Books for Homecomers

For a concise and very readable overview of the 'long brawl' of Scottish history, it's worth seeking out Ronald Hamilton's A Holiday History of Scotland. For a more light-hearted approach, try Caledonication by John K V Eunson, subtitled A History of Scotland. With Jokes.

The subtitle of James Webb's Born Fighting is How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. This moving and often lyrical book traces the history of those Scots who migrated to Ireland in the bitterly resented Protestant plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. The author argues that those who moved on across the Atlantic, by now calling themselves Scots-Irish, defined many aspects of life in the modern United States.

The three-centuries-old union between Scotland and England is currently under intense scrutiny. John Prebble's The King's Jaunt sheds considerable light on how that union was cemented back in 1822, when King George IV visited Edinburgh, famously wore a kilt, and infamously wore flesh-coloured tights beneath it to preserve his modesty.

Battling manfully against a succession of end-of-the-world downpours such as are not entirely unknown in Edinburgh in August, Sir Walter Scott stage-managed the whole event. The city exploded into a riot of pageantry and tartan, fixing Scotland's image as a somewhat sanitised Highland one, a point of contention for many Scots to this day.

The history through which we're all living now informs The Thistle and the Crescent, a scholarly new book by Bashir Maan. The elder statesman of Scotland's 50,000-strong Muslim community says links between Scotland and the Arab and Islamic world go way back. There's Helen Gloag, the girl who left Perthshire in the 18th century, was captured by Barbary pirates and subsequently became Empress of Morocco. Hundreds of years before she did that, mediaeval Scottish scholars John Duns Scotus and Michael Scott translated and studied the works of their Arab counterparts. This deeply sincere and even-handed book passionately puts the case for mutual respect and understanding between communities of different faiths and cultures.

That Scots have always looked outwards to the world, and that so many working-class Scots in particular have always felt that an injury to one is an injury to all, is demonstrated by Daniel Gray's recently published Homage to Caledonia. Proportionately more Scots joined the International Brigades fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s than any other nationality. Many of them lost their lives in this vicious conflict. Scotswomen went too, those who were nursing volunteers earning themselves the nickname of the Red Nightingales. Told through the words and experiences of those who were there, this meticulously researched and beautifully written book is simultaneously heart-breaking and uplifting.

Bringing us right up-to-date with the authentic flavour of 21st century Glasgow is Buddha Da by Anne Donovan. This modern fairy tale of a father who finds himself on a spiritual quest via Buddhism is told in vigorous but easy-to-read Glaswegian. Even those who had the misfortune to grow up without a guid Scots tongue in their heids will find it takes only a couple of pages to sink comfortably into the rhythm of the language.

Scotland has darker stories to tell, too. The tartan noir genre is full of mean streets and urban grittiness, and Ian Rankin is undisputed king of this castle. For me the best of his Rebus books is The Naming of the Dead, set in Gleneagles and Edinburgh during the controversial G8 summit of 2005.

Dark literature has a long pedigree in Scotland. Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde may ostensibly be set in London, but in its highly atmospheric depiction of day and night, light and shade and good and evil, it's pure Edinburgh.

A Lost Lady of Old Years is a bleak but beautiful tale revolving around the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Its author John Buchan also wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps, much lighter but just as enjoyable. It's a perfectly crafted little thriller, set in the lovingly evoked countryside of Dumfries and Galloway.

The homeland of Robert Burns continues to produce wonderful poets. One of them is Kathleen Jamie. In Jizzen, she presents a collection of verses which brilliantly and movingly reflect Scotland and other places besides.

For a taste of Scotland, try F Marian McNeill's hugely-entertaining The Scots Kitchen. First published in 1929 and still in print today, it's full of recipes, kitchen lore and practical tips. You never know when you might want to make your own sheep's heid broth, otherwise known as powsowdie. It's helpful too to find out that you'll have to take a large, fat, young head to the local blacksmith first and ask him to singe it.

After that, you might want to curl up with an epic Scottish romance. Cross Stitch by American author Diana Gabaldon should fit the bill. Women around the world have lost their hearts to her handsome Highland hero, Jamie Fraser.

And finally, we return to the master of high romance and thrilling adventure: Robert Louis Stevenson, whose stories are as vibrant and as vital today as they were when he wrote them. Thanks to Alan Grant and the fantastically engaging and energetic illustrations of Cam Kennedy, Kidnapped can now be read as a graphic novel. Thanks to Scots author Matthew Fitt, it can also be read in Scots too, as Kidnappit.

Robert Louis Stevenson remains a tangible presence in Edinburgh. You can almost feel you might catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of your eye as he disappears round a corner, or plunges down a shadowy close in the Old Town. As a young man exploring its nooks and corners, RLS is said to have always carried two books - one to write in and one to read: a fine example to us all.

• Maggie Craig is a romantic novelist and historian. Her most recent books are One Sweet Moment and Bare-Arsed Banditti.

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  Buddha Da
  Anne Donovan - Paperback - Canongate
  Anne Marie's Da has always been game for a laugh. So when he first takes up meditation at the Buddhist Centre, no one takes him seriously. As he becomes more involved his beliefs start to come into conflict with the needs of his wife.
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  £9.99
  Caledonication: A History Of Scotland, With Jokes
  John K. V. Eunson - Hardback - Hachette Books Scotland
  This is not just a history of Scotland, it's a history of Scotland you actually want to read.
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  £16.99
  Homage To Caledonia: Scotland And The Spanish Civil War
  Daniel Gray - Hardback - Luath
  35,000 people from across the world volunteered to join the armed resistance in a war on fascism. More people, proportionately, went from Scotland than any other country, and the entire nation was gripped by the conflict. This text looks at what drove so many ordinary Scots to volunteer for a foreign war.
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  Kidnappit
  Alan Grant; Cam Kennedy - Paperback - Itchy Coo
  'Kidnappit' is a Scots version of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Kidnapped', a dramatic adventure story about a 17 year old, desperate to secure his inheritance, that culminates in a chase from the islands in the west of Scotland to Edinburgh.
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  The King's Jaunt: George IV In Scotland, August 1822
  John Prebble - Paperback - Birlinn
  George IV's journey to Scotland in 1822 is one of the defining moments in the creation of the country. The Highland clans were the subjects of eviction and persecution and this work shows the corruption behind the ceremonial of that great occasion.
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  The Naming Of The Dead
  Ian Rankin - Paperback - Orion
  The assorted leaders of the G8 countries have gathered in Scotland and with daily marches, demonstrations and scuffles on the streets, the police are stretched to the limits. When a young politician plunges from the walls of Edinburgh Castle, suicide must be proved, and quickly, to avoid distraction from the main event.
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  Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped
  Alan Grant; Cam Kennedy - Paperback - Waverley
  Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Kidnapped' is here retold as a graphic novel. It is the story of 17-year-old David Balfour who sets out to find his uncle, never dreaming that he will narrowly escape being murdered or that he will be kidnapped and end up in the company of the fugitive Alan Breck.
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  The Thistle And The Crescent
  Bashir Maan - Paperback - Argyll
  Islam is now the second largest religion in Scotland and Muslims form an integral part of Scottish society. However, information on the long and varied relationship between Islam and Scotland that began as early as the seventh century is non-existent. This book has been written to fill this gap.