Crowvus Book Blog

 I'm not a nature writer - I don't know nearly enough to pass myself off as one! But, as this month marks the #30DaysWild campaign, I thought I'd take you on a guided tour of some of my own observations of the natural world and how they impacted on my historical writing... First of all, there was that  walk which led to the creation of Caledon . Yes, I've blogged about it so often I won't repeat it all again! But there are things in nature which capture your imagination. The Big Burn waterfall was one of those things for me. Writing the discovery which James made was easy to do because it was just how I had felt. Here it is: Somewhere, only a short distance from him, the sound of a waterfall could be heard, both heavy and gentle in a manner which made his head throb even more. It was the hard work and efforts of these falls which had carved out the ravine where he lay. The trees which had broken his fall on his way down, clung to the sheer sides and gave the April s...

If you asked people what happened in Scotland in the eighteenth century, most would make some reference to Bonnie Prince Charlie. Especially if you said mid-eighteenth century. Narrow it down to the year 1746 and some will make reference to the aftermath of the final Jacobite uprising. Cut it down to April and they will mention Culloden. But there was another conflict occurred in April 1746, one which was claimed shortly afterwards to have cost the throne: Littleferry. Very little is taught and discussed surrounding the events of the Jacobite uprising north of Drumossie, where the battle of Culloden was fought. It is almost as if the north of Scotland had no part to play. People sing about “over the sea to Skye” and suppose that, between Inverness to the east and Skye to the west, this was the furthest reach of the Jacobites. But that is not the case. The Jacobite funds, carried by French and Spanish ships, had been blocked in the Kyle of Tongue far to the north only a month earlier, w...

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to make you appreciate the life you had before. Without the freedom to roam around Scotland, my debut book would never have happened. And I’m grateful to this day that it was done and dusted before Covid struck. The fact I’ve been unable to travel the country again to launch Craggy the Coo Wants a Place to Call Home is a trifling inconvenience in the great scheme of what we’ve all endured over the past 13 months or so. I’ve been asked how I picked the places that Craggy travels to in the course of his journey. If I’m honest, they really picked themselves, based on where I happened to be or personally chose to visit in the 18 months or so it took me to put the book together. So let’s start at the start. The first picture I ever took of Craggy on location was in the village of Rockcliffe, Dumfries and Galloway in January 2018. That stretch of the Solway coastline brings back magical memories from my childhood when, to quote one of my favourite autho...

Thank you Judith Crow for writing this book review. Mysteries and Misadventure - Tales from the Highlands by Aaron Mullins I do like short stories. There’s just something about having the option to dive into a book for five minutes and emerge having completed an entire story. Aaron Mullins' Mysteries and Misadventures is a collection of short stories which are inspired by the area we live in. It always helps when you can put yourself in the place where the stories are set but, never fear, Aaron has a genuine gift for descriptive writing which allows people from any place to put themselves in the settings he skilfully creates. I regularly do the “first read” of the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story competition, meaning that I can be reading over a hundred supernatural stories in a very short space of time. That makes me choosy and means I come at any such stories with a very critical eye. Mysteries and Misadventures does stand up well in this light. Again, that descriptive writing is wh...

What a weekend it has been! The 1st John o' Groats Book Festival has been in the pipeline for a long time, and it certainly lived up to expectations. It started with a bang on Friday. A cartographer was launching her new set of Northern Scotland maps. Sadly, I was at work during this event but I've heard great things about it from people who were there. The cartographer's name is Val Fry and the publisher is Nicolson. The first event I could attend was on the Friday evening when the authors were introduced, including 8 fabulous local authors who each had a 10 minute slot. It was great to see one of the organisers, Ian Leith , start the evening by showing his books. The next author was Virginia Crow, published by Crowvus, who started her talk by showing the Day's Dying Glory book trailer which had people sitting on the edge of their seats. Virginia Crow, author of Day's Dying Glory It was super to hear so many local authors talk about their books, an...

Virginia Crow (author of Day's Dying Glory) at Innerpeffray Library I’m not sure what it was about my last holiday that made it so special. Whether it was because it was intertwined with the Day’s Dying Glory book launch event at Innerpeffray Library, or because I needed a rest from all my responsibilities, or that it was just an amazing place to stay…I really loved last week’s holiday! The cottage was The Old Post Office on Dunalistair Estate and we had booked it from Saturday to Saturday. The road to the cottage was bumpy and bendy which, being a non-driver, I didn’t mind a bit. In fact, it seemed to add to the whole experience. Once at the cottage, I realised what an astonishing view we would have for the next 7 days. The cottage looked out across an open field, over Dunalistair Water and to Schiehallion beyond. On clear days, you could see the whole mountain which stood quite close to the cottage. Once every day, however, the mountain top would be covered by mi...