Scotland from the Sky

Scotland from the Sky
Author: James Crawford
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2018-05-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781849172523

'In this book, you will travel in both space and time, starting in the years around the First World War and moving all the way up to the present day. As you go, you will see just what our pioneering aviators saw as they stared out from their cockpits. And, more than that, you will explore what they were trying to find. Because, from above, Scotland can be many different things, depending on what you choose to look at - and who is doing the looking.'Accompanying the BBC documentary series Scotland from the Sky, this lavishly illustrated book draws on the vast collection of aerial photography held in the archives of Historic Environment Scotland. Historian and series presenter James Crawford opens an extraordinary window into our past to tell the remarkable story of a nation from above - taking readers back in time to show how our great cities have dramatically altered with the ebb and flow of history, while whole communities have vanished in the name of progress. The book shows how aerial imagery can reveal treasures from the ancient past, uncovering secrets buried right beneath our feet. And it demonstrates how the view from above has been at the heart of the postwar transformation of both our countryside and our urban landscapes.This is a fascinating - and little known - story of war, innovation, adventure, cities, landscapes and people. This is the story of Scotland, from the sky.

Of Stone and Sky

Of Stone and Sky
Author: Merryn Glover
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2021-05-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1788853768

'An enthralling mystery, family saga and Sunset Song-esque ode to the land' - The Herald, 25 Summer Reads Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2021 Winner of the Bookmark Book Festival Book of the Year 2021 After Highland shepherd Colvin Munro disappears, a mysterious trail of his possessions is found in the Cairngorm mountains. Writing the eulogy for his memorial years later, his foundling-sister Mo seeks to discover why he vanished. Younger brother Sorley is also haunted by his absence and driven to reveal the forces that led to Colvin's disappearance. Is their brother alive or dead? Set on a farming estate in the upper reaches of the River Spey, Of Stone and Sky follows several generations of a shepherding family in a paean to the bonds between people, their land and way of life. It is a profound mystery, a passionate poem, a political manifesto, shot through with wisdom and humour.

Under a Storm-Swept Sky

Under a Storm-Swept Sky
Author: Beth Anne Miller
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2018-04-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 164063486X

"Beautifully evocative and romantic." - NYT bestselling author, Monica McCarty An eighty-mile trek across the rugged, stunning beauty of Scotland’s Isle of Skye isn't something I imagined myself doing. Ever. This isn’t a trail for beginners. And I’m not a hiker. But I have to finish it, even if it kills me. I have no choice. With the ever-changing weather and relentless terrain, I’m in over my head. Rory Sutherland, my guide on this adventure, knows I don’t belong here. We clash with every mile, but we recognize a shared pain. Not only is the journey a struggle, but the tension between us is taut with unsaid words. And hope. He’s broken. I’m damaged. Together, we’re about to make the perfect storm.

Toward a Secret Sky

Toward a Secret Sky
Author: Heather Maclean
Publisher: Blink
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2017-04-04
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0310754771

Toward a Secret Sky by New York Times bestselling author Heather Maclean is a new breed of YA novel: an intelligent adventure-quest crossed with a sweeping, forbidden love story. A mix of reality and possibility, this fast-paced thriller will appeal to fans of Stephenie Meyer and Dan Brown as it leads the reader on a breathless flight through the highlands of Scotland, the secret city under London, and history itself. Shortly after 17-year-old Maren Hamilton is orphaned and sent to live with grandparents she’s never met in Scotland, she receives an encrypted journal from her dead mother that makes her and everyone around her a target. It confirms that her parents were employed by a secret, international organization that’s now intent on recruiting her. As Maren works to unravel the clues left behind by her mother, a murderous madness sweeps through the local population, terrorizing her small town. Maren must decide if she’ll continue her parents’ fight or stay behind to save her friends. With the help of Gavin, an otherworldly mercenary she’s not supposed to fall in love with, and Graham, a charming aristocrat who is entranced with her, Maren races against the clock and around the country from palatial estates with twisted labyrinths to famous cathedrals with booby-trapped subterranean crypts to stay ahead of the enemy and find a cure. Along the way, she discovers the great truth of love: that laying down your life for another isn’t as hard as watching them sacrifice everything for you.

The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky

The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky
Author: Ken Dornstein
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2007-06-12
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0307386910

The "hugely satisfying" story (The Boston Globe) of one man’s search for the truth about his brother—and himself. David Dornstein was twenty-five years old, with dreams of becoming a great writer, when he boarded Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Thirty-eight minutes after takeoff, a terrorist bomb ripped the plane apart over Lockerbie, Scotland. Almost a decade later, Ken Dornstein set out to solve the riddle of his older brother’s life, using the notebooks and manuscripts that David left behind. In the process, he also began to create a new life of his own.

