: a moving story of stubbornly heroic resistance and of extraordinary personal achievement. It is the story of a statement made from the depths of one man’s heart in the most practical and indisputable of ways against the unnecessary destruction of his homeland.

In this revised and updated edition of his much-acclaimed book, Roger Hutchison provides a definitive history of the game of shinty.

Martin Martin’s brief and matter of fact account of Canna, one of the most beautiful of all Hebridean islands, details the many major historical trends of the Hebrides that have touched it, from St Columba , who preached there in the sixth century, to the second half of the twentieth century.

All is revealed (well, not quite all – this is Scotland) in The Cannae Sutra, a ground-breaking exposé of the nation’s best-kept secrets.

Joyce M Wallace lovingly retells the history and heritage of these areas combined with lively anecdotes about the characters who populated them.

This book traces the story of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, from the slums of Victorian Glasgow to the shanty towns of present-day Africa and among the ‘new poor’ at home. It is a colourful story, but it is more. In many ways it is an exemplar of the fortunes of all religious Congregations, and a microcosm of the Catholic Church itself, over the past century-and-a-half.

James Buchan beautifully reconstructs the intimate geographic scale and boundless intellectual milieu of Enlightenment Edinburgh, home to some of the finest minds and breathtaking innovations in architecture, politics, science, the arts, and economies.

The first general anthology of Gaelic verse and song of the nineteenth century to be published since 1879. Including translations, together with notes on sources and themes and an extended introduction.

The murder of David Beaton lies like a great shadow over the Scottish Reformation and this is the first modern account of this great prince of the church.

The Castles of Scotland is the most complete and comprehensive guide available to the nation’s wealth of castles. This new edition is the culmination of ten years’ research, and covers more than 2700 castles as well as mansions and historic houses.

Celebrations is a recipe book containing supremely practical and exquisite dishes, aimed at those of us who love to entertain but have to cope with busy lives as well.

Celtic: 100 Heroes of the Modern Game is a fascinating compendium of facts and a superb tribute to the men who have brought skills, thrills and glory to Celtic Football Club in the modern era.

First published in 1926, this remains the best and most comprehensive reference guide to the Celtic place-names of Scotland.

This book provides a comprehensive study of the military tactics and weapons of the Celtic peoples.

Now as revered for his repartee and after dinner speaking as he was for his incisive breaks on the park, Jim Renwick’s actions – both on and off the field – have made him one of the best known and popular figures in the rugby world. This intimate and revealing biography is sure to be one of the most entertaining sports biographies of recent years.

Westminster has taken a great constitutional leap in the dark, with the creation of a Scottish parliament and legislative assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland. This collection of essays provides the historical context for the constitutional challenges facing the United Kingdom.

Polygon relaunches James Kelman’s backlist with four classic titles – Not Not While The Giro, The Busconductor Hines, A Chancer and his very first short story collection, An Old Pub Near The Angel in 2007. Each book features a new afterword in which the mature author reflects on his work and its development. 
    

This important book offers a reinterpretation of the origins of the Covenanting movement and the relationship between the crown and Scotland from 1625 onwards, placing greater emphasis on the rise of nationalist feeling in Scotland.

Karen MacKenzie’s tiny ambitions are knocked off-course when she finds herself in the arms of Charlie McGuigan, a man 26 years her senior who hasn’t had a date in a decade and who initiates her in the ways of hard drinking, heavy smoking and surreal hangovers.

2006 RATCLIFF PRIZE - HIGHLY COMMENDED

Children of the Black House is a fascinating glimpse into life on the Hebridean island of Lewis from the closing years of the nineteenth century up to the 1970s in which Calum Ferguson draws on his mother Mairead's reminiscences, presenting her experiences and conversation in the first person.

Although written as fiction, Children of the Dead End is Patrick MacGill's autobiography.

A tale of greed and love, smugglers and kidnapping set in the wild Outer Hebrides.

At the age of forty-seven Christian Watt began to write down recollections of her life; she continued until her death at the age of ninety in 1923. Her writings offer a vivid insight not only into the life of the north-east of Scotland during the middle and later part of the nineteenth century, and into the twentieth, but also on events of national and international interest. Previously privately published, this book has not been widely available for many years.

Who were the ministers and elders who ruled the Church of Scotland? What was the nature of the Scottish Revolution? This book, which draws on many new sources, attempts to answer these questions.

