The 13th and 14th March sees the anniversary of the devastating Clydebank Blitz of World War 2. Almost 250 bombers of the Nazi German Luftwaffe pounded the Clydeside town for two nights in a row. Their targets were the shipyards, the oil depots and the munitions factories, one of the latter in the giant...
Storm Tossed Moon Online Launch
Where: Online/YouTube When: Thursday 23rd November 2023 at 1.30 pm. Video available to watch any time after that. Just click here: There will be cake. Well, virtual Victoria sponge anyway. Hope you can join me! ...
John Cairney 1930-2023
John Cairney as Robert Burns John Cairney was a charismatic Scottish actor, forever identified with his passionate and powerful portrayal of Robert Burns in his one man show, There Was a Man. I met him once, back in 1997, when we were both waiting for our respective editors at Mainstream Publishing in Edinburgh....
Curses! On Swearing in Historical Novels
(This article was first published in the Summer 2022 edition of The Author, the journal of the Society of Authors.) ‘Maggie Craig! Your language!’ Although I didn’t entirely buy my cousin’s wide-eyed look of shock, I told her it wasn’t my language, it was the characters’ language. If you’re an early 19th...
August in Edinburgh!
The Festival! The Fringe! Street theatre! The Edinburgh Military tattoo and the massed pipes and drums! Glorious sunshine one day, a Biblical downpour the next! It was much the same 200 years ago when King George IV paid an official visit to Edinburgh. In August 1822 the entertainment, the bagpipes and the street theatre...
The Battle of Glenshiel 10th June 1719
Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Glenshiel in 1719. Well, it is if we forget the change in the calendar but we’ll not go into that now. Thought I would give my article on what might be called the forgotten Jacobite Rising another wee whirl. It was published in Historia magazine on...
In Conversation at Prestonpans
On Thursday 16th June at 7pm, I’ll be in conversation with Dr Arran Johnston at the Battle of Prestonpans Jacobite Museum. This has its home in Prestonpans Town Hall. Arran and I will be talking about my Jacobite books and lots more. Booking is essential. You can buy tickets here. ...
Podcast on My Writing
I’ve had some good publicity around the publication of the new editions of Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 and Bare-Arsed Banditti: The Men of the ’45. The Sunday Post did an excellent full-page spread, written by Tracey Bryce and using one of my favourite paintings of Jacobite Times to illustrate it. Susan...
New Editions of Damn Rebel Bitches & Bare-Arsed Banditti
Last year I realized that this year, 2022, would be the 25th anniversary of the first publication of Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45. I approached the publisher, Penguin Random House, and suggested a special edition to mark this milestone. I’m delighted to say that the new edition will be available from...
A Poem from India by Nimmou Nilakantan
This moving poem is by my friend Nimmou Nilakantan. We got to know each other at the school gates back in the mid 1980s when we were both young mums. Our sons met in the classroom as wee boys and were soon best buddies. Nimmou, her husband Nila and their two lads were in...