Books published by Luath Press Ltd

The bond between a mother and her child is the strongest in the natural world. So why would a young woman, dreaming of America, throw her newborn baby into the waves of the wild Atlantic ocean? Life in the Scottish Hebrides can be harsh - 'The Edge of the World' some call it. For Kirsty MacLeod, the love of Murdo promises a new life away from the scrape of the land and the repression of the church. But the Great War looms and the villages hold a grand Road Dance to send their young men off to battle. As the dancers swirl and sup, Kirsty is overpowered and raped by an unknown assailant. She hides her dark secret, fearful of what it will mean for her and the baby she is carrying. Only the embittered doctor, a man with a cold wife and a colder bed, suspects. On a fateful day of surging seas and swelling pain Kirsty learns that her love will never be back. Now she must make her choice and it is no choice at all. And the hunt for the baby's mother and his killer become one and the same.

The postman and the primary teacher, the midwife and the musician. Workers in shops, workers at sea. Solidarity with the Columbian farmer and the Palestinian fireman...Modern trade unionists in Scotland perform roles in every imaginable location and are drawn from all backgrounds. They campaign to win on issues facing the colleague next to them or a comrade thousands of miles away. 'Mon the Workers tells their stories in their own words. It is a celebration of 125 years of the STUC, and a clarion call for the next generation to agitate, organise and win. This book demonstrates past achievements, explores the ideas trade unionists have fought for and rouses the movement towards future victories. 75 trade union members, reps and officials share experiences of union life from the anti-apartheid movement to Wick Wants Work. Alan McCredie's charismatic portraits of 50 other activists from the trade union movement provide a complementary visual narrative. This very human book pulses with the energy of Scotland's trade union movement, which has achieved so much and still has more to do.

Commissioned especially for Scotland's Year of Stories, Storm and Shore connects the west coast of Scotland's rich mythological past with the present day. When artist Lucy Salter comes to a remote Argyll coastline she aims to connect with nature in its wild state. Aid worker Dave McArthur is fleeing traumatic conflict. But they have both ventured into a borderland, layered by history, migration and repressed violence. Itis a liminal place, storied by centuries of settlement and travel. Yet local tradition bearers, bard and seannachaidh, can channel the past. From these hauntings, a storytelling tapestry is woven from the sea, nature myth and weather. The long roots of our global crisis are laid bare in landfalls, wherein the crucible of Gaelic tradition, creatures of the sea meet the shore.

Glasgow. 2007. Emo culture is thriving, but fifteen-year-old Cathy O'Kelly's world couldn't be more insular. It's her first day at high school. Bullied out of primary, she's got a new start after two years being taught at home by her Mammy. She's dreaming of getting the marks she needs to be a proper Scots writer and avoiding getting on the wrong side of the neds. Again. But her bully doesn't wear a tracksuit. Mark's a third year in an oversized hoodie and Converse. A poet. Or so he wants to be. When he learns of Cathy's dream, he's makes it his mission to tear it down - and win her admiration. Will a chance encounter with a punk band at Glasgow's seminal underage club save her? Or will a different kind of bully push Cathy further into herself?

They all excited and inspired me by how they fought their corners [...] So I want to place them all round a fantasy dinner-table, not just to dine, but to relive how I saw them in action and how much they had in common.Who would be on your dream dinner party guest list? Over his 50 years in broadcasting, Archie Macpherson has seen many sports personalities come and go; in Touching the Heights he collects the 13 who have inspired him most around his fantasy dinner table. Some are well-known, others less so, but all shaped both their sport and those, like Macpherson, who watched their careers unfold.Tommy Docherty * Jackie Paterson * Jim Baxter Eric Brown * Jimmy Johnstone * Sandra Whittaker Dr Richard Budgett * Ally MacLeod * Jock Stein * Sir Alex Ferguson * Bill McLaren * Jim MacLean * Graeme SounessFrom football to golf, boxing to athletics, Touching the Heights celebrates the breadth of Scottish sporting achievement. Whether telling the tale of a boy who acquired new shoes by stealing them from the local baths, or that of a distinguished medical scientist at the centre of sporting transgender debates, one thing unites them all: Without them life would have been much poorer.

'Welcome to a journey of remarkablebuildings and remarkable thoughts aboutthese buildings, shaped as they are by deep time, modern ideas and Scottish culture. Readers are sure to see new vistas in the land of stone open before them' From the Foreword by PROFESSOR ANDREW PATRIZIOWhat makes Scottish architecture Scottish?What ideas drive Scottish architecture?What has modern architecture in Scotlandmeant to the Scots?Ever since the ‿granny-tops‿, rattling and clanking in the wind to draw smoke up the tenemental flues from open coal fires, caught my attention as a three-year-old, architecture and its many parts, purposes, processes and procedures has fascinated me. For me, architecture has always had profound significance. 'Land of Stone' seeks to disengage widely-held conceptions of what a Scottish architecture superficially looks like and to focus on the ideas and events ‿ philosophical, political, practical and personal ‿ that inspired architects and their clients to create the cities, towns, villages and buildings we cherish today.

Growing up during The Troubles, I was determined that I was not going to be forced into Irish unity by terrorist violence or the threat of it. At the time, there was no space to think about a different future. But since then, we have had peace, however imperfect it may be, and we now have the opportunity to freely decide our fate.Why will everyone living on the island of Ireland benefit from Irish unity?How will the referendum be won?Do we need to start preparing now?What will happen when Ireland is reunified?Disillusioned with the state of pro-union politics in Britain and Northern Ireland, scarred by what he and many others see as a detrimental vote for Brexit and determined to heal the wounds inflicted by partition, Ben Collins sets out a multitude of political, social and economic benefits of removing the border on the island of Ireland, once and for all.Written from the viewpoint of an East Belfast-born former UUP campaigner, Irish Unity: Time to Prepare addresses the concerns of unionists in Northern Ireland and sceptics in the Republic and urges everyone on the island of Ireland to escape the crumbling United Kingdom so that we can build a peaceful and prosperous future together, for ourselves and our children.

