UKC

Hello,

alongside my recent landscape writing ponderings, I was also wondering about recent Scottish fiction based in the less populated areas - anyone got any suggestions? Not much is springing to mind after a very brief think apart from the likes of Alan Warner's 'Morven Callar'.

Ta!

In reply to Tall Clare: Angus Dunn- Writing in the Sand 2006

In reply to Tall Clare:

Not quite recent, but I liked Andrew Greig's Electric Brae. I've just finished Da Happie Lands, by Robert Alan Jamieson, which is a curious mix and is partly based in a fictional rendition of Shetland. Not sure I'd recommend it tho' - I rather lost interest about half way through.

And I know it's not recent, but anything by George Mackay Brown is worth reading. My particular favourite is 'Beside the ocean of time'.

In reply to tony:

Oo, I liked Electric Brae too - you've just reminded me to point my boyfriend at it.

Will look out for George Mackay Brown.

In reply to Tall Clare: Peter May's The Blackhouse is a thriller set on the Isle of Lewis - it really captures the sense of place and tradition (particularly guga hunting).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Blackhouse-Peter-May/dp/1849163847

In reply to tony: I'd back George Mackay Brown, an Orkney lad.

In reply to Marc C:

I've not read that yet, wasn't sure whether it would annoy me seeing as I was brought up in the land of the Guga Warrior!

I'd recommend 'Stornoway Way' by Kevin MacNeil. His latest book 'A Method Actors Guide to Jekyll and Hyde' is very good too.

'Under the Skin' by Michael Faber is supposedly very good too although I've not read it yet. Apparently it's about an alien who picks up hitch-hikers on the A9!

In reply to Tall Clare:

There can only be one: Isolation Shepherd by Iain Thompson - this is the best book about the Scottish hills and also rural life in a very remote place.

I have to disagree with Toby. I thought the Stornoway Way was one of the worst books I have read, poorly written and very much trying to invite the reader to feel sorry for the author. I thought it a cop out and a lazy take on the situation.

In reply to Tall Clare: Don't forget Iain Banks, the man who made Stromeferry (no ferry) famous.

In reply to Saor Alba:

Thanks for the suggestion - looks good but it's not fiction, mind.

In reply to Toby S:

'Under the skin' is very weird! I know it got a lot of press when it was published, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it, except to people looking specifically for books about aliens kidnapping hitchhikers. And it doesn't really speak to or about the landscape very much, as far as I recall.

In reply to tony:

I read part of it years ago, didn't like it, and gave it away in the Big Cull last year.

In reply to Saor Alba:


You're wrong of course. But then we all know your idea of high brow literature is grubby 1970s vintage copies of 'Modern Railway' magazine.

In reply to Tall Clare: It's not fiction, but I enjoyed Blazing Paddles by Brian Wilson, about sea kayaking his way round the coastline camping and meeting people along the way.

In reply to Tall Clare:
I read "Sun Dance" by Iain R Thomson recently: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-Dance-Iain-R-Thomson/dp/1908105593

It's not really my normal reading material, and I still can't decide whether I enjoyed it or not, but it definitely ticks your criteria.

In reply to Tall Clare:

A.L. Kennedy - everything you need

In reply to jamiev:

Oooo - not read any A L Kennedy but keep meaning to, as I like her column in the Guardian and I follow her tweets. Thanks!

In reply to Tall Clare:

I really enjoyed The Return of John McNab by Andrew Greig too. But seeing as every other bugger has panned my choice of books you may want to ignore that. :-p

In reply to Tall Clare:

Romano Bridge, also by Andrew Greig,gets around Scotland.

In reply to Toby S:

And the original John McNab by John Buchan.

I re-read this after 25 years last summer and still loved it.

In reply to Tall Clare:
Alan Warner's "The Man Who Walks"- comic modern gothic

In reply to Tall Clare: The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins- paints quite a dark picture of rural Scotland, it was written back in 1955 though so not sure if this falls within your definition of contemporary.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Andrew Greig's "when they lay bare" is quite good but set in the borders, not the highlands.

I'm trying to rack my brains but I'm sure there was a "return of Morven Callar" or something, perhaps by the same author?

Also, if you like this kind of style, "late nights on air" by Elizabeth Hay is good although it is contemporary Canadian, not Scottish.

In reply to Tall Clare:
There's a fair few Iain Banks books that would fit the bill. Stonemouth. The steep approach to Garbadale. The Wasp Factory. Whit. The Bridge (The Forth Road Bridge isn't populated!)

In reply to Tall Clare:
If you like comedy that's low key and dark, "Restraint of Beasts" by Magnus Mills is a gem.

In reply to Tall Clare:
Since you mention Alan Warner - how about These Demented Lands & The Man Who Walks?
Several of Christopher Brookmyre's novels rely on their rural setting, off the top of my head: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, A Big Boy did it and Ran Away & Pandaemonium, but there are others...
Serpentine by Tom Morton is a wonderfully, sarcastically, entertaining thriller.
I've just finished Site Works by Robert Davidson which I thought was brilliant & I don't think it was just because of the subject...
Anne Cleeves Shetland Quartet are tightly written crime novels & Peter May's Lewis Trilogy are shaping up to be much more than that if the 2nd & 3rd books are anything like as good as The Black House.
Negative Space by Zoe Strachan & In Another Light by Andrew Greig both partly set in Orkney, both great writing.

In reply to morbh:

Excellent - looks like a good list.

I had one of Zoe Strachan's books for years and never got round to reading it - don't think it was this one though.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Arse - it was that one. Wonder why I didn't read it. I gave it away in the Big Book Cull of 2011. Another one to reclaim... bugger.

In reply to Toby S:

I can't believe I forgot it in my list! It is very very good!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Ha - you might find you enjoy them all as much as Under the Skin!

In reply to Toby S:
A second for this one too - it's a rollicking good read as they say. The Crow Road is probably Ian Bank's most rural book - one of my all time favourites.

Buddha Da by Anne Donovan is good but not that rural - set in Glasgow. Also I loved So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor - not set in Scotland but flashbacks to one of the key character's upbringing in Aberdeen plays a part in an ultimately sad book which stayed with me for a while.

Not fiction but Duncan Williamson's book The Horsieman is a lament on a travelling way of life that is no more.

Aye,
Davie