Showing results by publisher "Canongate Books" in All Categories

Ever been talked into buying a camel? Or become a burglar by mistake? Or accidentally drugged a friend on a blind date? Keggie Carew has an unerring instinct for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, of putting her foot in it, and making a hash of things. From the repercussions of a missing purse, to boiling a frog, or the holiday when the last thing you could possibly imagine happens, Keggie has been there. She also has an enviable talent for recycling awfulness and turning embarrassment into gold. In prose that will make you laugh, wince and curl your toes, Keggie Carew shares her most embarrassing, awkward, uncomfortable, funny, true, terrible and all-too-relatable moments. You will be glad none of it happened to you.

Salute to Adventurers takes place in the 1680s. It begins as the hero, Andrew Garvald, on his way to Glasgow, takes a cut across the moors. There he meets Elspeth Blair and a religious fanatic known as Muckle John Gib. Later Andrew encounters Ninian Campbell, coming to Campbell's aid when he is attacked by ruffians in a Glasgow back street. Andrew is sent by his uncle - as his merchant representative - to Virginia, where he initially experiences hostility because of his attempts to reform trading practices.

For centuries, travellers would stare up at the stars to guide them. Constellations of shining lights would offer a path forward or a way through, delivering courage and hope on long, difficult voyages. Throughout her life, Gemma Cairney has pieced together her own constellation, one which is...

Neither Mason, a US Special Forces medic, nor Lisette, a foreign correspondent, has emerged from America's long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unscathed. Yet, for them, war still exerts a terrible draw - the noble calling, the camaraderie, the life-and-death stakes. Where else in the world can...

When Shane McCrae was eighteen months old, he was removed from his parents and taken to suburban Texas. His mom was white and his dad was Black, and to hide his Blackness from him, his maternal grandparents stole him. In the years that followed, they manipulated and controlled him, believing they were doing what was best for him. His grandmother loved Shane but hated people who looked like him. His grandfather policed any perceived signs of Blackness his grandson showed. In their house, Blackness would always be the worst thing about him.

The Breakstone family arrange themselves around their daughter, Heather, and the world seems to follow: beautiful, compassionate, entrancing, she is the greatest blessing in their lives of Manhattan luxury. But as Heather grows - and her empathy sharpens to a point, and her radiance attracts more and more dark interest - their perfect existence starts to fracture. Meanwhile, a very different life, one raised in poverty and in violence, is beginning its own malign orbit around Heather.

Within an atmosphere of razor-sharp political surreality, Lara Haworth spins a tender, magical story of familial love and loss. Via a panoply of perspectives Monumenta compellingly and playfully explores remembrance and how tragedy can be the catalyst for remarkable transformation.

It is 1953, a heat wave is sweeping across America and the Grossmans - Ben, Addie and their two children - are moving their lives from the political heart of Washington, DC to suburban Long Island. Benny was a successful lawyer in the Department of Justice, but all that has come tumbling down. With the McCarthy era of paranoia, persecution, and propaganda at its height, his past has come back to haunt him, forcing him to pack up his family and leave the capital behind.

The pen is our oldest tangible connection between an individual mind and the world at large, enabling the grandest proclamations and our most intimate confessions. But the pen's own story is just as eventful as anything it has described. This is the illuminating story of how the simplest tool...

"Forsaken" is one of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's most famous short stories. Grassic Gibbon is well-known for his empathetic and strong character depiction, particularly of women. Lyrical and powerful, "Forsaken" is performed by Scottish actress Eileen McCallum.

Shaun Usher brings together fascinating correspondence about the universe beyond our planet, containing hopeful thoughts about the future of space travel, awestruck messages penned about the worlds beyond our own and celebrations of the human ingenuity that has facilitated our understanding of the cosmos. 

Hunting Shadows is drawn from Gallagher's journalistic pieces and offers an evocative and personal view of the area. Born and bred in Dumbarton, reader Robert Trotter is very much at home with these affectionate memories of the town on the Clyde.

Cora carries secrets her daughter can't know. Freya is frightened by what her mother leaves unsaid. Angel will only bury the past if it means putting her abusers into the ground. One act of violence sets three women on a collision course, each desperate to find the truth, when the people they love are not what they seem.

Here is the beguiling and charming memoir of Toby, an exceptionally gifted pig. After escaping the butcher's knife with the help of his steadfast companion, Sam, Toby soon finds himself under the order of the volatile impresario Silas Bisset and his travelling menagerie of performing monkeys, horses, turkeys, and canaries. Before too long, he is packing out theatres and concert halls. But celebrity comes at a cost, as Toby soon finds out.

The dinner table, among friends, is where the best conversations take place - talk about the world, religion, politics, culture, love and cooking. In the same way, Be My Guest is a conversation about all these things, mediated through the sharing of food. We live in a world where some have too much and others not enough, where migrants and refugees are both welcomed and vilified, and where most of us spend less and less time cooking and eating together.

In 1987 a massive snowstorm hits New York as Peter Kaldheim flees the city, owing drug debts to a dealer who is no stranger to casual violence. Leaving behind his chaotic past, Kaldheim hits the road, living hand-to-mouth in flophouses, panhandling with his fellow itinerants. As he makes his way across America in search of a new life, the harsh reality of living hand-to-mouth forces him to face up to his past, from his time in Rikers prison to relationships lost and lamented.  

The advent of the internet has been one of the most significant technological developments in history. In this thought-provoking and ground-breaking work David Eagleman, author of international best seller Sum, presents six ways in which the net saves us from major existential threats: pandemics, poor information flow, natural disasters, political corruption, resource depletion and economic meltdown. 

Who says youth is wasted on the young? Jasper wants to get on in the world, but life is distracting. He’s got his A-levels to contend with, his mother pushing him to overachieve, weekly visits to his psychologist, come-downs, YouTube suicides and pregnant one-night-stands. And then there's his step-dad - the murderer. Hilarious and heartbreaking by turns, GROW UP is the ultimate twenty-first-century coming-of-age novel.

Geulwoll is a Korean word for ‘letter’. It is also the name of a small, unassuming letter shop, located on the third floor of a shabby building in the bustling heart of Seoul. People visit from all over to write and send letters to loved ones – and to strangers. This book is not about rules or right answers for writing letters. It is about embracing the power of what happens when you choose to carve out the time to write them.

Lord Jim is a riveting story of courage and cowardice, self-knowledge and growth. This story follows the fortunes of Jim, first mate of a ship named Patna, which is abandoned along with the passengers. Jim suffers shame in court for "dereliction of duty". And in abandoning his responsibilities, Jim is always on the run from his past, which affects all his relationships. Only in a faraway culture and settlement - a small island in Malay Peninsula - does he find respect and marriage.