Gussie’s story of inspiration and hope is both heartwarming and heartrending. Once you’ve met her, you’ll not forget her. And you’ll never take life for granted again.
Gussie fairly fizzles with vitality, radiating fun and enjoyment into everything that comes her way. Her life may be predestined to be short but not short on wonder, glee, the love of things as they really are. It is rare to find such tragic circumstances written about without an ounce of self-pity. Rarer still to have the story of a circumscribed existence escaping its confines by sheer force of personality, zest for life. MICHAEL BAYLEY
Me and Ma Gal
Des Dillon
ISBN 1 84282 054 0
PBK £5.99
If you never had to get married an that I really think that me an Gal’d be pals for ever. That’s not to say that we never fought. Man we had some great fights so we did.
A story of boyhood friendship and irrepressible vitality told with the speed of trains and the understanding of the awkwardness, significance and fragility of that time. This is a day in the life of two boys as told by one of them, ‘Derruck Danyul Riley’.
Dillon’s book is arguably one of the most frenetic and kinetic, living and breathing of all Scottish novels… The whole novel crackles with this verbal energy.
THE LIST 100 Best Scottish Books of All Time – 2005
Singin I’m No a Billy He’s a Tim
Des Dillon
ISBN 1 906307 46 6 PBK £6.99
What happens when you lock up a Celtic fan?
What happens when you lock up a Celtic fan with a Rangers fan?
What happens when you lock up a Celtic fan with a Rangers fan on the day of the Old Firm match?
Des Dillon watches the sparks fly as Billy and Tim clash in a rage of sectarianism and deep-seated hatred. When children have been steeped in bigotry since birth, is it possible for them to change their views?
Join Billy and Tim on their journey of discovery. Are you singing their tune?
Explosive. EVENING NEWS
My Epileptic Lurcher
Des Dillon
ISBN 1 906307 74 1
PBK £8.99
That’s when I saw them. The paw prints. Halfway along the ceiling they went. Evidence of a dog that could defy gravity.
The incredible story of Bailey, the dog who walked on the ceiling; and Manny, the guy who got kicked out of Alcoholics Anonymous for swearing.
Manny Riley is newly married, with a puppy and a wee flat by the sea, and the BBC are on the verge of greenlighting one of his projects. Everything sounds perfect. But Manny has always been an anger management casualty, and the idyllic village life is turning out to be more League of Gentlemen than The Good Life. The BBC have decided his script needs totally rewritten, the locals are conducting a campaign against his dog, and the village policeman is on the side of the neds. As his marriage suffers under the strain of his constant rages, a strange connection begins to emerge between Manny’s temper and the health of his beloved Lurcher.
Luath Storyteller: Tales of Loch Ness
Stuart McHardy
ISBN 1 906307 59 8 PBK £5.99
We all know the Loch Ness Monster. Not personally, but we’ve definitely heard of it. Stuart McHardy knows a lot more stories about Loch Ness monsters, fairies and heroes than most folk, and he has more than a nodding acquaintance with Nessie, too.
From the lassie whose forgetfulness created the loch to St Columba’s encounter with a rather familiar sea-monster nearly 1,500 years ago, from saints to hags to the terrible each-uisge, the waterhorse that carries unwitting riders away to drown and be eaten beneath the waters of the loch, these tales are by turns funny, enchanting, gruesome and cautionary. Derived from both history and legends, passed by word of mouth for untold generations, they give a glimpse of the romance and glamour, the danger and the magic of the history of Scotland’s Great Glen.
The Underground City
Jules Verne
ISBN 1 84282 080 X
PBK £7.99
Ten years after he left the exhausted Aberfoyle mine underneath Loch Katrine, the former manager – James Starr – receives an intriguing letter from the old overman – Simon Ford. It suggests that the mine isn’t actually barren after all.
Despite also receiving an anonymous letter the same day contradicting this, James returns to Aberfoyle and discovers that there is indeed more coal to be excavated.
Strange events hint at a presence that does not wish to see the cave mined further. Could someone be out to sabotage their work? Someone with a grudge against them?
Or could it be something supernatural, something they cannot see or understand?
This is a new translation of The Underground City.
One of the strangest and most beautiful novels of the nineteenth century. MICHEL TOURNIER
Out of the Mists
John Barrington
ISBN 1 905222 33 5 PBK £8.99
In the earliest hours of the morning shepherds gather, waiting for the mists that conceal the hillsides to clear. To pass the time they tell tales of roaming giants, marauding monks and weird witches. Enter this world of magic and wonder in Out of the Mists, a delightful collection of stories which will captivate and entertain you while answering your questions about Scottish history and folklore.
Why did St Andrew become the patron saint of Scotland?
How can you protect yourself from faerie magic?
What happened to Scotland’s last dragon?
John Barrington uses wit and his encyclopaedic knowledge of Scottish folklore to create a compelling collection of stories that will capture the imaginations of readers of all ages.
Details of these and other Luath Press titles are to be found at
www.luath.co.uk
Luath Press Limited
committed to publishing well written books worth reading
LUATH PRESS takes its name from Robert Burns, whose little collie Luath (Gael., swift or nimble) tripped up Jean Armour at a wedding and gave him the chance to speak to the woman who was to be his wife and the abiding love of his life. Burns called one of ‘The Twa Dogs’ Luath after Cuchullin’s hunting dog in Ossian’s Fingal. Luath Press was established in 1981 in the heart of Burns country, and is now based a few steps up the road from Burns’ first lodgings on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
Luath offers you distinctive writing with a hint of unexpected pleasures. Most bookshops in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe either carry our books in stock or can order them for you.
To order direct from us, please send a £sterling cheque, postal order, international money order or your credit card details (number, address of cardholder and expiry date) to us at the address below. Please add post and packing as follows: UK – £1.00 per delivery address; overseas surface mail – £2.50 per delivery address; overseas airmail – £3.50 for the first book to each delivery address, plus £1.00 for each additional book by airmail to the same address. If your order is a gift, we will happily enclose your card or message at no extra charge.
Luath Press Limited
543/2 Castlehill
The Royal Mile
Edinburgh EH1 2ND
Scotland
Telephone: 0131 225 4326 (24 hours)
Fax: 0131 225 4324
email: [email protected]
Website: www.luath.co.uk
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