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Original poster

Novels set in Scotland

53 replies

Sewrainbow · 28/04/2019 22:07

Can anyone recommend any novels set in the Scottish highlands?

I'd probably prefer historical over present day but am open to anything really. Had a lovely holiday there last week and want to prolong the feeling Smile

OP posts:
crimsonlake · 28/04/2019 22:12

Outlander.

Peridot1 · 28/04/2019 22:21

Outlander series

Peridot1 · 28/04/2019 22:22

Crimson lake - good choice!

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 28/04/2019 22:24

September by Rosamund Pilcher - it's a very 1990s saga-style romance, I love it though. A hug in the form of a book.

Jessicabrassica · 28/04/2019 22:25

Neil gunn's books might meet your needs.

Original poster
Sewrainbow · 28/04/2019 22:35

Thank you all!

Is outlander good? The castle we visited the other day has those books in the shop, I think they may have filmed it there - Castle Frazer?

OP posts:
Original poster
Sewrainbow · 28/04/2019 22:38

I shall look up Neill Gunn, haven't heard of him.

I remember liking one of Rosamund Pilcher's before albeit in a saga way, I picked it up at my mum's!

OP posts:
Awrite · 28/04/2019 22:46

Peter May's Lewis trilogy is fantastic. Modern day crime novels but with flashback elements.

I loved his Entry Island as well. Set on an island in Novia Scotia, it tells stories of the Highland clearances. Really personalises them. I just loved it.

He's written other books set in Scotland but those are my favourites.

DuesToTheDirt · 28/04/2019 22:53

Confessions of a Justified Sinner
His Bloody Project

64sNewName · 28/04/2019 22:56

Would islands do? I’m racing through Anne Cleeves’s Shetland series at the moment. Crime fiction but you can trust her not to be gratuitously horrible. The depiction of the community and the characterisation are great.

SmokeAndBone · 28/04/2019 22:59

'Witch Light' by Susan Fletcher (also published as 'Corrag')
'The Summer of the Bear' by Bella Pollen (Hebrides)
'The Outrun' by Amy Liptrot (Autobiography- Orkney)
Maggie O'Farrell 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox'
'Under the Skin' by Michel Faber

Another vote for the Peter May trilogy.
Also Alexander McCall Smith 'Scotland Street' series

Lots of Mary, Queen of Scots historical novels around as well...

fuckweasel · 28/04/2019 23:00

Island of Wings. Not Highlands but 19th century St Kilda. Very evocative.

CountFosco · 28/04/2019 23:03

Neil gunn's books might meet your needs.

Exactly who I was going to suggest. Start with The Silver Darlings.

Not quite the highlands, more deepest Aberdeenshire but the classic Scottish text that everyone reads at school is Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. The opening chapter is one of my favourites. If you fancy something older then one of Walter Scott's novel's might appeal, although they are not so widely read these days.

SpanielPlusToddler · 28/04/2019 23:06

Recently read and really enjoyed the House Between Tides, set on the island of Uist. If you like crime fiction then the Shetland series is brilliant. And I liked the Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle, set on the island of Arran.

TheBulb · 28/04/2019 23:08

White Male Heart by Ruaridh Nicoll.

Tavannach · 28/04/2019 23:09

Sunset Song.
Kidnapped
A Dark and Distant Shore
Morgen Callar

Tavannach · 28/04/2019 23:09

Morven

CountFosco · 28/04/2019 23:24

Other Scottish writers worth reading:
Robert Louis Stevenson (C19 adventure novels)
Eric Linklater (Magnus Merriman is a good place to start for a political farce)
Alasdair Gray - Lanark (if you know Glasgow you'll enjoy it even more)
George Mackay Brown (Orcadian poet, but wrote novels as well. Beside the Ocean of Time was shortlisted for the Booker)
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Nan Shepherd might be worth a look

Ohyesiam · 28/04/2019 23:27

Lillian Beckwith brings a Kansas are set on the Hebrides. It’s been 35 years since I read them but I remember them being about highland life, told in a quirky and amusing way.

DuesToTheDirt · 28/04/2019 23:28

George Mackay Brown is my favourite Scottish writer, especially his short stories. Not the Highlands, but since we're roaming around a bit Grin

PrettyLittleBrownEyedMe · 28/04/2019 23:29

John McNab by John Buchan (of 39 Steps fame)

Cornishblues · 29/04/2019 13:21

Memoirs of a highland lady, though not fiction, is both readable and fascinating. Read it years ago and the overall flavour of it and certain episodes in it have really stayed with me.

Becca19962014 · 29/04/2019 13:26

Monarch of the Glen by Compton Mackenzie.

There's a tv series as well based around the books.

tobee · 29/04/2019 13:30

Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford

cdtaylornats · 29/04/2019 22:44

Quintin Jardine - Matthew's Tale

1818, Carluke, Lanarkshire. Mathew Fleming returns home to Scotland following heroic service at the Battle of Waterloo. After seven years away, he is a ghostly presence to those he left behind. But Mathew is ambitious and soon becomes a man of influence in his county and beyond. Yet through all his success, he still hides the loss of his one true love. When a terrible act of murder occurs, Mathew must choose between the rule of blood and the rule of law. And as a man of honour with a warrior's instincts, he embarks on a journey of vengeance that will test every sinew of his faith in mankind...