Scottish Memoirs

"This story is the record of a struggle between two temperaments, two consciences and almost two epochs. It ended, as was inevitable, in disruption. Of the two human beings here described, one was born to fly backward, the other could not help being carried forward. The affection of these two persons was assailed by forces in comparison with which the changes that health or fortune or place introduce are as nothing.

After three years of hard work, the Kerr family are selling their orange farm and saying goodbye to Mallorca. Their adventure comes to an end with a paella feast with friends, full of bonhomie yet tinged with sadness. But returning to Scotland proves to be just as big an adventure, with quite a cultural shock in store. Welcomed back by family, the Kerrs make plans to start a deer farm on a remote hillside – the beginning of a period of challenges and change, of buying and restoring houses in the lovely Scottish countryside.

A unique and fascinating look at Victorian society through the remarkable lives of an enlightened and philanthropic aristocratic couple, the marquess and marchioness of Aberdeen, who tried to change the world for the better but paid a heavy price. This is a true tale of love and loss, fortune and misfortune.

Thomas Love Peacock is today remembered as the author of seven satirical novels which many regard merely as literary curiosities. However, he was also a man of considerable learning, a skilled poet, and an astute literary critic. This collection includes Recollections of Thomas Love Peacock, an affectionate reminiscence by Sir Edward Strachey; Some Recollections of Childhood, a window into Peacock's early youth; "Four Ages of Poetry", in which he pokes fun at his contemporaries; and "The Last Day of Windsor Forest", an old man's recollection of a memorable episode.

Tom Patey, one of Scotland’s foremost climbers and mountaineers, was legendary for his pioneering ascents and boundless enthusiasm, and his carefree approach and ability to burn the candle at both ends. "A Short Walk With Whillans" was originally published in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal in 1963.

In this penetrating study narrated by leading British voice artist Tanya S. Bartlett, Michael Norris tells the complete story behind Dickens' writing of the book. Norris dives deep into his topic to discover the altruistic angels and monetary demons which drove Dickens, the public debates and rancor which informed him, and the terrible childhood memories which both haunted and inspired him.

William Wallace started out as a humble knight, but he died a war hero. He gave up everything in his fight for Scottish freedom, including his life. When captured, Wallace was hung, drawn, and quartered by the English king for crimes against the crown. Though he was memorialized in the 1995 film Braveheart, this book tells how much of what we associate with Wallace is more legend than fact. Still, the spirit of the great Scotsman lives on in the hearts and minds of his compatriots today.