Alison Gray in this book reconstructs the story of Catholic Orkney from records which the destruction and distortion of the Reformation have rendered both fragmentary and often misleading.

Clap Hands for the Singing Molecatcher is both hilarious and deeply moving in its splendid account of the writer’s childhood on a remote country estate in Morayshire in the 1940s and 1950s; laughter, tragedy and dramatic incident thread their way through the life of a growing boy and the lives of the people he observes. 

Based on thirty years of research by Professor Tom Devine, this book is a collection of essays covering the great transformation of rural Scotland which broadly occurred between the 1760s and the middle decades of the nineteenth century.

A fascinating book with a very full account of Scotland’s part in the American Civil War of 1861-61.

This highly engaging book provides an original perspective on the examination of the American civil war and how the Scots and Scottish shipbuilding was crucial to the battle of nations.

Dan McDonald was one of few landsmen to sail with the puffermen, and here are his memories illustrated with a collection of photographs.

This book is a magnificent picture of a nation at war and the mighty river which was its lifeline.

AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2005

Told primarily through numerous period photographs – including those taken by Luftwaffe reconnaissance missions – and with reference to a wide variety of sources written sources, this bo

This is the first history of this beautiful part of the Cowal peninsula since Archibald Brown’s acclaimed book of 1908, and presents the story of Colintraive and Glendaruel from the end of the last Ice Age to the present day.

First published in 1903, this is the classic account of the history and archaeology of Coll and Tiree and the neighbouring Treshnish Isles.

A facsimile re-print of the 1910 edition describing climate, geological formation, plants – their uses and their local and Gaelic names. Also legends, ruins and place-names.

The Colour of Black and White is Liz Lochhead’s first collection of poems for more than a dozen years, and, for her, the most important since the award-winning Dreaming Frankenstein and Collected Poems in 1984.

Witness magic and miracles as Columba confronts the Loch Ness Monster and mysterious painted warriors. Blood-spattered Scottish history at its most wickedly entertaining.

Michael Munro has won the eternal gratitude of Glaswegians for his efforts in popularising their city’s dialect, universally known as ’the patter’.

A classically told adventure that brings fourteenth-century Italy vividly to life, this will appeal to fans of Bernard Cornwell and Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.

This book commemorates the late John Morton Boyd (1925–1998), one of the most influential figures in nature conservation of Scotland.

Rhona Rauszer has had a long and varied life, but she has always been drawn back to her ancestral homeland, Skye, the setting of these stories.

One hundred of the very best country houses from the whole of Scotland.

Alexander Fenton is acknowledged as Scotland’s leading expert on rural life and offers his readers an improved version of the classic Scottish Country Life.

The sequel to her best-selling novel Brow of the Gallowgate, follows the next generation of the Ogilvie family through the Second World War. Under a calm surface, passion and resentment are stirring.

This book tells the story of Cowal through its monuments and sites. From the first settlers to the present day, Cowal has been fought over, visited, and lived in, leaving a legacy everywhere in the landscape.

In this new and expanded edition of his best-selling book, Michael Munro has produced a hilarious compendium of the wit and wisdom of Glasgow.

This book is a celebration of the rich literary tradition of Argyll - a land which has produced many of Scotland's finest writers.

Wry, dry, moving and humorous, these tales capture the flavour of the North-east as never before and are written in the dialect of the area as it has been used over the last six decades.

A sequel to George Davie's seminal study, The Democratic Intellect.

John McPhee lived in Colonsay 1969 and recorded his experiences in this blend of anthropology and art, capturing the tensions which both support and threaten a small community.

This book examines the causes of the war and charts Cromwell’s campaign in Scotland from the landing of Charles II in northern Scotland to the fall of Dunottar Castle two years later.

This study seeks to restore the causal role of religion to its proper place in the story of Oliver Cromwell’s invasion and subsequent occupation of Scotland.

This book examines the turbulent relationship between England and Scotland between 1637 and 1660.

First modern biography of Scotland’s patron saint and the history of his most distinctive symbol with beautiful illustrations and photographs throughout.

This book provides the first comprehensive history of the Royal Scottish Corporation, covering four centuries of Scottish aid in the English capital from 1603-2003.

This informative, meticulously researched book is a fascinating companion to Cupar. Comparisons with other towns help to provide a rounded picture of this burgh, one of many historic small Scottish towns.

The Curewife is the winner of the Dundee Book Prize 2002 and is the story of Grissel Jaffray, the last woman to be burnt as a witch in Dundee.