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At Birlinn Ltd, we are home to the finest writing from an astonishing list of authors ranging across nearly every subject area from history to sport, fiction to poetry, children’s titles to academic works.
Check out the ON SALE NOW page where we hope to tempt you to try something new. And stop by the LATEST pages for author interviews, extracts, videos, events and more. To keep up to date with all our latest news, scroll down to sign up to the Birlinn newsletter.
There’s always something new going on.
Birlinn – Publishing in Scotland for the World.
Latest Releases
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£8.99
‘A gripping high-octane masterpiece’ – Andrew Child To make the perfect Spanish whodunnit cocktail, take one dead gangster, mix in six shifty expats, add one ruthless baddie and garnish with a suspicious police officer . . . Daniella…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£7.99
At the age of 10, Rowena Farre left the security of her parents’ home in India and was sent to live with her aunt on a lonely croft in the wild and remote Highlands of Scotland. During her stay in Sutherland, she drew strength from the…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£7.99The written history and archaeological records of Central Scotland takes us back to Pictish times some 5,000 years ago. The geology of the area stretches back a further 400 million years. The oldest rocks are found near Lesmahagow and in the…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£7.99The Small Isles comprise the Inner Hebridean islands of Rum, Eigg, Canna and Muck. The landscapes, rocks and fossils of these beautiful, remote islands tells of a drama involving erupting volcanoes, an ancient ecosystem that included dinosaurs and…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£7.99The south of Scotland has a long and turbulent geological past. Perhaps most notably, it marks the place where, 432 million years ago, an ocean, once as wide as the north Atlantic, was compressed by a convergence of ancient lands and then ceased to…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£8.99
A small inheritance and a letter from his grandfather mark the beginnings of a journey that leads Peter Angus Gillies from his mundane job in Canada to Ardnish, the land of his forebears, on the rugged and remote west coast of Scotland. As Peter…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£8.99
‘Beautifully written … a unique tale told in a unique voice’ – S.G. Maclean Summer, 1522. In a wave of pomp, Henry VIII’s court welcomes the Imperial emperor, Charles V. Anthony Blanke, the son of the king’s late ‘black…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£8.99
Three hundred years ago, Scotland struck an extraordinary bargain with its English neighbour. Like all the best deals it involved giving away little – nominal sovereignty – in exchange for major gains: economic, political and cultural. Control…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£25.00For many people, Tyninghame on the beautiful East Lothian coast means beaches, sea birds and salt marshes. But this place on the southern boundary of the Firth of Forth was once an important monastic site, the burial place of St Baldred and later a…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£8.99Featuring iconic animals from red deer, golden eagles and Highland cows to red squirrels, pine martens and salmon as well as the plants, trees and flowers which thrive in mountain, forest, moor and seashore, this book is the ideal way to explore…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£14.99‘A memoir which is also a work of art’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman The story begins with Campbell, aged 14, in a police cell in Glasgow. He’s been charged with stealing books – five Mickey Spillane novels and a copy of Peyton…
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Paperback | Pub: 05 May 2022£6.99Being a doctor is a privilege; it is also very demanding and can be stressful, and to be able to look after others, we need to look after ourselves. We offer you this little book of poetry, Tools of the Trade, as a friend to provide inspiration,…
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Calendar | Pub: 05 May 2022£10.99Following the continued success of the Scottish Maps Calendar, Birlinn is once again proud to collaborate with the National Library of Scotland. This new calendar features more of the most beautiful maps of Scotland ever made. From the very earliest…
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Calendar | Pub: 05 May 2022£10.99This calendar features distinctive full-colour paintings by one of Scotland’s best-loved authors and artists and is a wonderful celebration of the extraordinary natural beauty of the Hebrides throughout the seasons. Mairi Hedderwick’s drawings,…
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Hardback | Pub: 05 May 2022£14.99This hardback desk diary is illustrated throughout with Mairi Hedderwick’s beautiful sketches of the Hebrides through the seasons. Featuring distinctive full-colour paintings by one of Scotland’s best-loved authors and artists, this exquisite…
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Paperback | Pub: 04 Feb 2021£12.99
In a career spanning forty years, Angus Roxburgh lived and worked in Russia as a literary translator, as Moscow correspondent of the Sunday Times and the BBC, and as a media consultant to the Kremlin. He witnessed Russian history unfolding at first…
Current Bestsellers
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Paperback | Pub: 07 Apr 2022£9.99‘A celebration of the city and its enduring love affair with music and musicians, venues and shops, one which will spark the remembrance of unique, high-octane experiences for all of us’ – Ian Rankin Discover Edinburgh’s hidden music…
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Paperback | Pub: 03 Mar 2022£8.99
Pressure for independence remains a major force in Scotland, but the case for it has changed substantially since the referendum of 2014. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 60 per cent of the Scottish electorate voted to remain part of the European…
