Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory
The Wasp Factory (1984) by Iain Banks centres on the narration of Frank Cauldhame, a teen living in an isolated house on a remote island in Scotland. Frank’s a psychopath…
James J. McIntyre: Jimmy Two Guns
Jimmy McIntyre was a criminal lawyer in Scotland sentenced to three years in prison in 1997. Jimmy Two Guns: The Life and Crimes of a Gangland Lawyer (2023) is his…
Berta Dávila: The Dear Ones
“No other change in life demands so much in return,” writes the unnamed narrator in Berta Dávila’s The Dear Ones (2022, tr: Jacob Rogers, 2023). The change in question is…
Andy Hamilton: Longhand
Andy Hamilton is a well-kent name from British TV and radio, having given us, among other things, shows like Drop the Dead Donkey (1990-1998) and Outnumbered (2007-2016). Longhand (2020) is…
Jules Verne: The Underground City
In 1859 Jules Verne left France for the first time and visited Scotland. He looked over Edinburgh from Arthur’s Seat (his first ‘mountain’), visited Glasgow, and took the train to…
Iolanda Batallé: I’ll Do Anything You Want
I’ll Do Anything You Want (2013, tr: Maruxa Relaño & Martha Tennent, 2023) by Iolanda Batallé is the tale of Nora, a painter who, after twenty-five years in a regular…
Maithreyi Karnoor: Sylvia
When we first meet the eponymous character of Maithreyi Karnoor’s debut, Sylvia (2021) she’s a freelance travel writer working on an article about baobab trees in India. These trees, with…
Joanna Corrance: John’s Eyes
In an age of wearable and smart technology John’s Eyes (2021), a novella by Joanna Corrance, imagines a near future where eyes can be wholly replaced with artificial versions. This…
Thomas Hinde: The Day the Call Came
Thomas Hinde was the pen name of Sir Thomas Chitty, novelist for thirty years before ditching fiction for books on English country gardens and other pastoral pursuits. The Day the…
James Herbert: The Fog
If James Herbert’s debut The Rats was a flawed horror classic, then his follow-up, The Fog (1975), seemed to right some of those wrongs while serving up more of the…