Mostrando resultados por narrador "Robin Laing" en Todas las categorías

As the old chemical works in Leith are demolished, a long deceased body encrusted in phosphate rock is discovered. Seated at a card table, he has 10 objects laid out in front of him. Whose body is it? How did he die, and what is the significance of the objects? Phosphate Rocks: A Death in 10 Objects unravels the mystery using a mix of real life anecdote, scientific explanation and a touch of fiction, woven together to create a vivid account of the life and decline of a factory over five decades.

When pickpocket Danny accidentally bids for Maharajah the elephant at an Edinburgh auction, he's swept up on an unforgettable journey. His new employer, a zookeeper, transforms Danny into a bejewelled Indian prince. As he rides Maharajah from Scotland to his new home in England, even Queen Victoria follows their journey with delight. But as a rival zookeeper wagers on their failure, Danny's shady connections threaten to overturn the mission....

In 1720, the young William Neilson leaves Edinburgh to make his fortune in Europe, first sailing to Rotterdam and then on foot to Paris, where he meets and is immediately employed by the banker John Law. A day later he is in the Bastille, but not before he has encountered a young woman of surpassing beauty to whom Neilson will be devoted for the rest of his life.

In a condemned tower block in Glasgow, residents slowly trickle away until a young man is left alone with only the angels and devils in his mind for company. Stumbling from one surreal situation to the next, he encounters others on the margins of society, finding friendship and camaraderie wherever it is offered, grappling with who he is and what shape his future might take. The Voids is an unsparing story of modern-day Britain, told with brilliant flashes of humour and humanity.

Imagine going from neurologist to dermatologist, orthopaedic surgeon to obstetrician, assassin to saviour–all in one day. Welcome to the extraordinary world of veterinary medicine… In Never Work with Animals, vet Gareth Steel shares the moments of humour, horror and heroism across his 20-year career caring for creatures great and small, from bulls to stick insects. Thought-provoking, heartwarming and often laugh-out-loud funny, this unforgettable memoir reveals what life is really like for our vets.

Traditionalism is the shadowy philosophy that has influenced so much of the twentieth century and beyond: from the far right to the environmental movement, from Alexander Dugin to Prince Charles. It is a new way of seeing the world: one that rejects modernity and instead turns to sacred truth, perennialism and tradition as its guide.

It is the near-future, and drug resistance has taken hold. Antibiotics are no longer available, and in the war between humanity and bacteria, one little girl is in the front line.... 10-year-old Sarah is not allowed to play outside. But one day, she and her brother break the rules and go into the nearby woods, where she scratches her knee. The wound gets infected, and soon becomes life-threatening. Now Sarah’s in a coma, in an isolated room in hospital. Her family and medical team are hoping this will stop the infection - but they’re running out of time.

Luke hates his life. His dad is busy with a shiny replacement family, and his mum has insisted they spend their holiday on a remote Scottish island. Then Luke meets Meg, who lives with her grandfather in a boarded-up boat house on the beach. And when together they rescue an otter pup that they name Willow, a chink of light appears in Luke’s dark and lonely days. But danger lurks behind the beauty of Puffin Bay - and soon Luke must depend upon Willow for his very survival.

In this enthralling book Jim Fraser gives a unique insight into forensic science and examines in detail some of the UK's most high-profile murder investigations in recent decades, including the deaths of Rachel Nickell, Damilola Taylor and Gareth Williams, the GCHQ code breaker. Drawing on his personal experience as a forensic scientist and cold-case reviewer, Fraser reveals how each of these cases unfolded as a human, investigative and scientific puzzle and how some were solved and why others remain unsolved or controversial even today.

On the dark streets of Edinburgh, a killer is waiting. When a body is found, it is only the beginning. Soon there will be seven more. In the city’s hospital, renowned surgeon Beth Waterfall is grieving. Her beloved only daughter fell prey to a vicious stalker a year previously – and now he’s coming for her too. Edinburgh’s police are desperate.

How Britain Ends is a book about history, but also about the strange, complicated identity of Britishness. In the past, it was possible to live with delightful confusion: one could be English, or British, Scottish or Irish and a citizen/subject of the United Kingdom (or Great Britain). For years that state has been what Gavin Esler calls a 'secret federation', but without the explicit federal arrangements that allow Germany or the USA to survive. Now the archaic state, which doesn't have a written constitution, is coming under terrible strain.

New Year's Eve, 1746. A castle in the depths of France. A thunderstorm. A pair of lovers in a hay-loft. A wounded soldier toppling from his horse. So begins the second instalment of the life of William Neilson, Scottish soldier in French service and Jacobite agent against his will. Around his neck, William carries the most precious jewel on the surface of the earth, but it is not his, and he must carry it to the exiled King of England, Scotland and Ireland in Italy. Before that, he wishes to see for a last time the woman he has loved for more than half his life.

Stanley Aylett's remarkable account of six years' service as a front-line surgeon with the British Army is that rare thing: a complete narrative from the first week of the Second World War until months after the final capitulation of Nazi Germany. That war was the last Western conflict in which military surgeons performed operations immediately behind the front line, often in makeshift theatres set up in tents or abandoned, battle-scarred buildings. Surgeon at War records the resilience and resourcefulness of the medical teams.

In a darkening, post-COVID world, fearless investigative reporter Shona Sandison is seeking meaning–and her next big story. A secret contact inside the government has promised her something huge, but she has no idea of the danger she is in. Meanwhile, her old friend Hector Stricken has taken on a position in communications for a new state agency, where he stumbles across a sinister, top-secret project codenamed ‘Grendel.’

Paramedic Andy Campbell has a secret he can't tell anyone, not least the police. But when his missing wife's image is found at the home of a suspected killer, detectives start asking questions, and they're not the only ones . . . The race for the truth leads them far from their Edinburgh home. But who will find her first, and will they save her life or take it?

The Goldenacre—a masterpiece by the painter and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh—has been given to the people of Scotland. The beautiful canvas, the last work by the artistic genius, enthrals the art world, but behind it lies a dark and violent mystery. Thomas Tallis, an art expert with a trouble past, is trying to uncover the truth about the painting's complex history, while dogged newspaper reporter Shona Sandison is investigating a series of shocking murders in Edinburgh.

Andrew O'Hagan issues three bulletins from the porous border between cyberspace and the 'real world.' 'Ghosting' introduces us to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose autobiography the author ghostwrites with unforeseen consequences. In 'The Invention of Ronnie Pinn' the author uses the identity of a deceased man to construct an entirely new one in cyberspace. And 'The Satoshi Affair' details the strange case of Craig Wright, the web developer who may or may not be the inventor of Bitcoin.

Danny works at Belle Vue Zoo, where - alongside training the famous elephant Maharajah - he helps out with the day-to-day tasks of caring for the animals. But when animals start escaping, Danny is the prime suspect: after all, he was a former street urchin and pickpocket. When a man turns up claiming to be his father, the plot thickens. Can Danny untangle the mystery of the animal escapade - and find out where he really belongs - in order to clear his name?

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Our Lady of the Snows and learn about William Neilson.

In the quiet Scottish seaside village of Dunlyre, Finn is enduring a winter holiday with his annoying new stepmother, wishing things could go back to how they were, while Sage is enjoying her new home, wishing things would stay as they are. Finn has seen mysterious swimmers in the Firth late at night. Then, from the clifftop, first Sage, then Finn, hears an eerie song. Could the local legend of merfolk living amid the waves actually be true?