Scottish Bookshelf – Latest Releases From July

By Contributor -

Enjoy our pick of July book releases. First for fact and fiction…

Book of the month, July 2020!

Damaged by Dan Scottow, Bloodhound books, £8.99

You know a book is good when you remember the places it describes as if you’ve been there and the characters as if they are old friends. And that is exactly what Dan Scottow achieves with his debut novel Damaged.

The book centres around Emily Blake, a magazine journalist, who is sent back to her hometown to revisit the disappearance of her childhood friend 25 years earlier after another girl goes missing in a similar fashion.

On arrival, Emily is quickly consumed once more by all the hurt and confusion over what happened to her best friend
Alice Abbott and is determined to get to the truth at all costs – neglecting her actual work assignment completely – to the understandable fury of her editor.

As she reconnects with old acquaintances and meets new residents, it’s clear that there are many ugly secrets to unearth and not everyone welcomes her digging.

Almost everyone seems to be acting suspiciously, but Emily has to tread carefully so as not to lose their trust.
Her renewed relationship with her brother Adam, who stayed in the area following their parents’ deaths, offers surprising twists and turns and kept me gripped.

The story gives pause for thought over the sometimes damaging portrayal of suspects in the media and the public’s eagerness to condemn those who appear different.

The fast-paced tale is a real page-turner, as you’re always dying to know what happens next throughout the story.

The street Emily returns to is not one you’d want to move to with all the sinister secrets and curtain twitching, yet, I find my mind wanders back there every now and then and wonders what happened to the characters.

Emily’s search for answers brings a series of awful secrets out of the woodwork, and as she deals with each one she is missing the most important and deadly of all.

The truth finally comes out in a breathtaking and terrifying conclusion.

Words by Rachel McConachie

Stories From Home
Various Authors
£6.99
Garmoran Publishing

Contributors including Louise Welsh have donated short stories and poems to this anthology,
with all proceeds going to The Ambulance Staff Charity to support ambulance crews, paramedics and their families across the UK.

A Biologist Abroad
Rory Putman
£16.99
Whittles Publishing

The former professor at the University of Glasgow takes the reader with him on working field trips to Iceland, East Africa, Nigeria and Indonesia to discuss natural history, social and wildlife issues.

Handbook of Scotland’s Coasts
Fi Martynoga
£12.99 Saraband

An essential guide to discovering more about the communities, wildlife and landmarks along the coastline.

This revised edition includes input from geologists, historians and naturalists.

The Scottish Wild Food Bible
Claire Macdonald

Containing more than 40 recipes using foraged ingredients, this is the latest in the Scottish Food Bible series and written by acclaimed cookery writer and former owner of Kinloch Lodge on Skye. £4.99 Birlinn

Ardnish
Angus MacDonald

An unexpected visitor arrives in Ardnish in 1944 to see Donald John Gillies, who lies on his deathbed reflecting on the family he had to abandon in a British concentration camp during the Boer War. £8.99 Birlinn