Robin Jenkins

Set during World War II and on a large Scottish estate where two brothers, Calum and Neil, are employed as cone-gatherers, Robin Jenkins' novel is a powerful examination of good and evil and mankind's propensity for both.

The Cone-gatherers

J. D. Scott

End of an Old Song

Thirteen-year-old Tom Curdie, the product of a Glasgow slum, is on probation for theft. His teachers admit that he is clever, but only one, Charlie Forbes, sees something in Tom and his seemingly insolent smile. So, Forbes decides to take Tom on holiday with his own family, with tragic consequences.From one of Scotland's greatest writers, The Changeling explores how goodness and innocence is compromised when faced with the pressures of growing up and becoming part of society.

The Changeling

Robin Jenkins' novel tells a contemporary but universal story which resounds with a sense of hope. An elderly man, Willie, and his wife, Maggie, travel to a Navajo reservation in the Arizona desert where Maggie's missionary sister, Elspeth, lies dying of cancer. An article on the couple in a Glasgow newspaper a few weeks previously had sparked off a great effort in the city to raise funds for the trip and Willie and his wife soon find themselves the target of unseemly publicity and envied by their neighbours. On their arrival in America, Willie finds his lifelong beliefs tested under the huge, empty sky of Arizona, and Maggie, it seems, has undergone a real transformation...

Willie Hogg

After discovering life outside the slums, a young boy is torn between what he has and what he wants, but not suited for either Thirteen-year-old Tom Curdie, the product of a Glasgow slum, is on probation for theft. His teachers admit that he is clever, but only one, Charles Forbes, sees an uncanny warmth in his reticence and in his seemingly insolent smile--so he decides to take Tom on holiday with his own family. This powerful novel explores one of Jenkins's consistent and most fruitful themes--how goodness and innocence are compromised when faced with the pressures of growing up and becoming part of society.

The Thistle is the unlucky local football team of Drumsagart, a drab industrial town in Lanarkshire. Cursed with poverty, an ineffective president and a string of defeats, the Thistle players are running low on morale, especially when so many people are against them, including the devious local policeman, the idealistic and sanctimonious new minister and sometimes their own wives. Despite their dismal prospects the team cling to the beautiful game as a last hope and dream. And, when they begin to win, a momentum springs up in their community as they soon come to represent ambition and hope. The Holy Grail of football, the Scottish Junior Cup, glitters at the end of a string of matches and suddenly the entire town of Drumsagart is depending on it. This edition includes an introduction by Harry Reid, former sportswriter and editor of The Herald.

The Thistle and the Grail

Fergus Lamont (Canongate Classic, 32)

Morte de uma aldeia portuguesa

When a family of travelling pearl-fishers arrives in a small Scottish town, the inhabitants react in their own different ways, from warmth to outright rejection. But how will they respond when love seems to blossom between local man Gavin Hamilton and the beautiful pearl-fisher Effie? The Pearl-fishers is a classic love story and the master storyteller's last novel.

The Pearl-fishers

'Worthy of the greatest respect throughout the English-language world' - Paul Binding, Guardian 'Pared down to a sharp clarity, the prose of this novel cuts out all excess to show the cross-currents running through the heart of a community' - Times Literary Supplement 'Breathtaking in its simple beauty and honest heart' - Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue (Scotland) 'Jenkins is a remarkable writer whose gentlest touch induces the greatest of pleasures' - The Times When a family of travelling pearl-fishers arrives in a small Scottish town, the inhabitants react in their own different ways, from warmth to outright rejection. But how will they respond when love seems to blossom between local man Gavin Hamilton and the beautiful pearl-fisher Effie? The Pearl-fishers is a classic love story and the master storyteller's last novel.

Pearl Fishers

The Production of Knowledge at the Institute of Race Relations

He is quite simply a major contemporary Scottish writer' - The Herald Two British travellers, Donald Kemp and Margaret Duncan, have disappeared in the wild mountainous region of northern Afghanistan; a terrain into which western Europeans seldom penetrate. The authorities in Kabul say that they have been murdered by the inhabitants of a small and primitive village and that retribution has already been exacted in the form of wholesale reprisals. John McLeod, a friend of the missing couple who has spent some years in Afghanistan as a diplomat, is deeply suspicious of these explanations. He returns to Kabul and starts his own enquiries, but everywhere he is met with obstruction and evasion, though McLeod is deterred neither by the devious courtesies of local officials nor by the discreet negations of his own embassy. The quest becomes an obsession in which physical pursuit is linked with a personal desire to discover the truth of Donald and Margaret's whole strange relationship.

Some Kind of Grace

His persistent creativity for a half-century makes this Scottish writer worthy of the greatest respect throughout the English-language world.' - Paul Binding, Guardian 'Let me alert everyone to the best-kept secret in modern British literature ... if you are interested in books that are humane and wise, not slick and cynical; then treat yourself this year to some Robin Jenkins.' - Andrew Marr 'Many people can produce a novel, but very few are authentic writers whose sentences and paragraphs give intrinsic pleasure. Jenkins is one of them.' - J. B. Pick 'Jenkins [is] a remarkable writer whose gentlest touch induces the greatest of pleasures.' - The Times Poverty Castle is an absorbing work of contrasts and subtle irony centred around an idealistic family in Argyll. A compelling novel, it deals with human nature, as always with Jenkins, and the socialism of industrial Glasgow.

Poverty Castle

A gripping tale of family secrets, obession, and tradegy, set against the backdrop of a small scottish town

Robin Jenkins

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