Anna Nicholson Previews: May 2007

We're well into the swing of the Spring publishing season with some very good titles out this month. Cutting a swathe through the ranks of Mis Lit (misery memoirs) is an award-winning first novel, a children's novel set in Edinburgh, a telly guru and chef in non-fiction, and two Gaelic-related titles.

This month's big topics in books and publishing are: the lack of imagination shown by the International Man Booker judges – see Stuart Kelly's piece in Scotland on Sunday, and lists: do we need lists such as the Best Young Writers under 40? As usual with any lists and prizes, those who are left out may feel that these exercises set up unfair advantages for the lucky chosen ones. Is it marketing or genuine talent-spotting, or both?

The Costa Book of the Year begins this month's selection. Now out in paperback, Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves was a surprise winner as the author was almost completely unknown and had beaten off stiff competition from William Boyd and others. In the publicity surrounding the award to this first novel, it emerged that Penney had never been to Canada, a place she chose to set her novel in. Described as a panoramic historical romance and exhilarating thriller, it begins with a murder in the far North of the country.

This is the follow-up novel to Forbes' very successful Dragonfire, already in its third reprint. Floris Books in Edinburgh have added to the successful Kelpies series by publishing some very fine contemporary children's fiction, most of which is from Scottish-based authors and set in Scotland. This is no exception and tells of Neil and Clara Maclean's encounters with winged horses, mirrors and snow witches.

Can Jeremy Isaacs shed any light on the way forward for the beleaguered television industry? One of the founding fathers of Channel 4, he was their first Chief Executive when the company launched. Now working for Artworld at Sky, he takes a personal look at the past 45 years in TV and is in a good position to comment on the many changes in the industry. Do we make ground-breaking programmes in the UK anymore? Is the TV industry in this country still the best in the world? Do sponsors and advertisers have too much of a say? Are we over or under-regulated? Read and find out.

The latest title in the Ùr-Sgeul series of new Gaelic fiction, An Taigh-Samhraidh (The Holiday House) is Angus Peter Campbell's third novel for adults. Set in the Highlands, London and Europe, this is said to be his best work in Gaelic yet. Holiday homes/ second houses and their owners are contentious issues in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (and across Europe...) both from a green and economic perspective. In this novel, Campbell, steeped in the culture and history of the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland and now living in Skye, ponders the value of heritage and community.

Twenty-one autobiographical sketches of Lewis natives, all born before the Second World War, form the basis for this new title from Birlinn, who seem to have cornered the market on all things Highland and island. Lewis, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, has always had a strong identity, not always easily interpreted by the outside world. This would be an ideal present for Lewis natives experiencing cianalas (homesickness) all over the world.

There appears to be a real fascination with Gordon Ramsay. In the blurb for this new biography he's called one of the most driven and angry men in Britain. But hey, what's he got to be angry about? His restaurant empire is expanding rapidly; he has a happy marriage and four photogenic kids; he's rich, and he has the usual clutch of industry gongs, Michelin stars etc. There's something rather likeable about him despite his bullying ways that I can't quite fathom though.... Read Bill Buford's insightful piece on Ramsay in a recent New Yorker for starters.