Literary Fiction this March, Chosen by Anna Nicholson

This month, there’s an excellent maincrop of literary fiction in books by Andrew Greig, Meaghan Delahunt, and Andrew Drummond; a new poetry collection from Robert Crawford, a book on Glasgow’s multicultural background, and a few others.

Andrew Greig’s new adventure, Romanno Bridge, has a suitably moody cover and promises ‘an exploration of contemporary themes of fakes, frauds, copies, and a struggle to find the Real Thing, wherever and whatever it might be.’ A singular voice, Greig keeps getting better with each successive book and this one won’t disappoint. Good plotting, strong characters, and a mystery at the heart of it: what more do you want?

Well, there’s The Red Book, the long-awaited follow-up novel from Meaghan Delahunt (whose In the Blue House was such a successful debut). The new one is set 20 years after the Bhopal gas disaster, and explores three lives bound together by a series of coincidences. Delahunt, originally from Australia, teaches Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews.

Andrew Drummond has come up with some of the most inventive Scottish fiction around in the past ten years. Elephantina ‘tackles the tricky 18th-century problem of how to dissect an elephant’. There’s an original-looking design treatment to match.

Robert Crawford is one of Scotland’s most prolific poets and literary critics: his masterly and generous Scotland’s Books from last year provided a one-volume guide to the literature of the country. This year, he has a new poetry book out, Full Volume, which displays his trademark linguistic verve and energy.

Talking of full volume, here’s Iron Maiden: No Holds Barred. This ‘up to date, official’ history of the band is included this month because it made me smile and I guess it’s for fans only but there are probably enough of them still around to make this a good seller. (All together now: ‘Run to the hills, run for your lives...’)

Who Belongs to Glasgow? explores a very topical issue, that of immigration, this time to Scotland’s largest city. Glasgow’s a confident city, aware of its strengths (people), despite the poverty, crime, and poor health statistics that hit the headlines. Over the past 200 years, the author argues, successive waves of immigration - Highlanders, the Irish, a substantial Jewish population, an Asian community, and now folk from Eastern Europe - have made Glasgow a melting pot.

Finally, this month’s bodice-ripper: To Scotland, With Love, featuring a rather chilly-looking lady on the cover, wrapped in a tartan plaid. (That won’t be Dingwall, then.) Here’s the blurb: ‘When Lord Gregor MacLean learns his childhood friend, Venetia Oglivie, has been abducted by a fortune hunter, he rides off to Scotland in hot pursuit. When an irate Gregor catches up with her, arrogantly expecting a hero's welcome, the sparks between him and the strong-willed Venetia begin to fly.’