Harrow and District Caledonian Society

Future reading

Tuesday 10th September - own choice of (scottish-themed) books as summer reading

Books read and discussed by the group

2023/24

June - Before the Storm - Alex Gray

Apr - The Improbable Prisoner - Stuart Douglas

Mar - In Place of Fear - Alexander McCall Smith

Feb - The Peppermint Tea Chronicles - Catriona McPherson

Jan - Wild Fire - Anne Cleeves

Nov - Lady In Waiting - Anne Glenconner

Oct - The Last Girl to Die - Helen Fields

Sept - summer reading - books of own choice

2022/23

June - A Song for the Dark Times - Ian Rankin

May - The Man with the Silver Saab - Alexander McCall Smith

Mar - Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

Feb - Lewis Man - Peter May

Jan - Circus of Wonders - Elizabeth Macneal

Nov - Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell

Oct - Rizzio - Denise Mina

Sept - summer reading - book of own choice

2021/22

May - Destroying Angel - Shona MacLean

(and revisiting Daughters of the Winter Queen)

Apr - Daughters of the Winter Queen - Nancy Goldstone

Mar - no meeting

Feb - A Rising Man - Abir Mukherjee

Jan - Love Is Blind - William Boyd

Nov - The Cut - Chris Brookmyre

Oct - The Murder of Mary Russell - Laurie R King

Sep - The Ninth Child - Sally Magnusson

2020/21

During the pandemic lockdowns members were reading their own choice of books with a Scottish connection til regular meetings could resume.

Links to podcasts from authors we have read and to the Hay and Edinburgh Book Festivals have been added to our messageboard/discussion board

2019/20

Mar - Coffin Road - Peter May

Feb - Death of a Kingfisher - M C Beaton

Jan - Tall Tales and Wee Stories - Billy Connolly

Nov - The Ghost Tree - Barbara Erskine

Oct - All That Remains - Sue Black

Sept - summer reading - book of own choice

2018/19

June - Hypocrites' Isle - Ken McClure

May - The Diary of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell

Mar - Dominion - C J Sansom

Feb - The Story Keeper - Anna Mazzola

Jan - Where Memories Go - Sally Magnusson

Nov - A Divided Spy - Charles Cumming

Oct - Gone Again - Doug Johnstone

Sept - summer reading - book of own choice

2017/18

July - The Outrun - Amy Liptrot

May - Paths of the Dead - Lin Anderson

(also visit to Boswell Book Festival, attending a variety of talks)

Apr - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

Mar - When Will There Be Good News - Kate Atkinson

Jan - The Little Shop of Happy Ever After - Jenny Colgan

also His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae-Burnet

Dec - His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae-Burnet - postponed to January

Oct - The Other Mrs Walker - Mary Paulson-Ellis

Sept - book of own choice (summer reading, scottish theme)

2016/17

July - The Last Foundling - Tom H Mackenzie

May - The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle - Kirsty Wark

Apr - Mrs Robinson's Disgrace - Kate Summerscale

Mar - The Bletchley Girls - Tessa Dunlop

Feb - Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime - Val McDermid

Jan - The Silver Dark Sea - Susan Fletcher

Nov - Gone are the Leaves - Anne Donovan

Oct - The Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan

Sept - book of own choice (summer reading, scottish theme)

2015/16

June - Gods and Beasts - Denise Mina

May - The Birdcage - Clive Aslet

Apr - How to be both - Ali Smith

Mar - Head of State - Andrew Marr

Feb - Keane's Company - Iain Gale

Jan - The Glasgow Coma Scale - Neil D.A. Stewart

Nov - The Cuckoo’s Calling -Robert Galbraith

Oct - The Lighthouse Stevensons - Bella Bathurst

Sept - book of own choice

2014/15

June - Secrets of the Sea House - Elizabeth Gifford

May - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - R L Stevenson

Apr - Mr Mac and Me - Esther Freud (re Charles Rennie Mackintosh)

Mar - The Madness of July - James Naughtie

Feb - Extraordinary People - Peter May

Jan - The Last Dance of the Wreckers Ball - Robert Douglas

Dec - Any Human Heart - William Boyd

Oct - Northanger Abbey - Val McDermid

Sept - book of own choice - member's home

June - Entry Island - Peter May

2013/14

May - The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson

Apr - The Last Slave Market - Alistair Hazell

Feb - Three Things You Need To Know About Rockets - Jessica Fox

Jan - Whirligig - Magnus Macintyre

Dec - The Red Road - Denise Mina

Oct - David's Sisters - Moira Forsyth

Sept - book of own choice

July - Island of Wings - Karin Altenberg

2012/13

May - Birthdays for the Dead - Stuart MacBride

Apr - And The Band Played On: The Enthralling Account of What Happened After the Titanic Sank - Christopher Ward