What do we mean by 'Scottish literature'?Why does it matter?How do we engage with it?Bringing infectious enthusiasm and a lifetime's experience to bear on this multi-faceted literary nation, Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow, sets out to guide you through the varied and ever-evolving landscape of Scottish literature.A comprehensive and extensive work designed not only for scholars but also for the generally curious, Scottish Literature: an introduction tells the tale of Scotland's many voices across the ages, from Celtic pre-history to modern mass media. Forsaking critical jargon, Riach journeys chronologically through individual works and writers, both the famed and the forgotten, alongside broad overviews of cultural contexts which connect texts to their own times. Expanding the restrictive canon of days gone by, Riach also sets down a new core body of 'Scottish Literature': key writers and works in English, Scots, and Gaelic.Ranging across time and genre, Scottish Literature: an introduction invites you to hear Scotland through her own words.

There it is again, hope. The defeat and the despair I can stand, but it's the hope that kills me, as if the Cause wasn't lost, as if Father hadn't died in vain. As if any one of us could possibly come out of this alive... Following the death of his father, 13-year-old Archie MacDonald has lost faith in the Jacobite Cause. Having witnessed their clan's terrible defeat at the Battle of Culloden, Archie and his feisty cousin Meg flee back to Lochaber to lie low. Or so they think. Until the fugitive Prince's life depends on them. When Prince Charles Edward Stuart looks to the people of Borrodale for help, will the young stable boy support the rebellion that has cost him so dearly?With enemies closing in, the Prince's fate now rests in the hands of a stable boy and a maid with a white cockade. Who will survive this deadly game of hide-and-seek?

The twelve stories in Letting Go take us on a journey through landscape, language and turbulent times, from the mid-19th century to the present day, and into the future. Stevenson's array of characters from many walks of life and nationalities - including a traveller, a wood carver, chicken farm workers, a nurse, an architect and a magician - meet and part, some becoming reacquainted.Themes exploring identity, creativity and the environment, echo and connect throughout the different narratives, sometimes carried in snatches of song. The author leads us outward from her native Scottish Borders to Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Gaidhealtachd, south to England, across the Atlantic to Apartheid South Africa and, finally, to the melting Arctic.

Who needs a gym when you have Scotland?We all have goals, ambitions and dreams, but How do you overcome the obstacles you find in the way? How do you kick your negativity to the kerb? How do you become who you want to be?BY STICKING TO THE DAMN PLANWith hundreds of videos, thousands of followers and millions of views, The Kilted Coaches, Stephen Clarke and Rab Shields, are no strangers to living their lives in high definition. But now they reveal how to become HD in every aspect of your life: bigger, louder, more colourful than ever, and unmistakeably you. In a characteristically Scottish blend of advice and banter, The Kilted Coaches channel their years of experience as life coaches and weight loss experts into bite-sized nuggets of advice designed to build confidence, positivity and ultimately that elusive future self. Always down to earth (sometimes very literally), they demonstrate that whoever you are, wherever you are, you can win each day. In fact, we‿re all just folk with our own lives and commitments, and every step towards health and happiness is a success. So, stick to the plan and win your life ‿ even if you don‿t have a kilt (but it helps).

About this Book Saoil cait an d' fhuair a mathair am program seo? Cha b' ann bhuaipse a thainig e... Air latha gruamach, geamhradail ann an 1997, am measg leabhraichean a mathar nach maireann, tha Mairi a' lorg program airson cuirm shonraichte a ghabh aite ann an Glaschu, 1965. Fhad 's a tha i a' cur suil air, tha cuimhneachain laidir a' tilleadh thuice air na h-atharrachaidhean uile a thachair anns an teaghlach agus na beatha fhein nuair a bha i air stairsneach inbheachd. Ciad ghaol. Tinneas. Imrich, an-fhois, diomhaireachd is dubhlain. Agus a' fas neo-eisimeileach ann an doigh nach robh duil idir aice. Seo a' chiad nobhail bho ughdar Dileab Cholbhasach, agus Cuibhle an Fhortain a bha air gearr-liosta Duais Chomann Gaidhealach Lunnainn 2020 airson an leabhar ficsein as fhearr. On a bleak winter's day in 1997, Mairi finds an old concert-programme amongst her late mother's effects. As she turns the pages it rekindles powerful memories of events in her own life - and that of her family - at that particular time, when she was twelve years old and still living on Skye. First love. Uncertainty. Illness. Secrecy. Changes and challenges. And finally, finding a new independence which she could never have foreseen. This is the first novel for the author of 'Dileab Cholbhasach', and 'Cuibhle an Fhortain' shortlisted in the best fiction category for the Gaelic Society of London prize.

The mountains provide the spiritual nourishment so essential to a truer understanding of the hills and, ultimately, ourselves.Munro bagging is a headily addictive pursuit, with the holy-grail of 'compleation' the ultimate aim, currently achieved by around 7,000 Munroists.It all began in 1891 when Sir Hugh Munro's Tables of 3,000-foot Scottish mountains appeared in The Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal. Since then, this innocent compilation of hills has become a hallowed hit-list.Andrew Dempster traces the meandering course of this cult activity, which has gone from trickle to torrent in the space of a century. From early map-makers to current record-breakers, from the why and the wry to wildness and well-being, The Munros: A History explores the compulsions and philosophies underpinning the Munro phenomenon.