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...
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. ...
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...
Very pleased to have been asked by the lovely and dedicated Inverness Outlanders to speak about some of the women I wrote about in Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 at an online event. The third Inverness Outlanders LIVE online show happens this coming Tuesday, 23rd February at 7pm on...
Two hundred years ago this month, on 8th September 1820, two men were hanged and then beheaded in Broad Street, Stirling. They were John Baird, aged 38, and Andrew Hardie, aged 28. Found guilty of treason at what can only be called a show trial, their crime had been their involvement in the Scottish...
Eighty years ago this month, on 10th June 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, declaring war on Britain and France. Italian men living and working in Britain were promptly interned as ‘enemy aliens’. As Churchill said when told most of them would be innocent of any fascist loyalties, “Collar the...
I’m beyond excited that the latest instalment of the life and adventures of Captain Robert Catto and Miss Christian Rankeillor is now available as an audiobook, evocatively read by the multi-talented Mr Steven Worsley. Steve is very much in demand as a narrator. He has read many novels, including by tartan noir authors such as Stuart...
JOIN IN ON YOUTUBE FROM THURSDAY 30TH APRIL AT 6 pm. ...
Hooray! After nearly two years of research, visiting the relevant sites and writing, One Week in April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820 will be launched tomorrow. This will be a virtual launch and everyone’s invited. Wednesday 1st April at 3 o’clock on Twitter. There will also be a link on Facebook (Birlinn Books)...
Dance to the Storm will be published as a Kindle ebook this Thursday, 20th February, paperback and audiobook publication to follow. You can pre-order here. You don’t have to have read Gathering Storm first but if you would like to, the ebook version is on at 99p for a limited period to celebrate publication of...