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Paperback | Pub: 03 Mar 2022£8.99
GANGLAND BOSS ZANDER FINN DISAPPEARED AFTER THE BRUTAL MURDER OF HIS SON. He fled to London, seeking salvation by walking away from his money, his career and his legacy. But when his old second-in-command Malky Maloney tracks him down, Finn knows he…
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Hardback | Pub: 02 Sep 2021£17.99
Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Football Book of the Year 2022 One of the Financial Times Top 5 Best Sports Books of the Year The 1970 World Cup is widely regarded as the greatest ever staged, with more goals per game than any World Cup since. But…
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Hardback | Pub: 04 Nov 2021£17.99Life for Bertie seems to be moving at a pace that is rather out of his control. In Drummond Place gardens it seems that Olive has their future together all planned out. Meanwhile, upstairs at 44 Scotland Street, Bertie’s father Stuart is powerless…
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Paperback | Pub: 06 Jan 2022£6.99
Introduced by Alan Johnson. ‘All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.’ Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs…
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Hardback | Pub: 03 Mar 2022£30.00
The infamous ‘Beeching Axe’ swept away virtually every Scottish branch line in the 1960s. Conventional wisdom viewed these losses as regrettable yet inevitable in an era of growing affluence and rising car ownership. This ground-breaking…
Hugh Andrew – The Vital Spark of Scottish Publishing
05 May ’22
The Great Tapestry of Scotland – STAND OUT STAR of ‘The Museums that Make Us’ series on BBC Radio 4
25 Apr ’22
MacGregor’s Mussels in Chunky Tomato Sauce from A Taste of the Highlands
17 May ’22
Escape into a Good Book – we can deliver right to your door
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Paperback | Pub: 29 Jan 2015£8.99
When the body of a young woman is washed up on an idyllic beach on the west coast of Scotland, D.C.I. Jim Daley is despatched from Glasgow to lead the investigation. Far from home, and his troubled marriage, it seems that Daley’s biggest obstacle…
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Paperback | Pub: 20 Jun 2016£9.99
The Picts were an ancient nation who ruled most of northern and eastern Scotland during the Dark Ages. Despite their historical importance, they remain shrouded in myth and misconception. Absorbed by the kingdom of the Scots in the ninth century,…
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Hardback | Pub: 16 Sep 2021£17.99The summer of 1967 was Scottish football’s finest hour. Celtic won the European Cup. Rangers reached the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Kilmarnock got to the semis of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Scotland defeated world champions England…
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Hardback | Pub: 03 Sep 2020£25.00
Shortlisted for the 2021 Lakeland Book of the Year Firths and estuaries are liminal places, where land meets sea and tides meet freshwater. Their unique ecosystems support a huge range of marine and other wildlife: human activity too is profoundly…
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Paperback | Pub: 03 Feb 2022£8.99
LONDON, 1942. A killer going by the name of ‘Crimson Jack’ is stalking the wartime streets of London, murdering women on the exact dates of the infamous Jack the Ripper killings of 1888. Has the Ripper somehow returned from the grave? Is…
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Paperback | Pub: 03 Jun 2021£8.99
In 2016 Scottish writer Iain Maloney and his Japanese wife Minori moved to a village in rural Japan. This is the story of his attempt to fit in, be accepted and fulfil his duties as a member of the community, despite being the only foreigner in the…
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Paperback | Pub: 03 Oct 2016£12.99
Detroit 67 is the story of Motor City in the year that changed everything. Twelve chapters take you on a turbulent year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967 and tore it apart in personal, political and…
SOCIAL FEED
We're thrilled to share that @ghilliebasan's culinary journey through the Highlands of Scotland, A Taste of the Highlands, has been shortlisted for a prestigious #guildoffoodwriters award! 🎉 @thegfw
Are you beginning to plan a summer escape to the sun? ☀️ The perfect holiday accompaniment is the latest novel by @alexandermccallsmith, now out in paperback, The Pavilion in the Clouds. Find out more and order yours on our website. 📚
We are very proud of our list of poetry books being published this year, with three brilliant collections already out in the world. As well as a 50th anniversary edition of Liz Lochhead's debut collection Memo for Spring, and the fantastic new collection from Hannah Lavery Blood Salt Spring, today we published Other Worlds: An Anthology of Scottish Island Poems.
Edited by Stewart Conn, this is a beautiful anthology in which rich depictions of island flora and fauna sit alongside sightings of croft dwellers and ferry-lowpers. In Other Worlds editor Stewart Conn has sought poems to set readers' hearts racing through a sharpening of memory or in opening new vistas and evoking new worlds and states of mind from Orkney and Shetland to the Hebrides, to Mull and Iona, Arran and Ailsa Craig; from St Kilda and Luing to Inchcape, the Torren rocks and the Isle of May. 🌊 🪨 ☀️ 🏔
Other Worlds is available now from your local bookshop or on the Birlinn website.
We are thrilled to reveal the cover for @jenni_fagan’s upcoming poetry collection, The Bone Library, which we are publishing in August.
The Bone Library examines and interprets all of human life. The poems here respond to broader themes of identity, of place, of love and the unloved. Written in the old Dick Vet Bone Library during the author’s time as writer in residence there, this is a vivid exploration that cuts to the very core of what it is to be alive. It is also a collection that is honest and carries with it, always, an undertow of elegy.
Cover design by our brilliant designer @abi.salvesen.