Sky Hawk

Sky Hawk
Author: Gill Lewis
Publisher: Oxford University Press - Children
Total Pages:
Release: 2011-05-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0192757245

When Callum and his friends find Iona on Callum's farm they try to chase her back into the village. But Iona runs from them up into the hills. It is late and dark and snow lies in the mountain gullies. Worried for Iona's safety, Callum follows to find her shivering with cold but refusing to leave. She is guarding a secret hidden in the forest above the dark waters of the loch. So they make a deal. Iona shares the secret and in return Callum allows her back onto the farm. They form a deep bond of friendship and make a promise to keep their secret safe. It is a promise that will change Callum's world forever . . . She turned her head, and fixed me with her brilliant yellow eyes. She looked right into me. And suddenly I knew then, in that one moment, I was as much part of her world as she was of mine. Soar above the clouds in this enthralling tale of friendship, loyalty, and hope.

Above Scotland

Above Scotland
Author: David Cowley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2014-03-20
Genre: Scotland
ISBN: 9781902419879

The landscape of Scotland is full of dramatic contrasts. The high, rugged peaks of the Cairngorms look down on the rounded hills of the southern uplands. Wild moorlands run into fertile flood-plains. The coastline ranges from soft sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters to jagged cliffs battered by the fierce waves of the Atlantic.Aerial photography provides unique and striking perspectives on how the people of Scotland have lived, worked, fought over, worshipped, developed and changed this land, leaving no part untouched or unaltered by human activity. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) holds the national collection of aerial photography for Scotland with millions of images dating from the 1920s to the present day. These photographs - many of which have never been seen before by the public - tell the remarkable story of a changing nation, from stone circles, Roman remains and ruined castles, to the growth of villages, towns and cities, the rise and fall of heavy industry, the country at war and the proud engineering and architecture of the modern landscape.For the first time in one volume, RCAHMS has brought together the finest images from its collection in a stunning illustration of Scotland's past, present and future.

A Sky Full of Kites

A Sky Full of Kites
Author: Tom Bowser
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2021-06-03
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1788852850

Shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award Red kites were once Britain's most common bird of prey. By the early 1900s they'd been wiped out in Scotland and England following centuries of ruthless persecution. When some reintroduced kites began roosting on their 1,400-acre farm at Argaty in Perthshire, Tom Bowser's parents, Lynn and Niall, decided to turn their estate into a safe haven. They began feeding the birds and invited the world to come and see them, learn about them and fall in love with them. A Sky Full of Kites is the story of the Argaty Red Kite project, and the re-establishing of these magnificent raptors to Scotland, but it is also much more than that. Ill at ease with the traditional rural values of livestock farming, Lynn and Niall's son Tom, who returned to work on the farm after a career in journalism, reveals his passion for nature and his desire to dedicate his family's land to conservation.

Losing the Sky

Losing the Sky
Author: Andy Lawrence
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre: Artificial satellites
ISBN: 9781838399726

From the foreword by Brian May: "Professor Lawrence, in this timely book, tackles an issue which is about to become highly contentious around the world... This book will hopefully spark enough discussion to put the brakes on this destruction of our dark skies.".

The Sky Beneath the Stone

The Sky Beneath the Stone
Author: Alex Mullarky
Publisher: Floris Books
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2022-02-24
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1782507973

Thirteen-year-old Ivy North is an adventurer. She can pitch a tent in four minutes flat, knows the local landscape like the back of her hand, and she’s an expert map reader. There's just one problem. She's afraid to go outside But when her little brother is transformed into a kestrel by a powerful sorcerer, Ivy is the only one who can rescue him. Following him through a mysterious hole in the garden wall, she emerges in Underfell – an enchanted realm that seems like the Lake District she knows, but is dangerously different. Battling her dread of being out in the open, Ivy must gather all her courage to navigate a path across this extraordinary world, where haughty fairies with birds' wings fly through purple skies and a ghostly spectre haunts her every step. With the help of an unexpected new friend, can Ivy break the spell – before her brother becomes a bird forever? An immersive and beautifully written fantasy adventure, The Sky Beneath the Stone is a soaring journey of family, friendship, overcoming fear – and realising that we are never as lost as we think we are. Alex Mullarky's debut novel introduces a captivating new talent in children's fiction.