Favourite Scottish Books

Since Homecoming 2009 is all about celebrating what's great about Scotland, we asked five members of Scottish Book Trust's staff to tell us about their favourite Scottish book. Read the results below, then add your own recommendation...

Witchwood by John Buchan
John Buchan considered Witchwood to be the best of his many novels. Set in the 17th century against the terrible conflicts between covenanters and the cavaliers, the book explores one man’s attempts to stay true to himself and his faith in the face of Devil worship and war. Like Buchan’s other novels this has the feel of the ripping yarn about it, and yet it manages to encapsulate so much more. This is my favourite John Buchan novel too and well worth a read in the dark winter nights! (Philippa Cochrane)

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
My favourite Scottish children’s book is a choice which I think would be endorsed by at least half the toddlers in the country – it’s The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler. I once had to spend the whole of National Poetry Day reading it out hundreds of times to different groups of children – and at the end of the day, I still liked it. It’s a funny, clever modern fable about the power of storytelling to keep the small and powerless out of trouble.
(Sophy Dale)

The Complete Short Stories by Agnes Owens (2008)
This collection of short stories is a real pleasure to read from start to finish: from her first story written in 1978 to the latest ones published 30 years later at the age of 82, Agnes Owens always manages to find (dark) humour even in the most depressing of lives. Although very Scottish, very Glasgow and very working class, Owens’s writing is also universal and accessible. In my opinion, she is one of the best – and most underrated – contemporary Scottish authors, and this collection should most definitely be on everybody’s reading list!
(Olivier Joly)

Joseph Knight by James Robertson
This historical novel, with its basis in fact, is one of my favourite contemporary Scottish works. It left me questioning why two men, with identical values of freedom and honour, were destined to become enemies.
John Wedderburn, the central character, makes his fortune as an exiled sugar-planter and slave-master in Jamaica, after fleeing from Government troops at Culloden in 1746, aged 16. John returns to Ballindean, his estate in Scotland, to marry, bringing with him a servant slave, Joseph Knight, who subsequently wins his freedom in a hard-fought court case. 25 years later, embittered and wracked with guilt, John searches the country, without success, for Joseph, who has become a well-known but shadowy figure.
Difficult questions about imperialism, exile, enslavement, freedom and guilt run through this novel, which makes it a pertinent recommendation in this Year of the Homecoming.
(Jeanette Harris)

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
This is a classic in every sense of the word, and it’s certainly my favourite Scottish book. It’s relatively short, but is truly unforgettable, full of scenes and characters that remain etched in your mind once you’ve read it. Like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde taps into fears and anxieties that lurk in all of us, and uses the voices of several narrators to relate the story, making the central terror that bit harder to dismiss from your mind. Read it by candlelight if you dare…
(Paul Gallagher)