Anna Nicholson's Up and Coming

From November by Walter De La Mare

Scotland in November: not exactly a great image, is it? Never mind; it’s also a fantastic month for readers. Not only is there a huge range of books in the shops but the weather tempts you indoors to read them.

This month, I’m featuring a book that I predict will wing its way around the world for Christmas; an atmospheric children’s book from that prolific and highly-respected writer, Nicola Morgan; a nostalgic portrait of life on a Highland estate; a collection of columns from a witty and much-missed Lewisman, the late Hector MacDonald, and to finish, as always, a steamy bodice-ripper.

What exactly did Maw Broon feed her bairns with? Surely it wasn’t all pehs with ingins? (Ask a Dundonian). From Clootie Dumpling to Dundee Cake, this is the recipe book we’ve all been waiting for and surely there can’t be an expat who wouldn’t want this on their shelves. Where’s your Gordon Ramsay noo?

A new children’s book from an award-winning writer is always an event. Author of over 90 books for children, including the bestselling Know Your Brain, Nicola Morgan’s follow up to her The Highwayman’s Footsteps (read about it here ) is called The Highwayman’s Curse and is an gripping tale for older children.

This looks like a quintessential autumn read: elegiac, nostalgic, wistful and grounded. Based on hundreds of interviews with gardeners, gamekeepers, maids, governesses, lairds, chauffeurs, cooks and housekeepers, this is a portrait of a Scottish country estate in its heyday in the 1920s and as it is today.

Readers of the West Highland Free Press, the Skye-based weekly newspaper, will remember with great fondness the column called Aimsir Eachainn, written by Hector MacDonald whose witty and whimsical columns on life on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides were always a must-read. With a fine ear for the absurdities (and benefits) of island living, Aimsir Eachainn represents a voice that isn’t often heard outside of Lewis.

After finding herself at the centre of a very public scandal that left one man dead and another on the run, Lady Alexandra Huntington has exiled herself to her brother's estate and is content to manage his affairs. But the arrival of handsome Collin Blackburn awakens her curiosity and desire.

Indeed.