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Classic Scottish Memoirs & Autobiographies

The well-written memoir is an art form and the best of them have enduring appeal. What follows is a selective list. Our Biography & Autobiography category has a full list of Scottish-interest memoirs and biographies.

Title Deeds: A Work of Fiction

Liza Campbell

Liza Campbell was the last child to be born at Cawdor Castle, the family seat of the Campbells, as featured in "Macbeth". Her father Hugh, the twenty-fifth Thane, inherited good looks, brains, wealth, an ancient title, three stately homes and 100,000 acres of land. "Title Deeds" tells the story of Liza's idyllic childhood with her four siblings in Wales in the 1960s, until Hugh inherited Cawdor and moved the family up to the Scottish Highlands.

From Caledonia To The Pampas: Two Accounts By Early Scottish Emigrants to the Argentine

This text contains two records of Scottish Argentinian experience: William Grierson's "The Voyage of the Symmetry" and "Faith Hard Tried: the Memoir of Jane Robson".

Baghdad's Spy: A Personal Memoir Of Espionage And Intrigue From Iraq To London

Corinne Souza

This is the story of Britain's Secret Intelligence Services (SIS) - often referred to as MI6 - as told from the perspective of a senior SIS spy's daughter. Souza describes espionage as a way of life.

From The Alleghenies To The Hebrides: An Autobiography

Margaret Fay Shaw

Margaret Fay Shaw's life spans a century of change. In her early teens she was dispatched from the idyllic surroundings of the Alleghenies to stay with a distant cousin near Glasgow. It was here that her love of Scotland was born. After studying music at New York and Paris, she returned to live for six years with two sisters in a cottage on South Uist. Her autobiography is a plea in defence of a Gaelic culture and world that is disappearing.

A Lie About My Father

John Burnside

John Burnside's unflinching honesty, profound thinking and heart-stopping images of beauty and fracture combine to create a moving, unforgettable memoir of two lost men: a father and his child.

Forever Francie: My Life With Jack Milroy

Mary Lee

A funny memoir of Jack Milroy, one of Scotland's best-loved showbiz legends, by Mary Lee, his partner for 50 years. Lee tells the story of their lives, the highs, the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies but most important of all, the humour.

Ghosting: A Double Life

Jennie Erdal

Ghosting is a remarkable account of one woman's life - or, to be more accurate, lives. For fifteen years, Jennie Erdal had a double existence: officially she worked as a personal editor for one particular man - Tiger - but in reality she was his ghost-writer and in some mysterious sense his alter ego. During this time she wrote a great deal that appeared under his name - from personal letters and business correspondence to newspaper columns, novels and full length books.

Homing: A Memoir

Alistair Moffat

An unforgettable evocation of a post-war childhood and a tender exploration of a past that will be familiar to many.

Past Forgetting: A Memoir of Heroes, Adventure, Love and Life With Fitzroy Maclean

Veronica, Lady Maclean

Descendant of the Fraser family and wife of a diplomat, Veronica Maclean tells the story of her life played out against the dramatic social, political and diplomatic history of the 20th century.

Night Song of the Last Tram: A Glasgow Childhood

Robert Douglas

Night Song of the Last Tram is a superb evocation of childhood and of a Glasgow of trams and tenements that has long since disappeared.

The Yellow on The Broom: The Early Years of a Traveller Woman

Betsy Whyte

Comprising the memoirs of a Scottish traveller woman, this book, first published in 1979, was one of the first to open up the experiences and storys of Scotland's Travelling people to the wider public.

Jessie's Journey: Autobiography of a Traveller Girl

Jess Smith

The first in a trilogy of biographical books by Traveller and storyteller Jess Smith.

Baghdad's Spy: A Personal Memoir Of Espionage And Intrigue From Iraq To London Corinne Souza
This is the story of Britain's Secret Intelligence Services (SIS) - MI6 - as told from the perspective of a senior SIS spy's daughter. Souza describes espionage as a way of life, beginning with the murder of the Boy King of Iraq in 1958, the year her father was recruited.
Forever Francie: My Life With Jack Milroy Mary Lee
A funny memoir of Jack Milroy, one of Scotland's best-loved showbiz legends, by Mary Lee, his partner for 50 years. Lee tells the story of their lives, the highs, the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies but most important of all, the humour.
From Caledonia To The Pampas: Two Accounts By Early Scottish Emigrants To The Argentine
Although relatively few Scots ventured to Latin America, their cultural and economic importance to these emerging nations often belied their numerical deficiency. This text contains two records of the Scottish Argentinian experience.
From The Alleghenies To The Hebrides: An Autobiography Margaret Fay Shaw
After studying music Margaret Fay Shaw returned to live on South Uist. The collection of Gaelic lore and song she compiled is unique, and her photography evocative of a vanished world. Her memoirs feature a remarkable life and a plea for Gaelic culture.
Ghosting: A Double Life Jennie Erdal
'Ghosting' is an account of one woman's life, or to be more accurate, lives. For about 15 years Jennie Erdal had a double existence: officially she worked as a personal editor for one particular man - Tiger - but in reality she was his ghost-writer and in some mysterious sense his alter ego.
Homing: A Memoir Alistair Moffat
Alistair Moffat grew up in the Scottish Borders. After the deaths of his father and grandmother Bina, he discovered that they had kept what they saw as a shaming secret. 'Homing' is a vivid portrayal of Moffat's working-class childhood, as well as an account of his search for the truth about Bina's family.
Jessie's Journey: Autobiography Of A Traveller Girl Jess Smith
Between the ages of five and 15, Jess Smith lived with her parents, sisters and a dog called Tiny in an old blue Bedford bus. Free from conventional restrictions, they travelled the length and breadth of Scotland and beyond. Jess's story is full of dramatic events, colourful characters, earthy humour and a zest for life.
A Lie About My Father John Burnside
This book presents a story about forgiving but not forgetting, about examining the way men are made & how they fall apart, about understanding that in order to have a good son you must have a good father. The author's honesty, thinking & images of beauty & fracture combine to create a moving memoir of two lost men: a father & his child.
Night Song Of The Last Tram: A Glasgow Childhood Robert Douglas
Growing up in Glasgow both during and after the Second World War, Robert Douglas's life was blighted by the cruel - if sporadic - presence of his father, yet blessed by the love of his mother. In this book he recalls his upbringing, along with his memories of a city which has changed in many ways.
Past Forgetting: A Memoir Of Heroes, Adventure, Love And Life With Fitzroy Maclean Veronica, Lady Maclean
Descendant of the Fraser family and wife of a diplomat, Veronica Maclean tells the story of her life played out against the dramatic social, political and diplomatic history of the 20th century.
Title Deeds: A Work Of Friction Liza Campbell
Liza Campbell was the last child to be born at Cawdor Castle, the family seat of the Campbells, as featured in 'Macbeth'. This work tells the story of Liza's idyllic childhood. It is a contemporary fairy story that tells what it is like to grow up as a maiden in a castle where ancient curses and grisly past events were real.
The Yellow On The Broom: The Early Days Of A Traveller Woman Betsy Whyte
Betsy Whyte was born into a family of travellers who roamed the Scottish countryside between the wars. This vivid description of a childhood on the road amidst a misunderstood people is a rich evocation of a vanishing world.