And the Land Lay Still

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Winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year 2010, And The Land Lay Still is a panoramic exploration of late 20th Century Scotland through the eyes of James Robertson’s characters; natives, immigrants, journalists and politicians, dropouts and spooks making their way in a changing country. The Observer said that Robertson had “caught something of the sheer bloody-minded craving for self-sabotage in the Scottish soul so accurately it's painful”. He passes the baton to Gerard McKeever, who offers an account of Allan Cunningham and nineteenth-century storytelling in ‘ Ezra Peden and the Thousand Tales’. Even so, there are two curious omissions here: God (presumably because Robertson feels he's dealt with Him elsewhere) and industry. It was a time when we were on the receiving end of a lot of politics we didn't like, and it caused many people in Scotland to ask who they were and what they wanted to be.

Written entirely on the notes app of his phone, John Gerard Fagan’s debut memoir attempts to answer the question with humour, wit, and total honesty. The definition of a cult classic, Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, is one of the most well-known and revered Scottish novels. A gorgeous feat of verse, Deep Wheel Orcadia weaves a story of place and belonging while introducing a compelling cast of characters that you’re sure to resonate with. marks a celebration across the nation for Scotland’s Year of Stories – but what is a story without its storyteller? We follow the conversation between these two women as they sit together in a cold jail cell over a single night.James Robertson is the author of The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, And the Land Lay Still, The Professor of Truth and To Be Continued. Without any knowledge of the language or his new home whatsoever, Fagan’s experiences in the seven years he lives in this small Japanese fishing village are humorous and offer countless moments of learning. Robertson believes that more encouragement from schoolteachers to youngsters to speak and think in their regional dialects "would be beneficial for a lot of people. He was born and spent his infant years in Sevenoaks, Kent, "about as far from here as you can get without falling into the Channel". They need it to deal with their women, their lives, their politics, to manage any kind of connection to each other at all.

They include an adaptation of Joni Mitchell's "Coyote", a Doric treatment of a Greek myth, and a section from the Book of Proverbs.There are moments when you want to close this book and come up for respite not because Robertson has got it wrong, but because he's caught something of the sheer bloody-minded craving for self-sabotage in the Scottish soul so accurately it's painful. Controversial since its debut, this novel will delight lovers of darker fiction while being a breath of fresh air with its humorous voice and strangely likeable protagonist.