Mar - Flodden Fields - Elisabeth McNeill

Feb - Somewhere To Lay My Head - Robert Douglas

Jan - The Darkness and the Deep - Aline Templeton

Nov - Eric Liddell: Pure Gold - David McCausland

Oct - Gillespie & I - Jane Harris

Sept - Own choice of book

Jun - The Secret Life of Bletchley Park - Sinclair McKay

2011/12

May - The Singing Sands - Josephine Tey

Apr - The Dancing Days - Maggie Craig (afternoon meeting)

Mar - The Pirate Hunter - Richard Zacks (afternoon meeting)

Feb - Red Bones - Ann Cleeves (afternoon meeting)

Jan - The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney (afternoon meeting)

Dec - The Forgotten Highlander - Alistair Urquart (evening meeting)

Oct - The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid (afternoon meeting)

Sept - In Another Light - Andrew Greig (evening meeting)

2010/11

May - Night Song of the Last Tram - Robert Douglas (evening meeting)

Apr - Lying Dead - Aline Templeton

Mar - The Chapel at the End of the World - Kirsten McKenzie

Feb - Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre

Jan - Hot News - Elisabeth McNeill

no meeting in December

Nov - Red Dust Road - Jackie Kay

Oct - Sisters of Sinai - Janet Soskice

Sept - Ring of Bright Water - Gavin Maxwell,

plus members' choices of another Scottish book

June - Touching Distance - Rebecca Abrams

2009/10

May - This is not about me - Janice Galloway

Apr - Raven Black - Anne Cleeves

Mar - The Redemption of Alexander Seaton - Shona MacLean

Feb - Buddha Da - Anne Donovan

Jan - Calum's Road - Roger Hutchinson

no meeting in December

Nov - The Steep Approach to Garbadale - Iain Banks

Oct - A Risk Worth Taking - Robin Pilcher

Sep - The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory

2008/09

May - John McNab - John Buchan; The Return of John McNab - Andrew Greig

Apr - Arthur and George - Julian Barnes

Mar - Hellfire and Herring - Christopher Rush

Feb - One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson

Jan - The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory

no meeting in December

Nov - The Glasshouse - Sophie Cooke

Oct - The Healing Island - Robin Hull

Sep - Fatal Passage - Ken McGoogan

2007/08

Apr - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark

Apr - The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin

Feb - Marching in Scotland, Dancing in New York - Margaret Dunlop

Jan - No, I Don't Want to Join a Book Club - Virginia Ironside

Dec - Adrift in Caledonia - Nick Thorpe

Nov - Restless - William Boyd

?Oct

Sep - The Observations - Jane Harris - September

Jun - Winter Solstice - Rosamund Pilcher

2006/07

no meeting in May

Apr - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell

no meeting in March

Feb - Lachlan's War - Michael Cannon

Jan - Tunes of Glory - James Kennaway

no meeting in December

Nov - One City - Alexander McCall Smith / Ian Rankin / Irving Welsh

Oct - Voyageurs - Margaret Elphinstone AND Getting Out of the House - Isla Dewar

Walking through Scotland - Robin Neillands

Leaves from a Country Doctor - Clement Bryce Gunn

Perception of Death - Louise Anderson

The Eye of the Raven - Ken McClure

Dancing in a Distant Place - Isla Dewar

Oct 2005 The Oilmen - The North Sea Tigers - Bill Mackie

My Trade - Andrew Marr

No Great Mischief - Alistair MacLeod

The Dark Ship - Anne Macleod

A Gift of Time - Flora Maxwell Stuart

The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith

Nov 2004 The Distant Echo - Val McDermid

Sept 2004 - Stargazing - Peter Hill

May 2004 From Scenes Like These - Gordon Williams

May - On the Trail of Robert Service - G W Lockhart

meetings moved from evening to afternoon

April - Lady of Hay - Barbara Erskine

Feb - The Apprentice - Tom Gallacher

Jan 2004 - The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith

Oct 2003 Smeddum - Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Sept - Lady Magdalan - Robin Jenkins

2002/03

White Mughals - William Dalrymple

The Member and the Radical - John Galt

Jessie's Journey - Jess Smith

Journey to the Hebrides - Samuel Johnson and James Boswell

Good Wives? - Margaret Forster

Never Somewhere Else - Alex Gray

The Wilderness Journeys - John Muir

Oct 2002 The Changeling - Robin Jenkins

The Crow Road - Iain Banks

A Childhood in Scotland - Christian Miller

And the Cock Crew - Fionn Maccolla

The Quarry Wood - Nan Shepherd

Witchwood - John Buchan

Oct 2001 The Life of Robert Burns - Catherine Carswell

Open the Door - Catherine Carswell

The Silver Darlings - Neil Gunn

Another Time Another Place - Jessie Kesson

Jessie Kesson: Writing her Life - Isobel Murray

The House by the Dvina - Eugenie Fraser

Strangers: A Family Romance - Emma Tennant