News of the Dead
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  • Published: 16 August 2022
  • ISBN: 9780241986622
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $30.00

News of the Dead

Formats & editions
Paperback
16 Aug 2022
EBook
5 Aug 2021
Audiobook
5 Aug 2021
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A sweeping novel from critically-acclaimed author James Robertson, displaying centuries of change in the atmospheric Scottish highlands

Hidden in the breath-taking mountains of wild Scotland, Glen Conach is the home of secrets and stories, of fables and folklore. Over hundreds of years, three lives are woven together. In ancient Britain, the hermit Saint Conach performs impossible miracles, which survive as legend in 'The Book of Glen Conach'. Generations later in the nineteenth century, the book is rediscovered by charlatan Charles Gibb, who hustles his way into the big house at the heart of the village.

In the present-day, young Lachie whispers to Maja of ghosts he has seen in the glen. Reflecting back on her long life, Maja believes him, as she has some ghosts of her own. News of the Dead is a captivating examination of the distance between the stories we tell of ourselves and the way in which we are remembered.
  • Published: 16 August 2022
  • ISBN: 9780241986622
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $30.00
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About the author

James Robertson

James Robertson is the author of four previous novels, The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack and And the Land Lay Still. The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy's Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award. And the Land Lay Still was the winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award 2010.

Also by James Robertson

To Be Continued
After the Civil War
365
The Professor of Truth
The Untold Civil War
And the Land Lay Still
The Testament of Gideon Mack
See all

Praise for News of the Dead

A haunted, haunting, and deeply humane book

Robert Crawford

It's like some beautifully ornate kist or jewel-box that for most of the encounter you admire for its own sake, only to find a key, near the end, that opens onto even more treasure

Gavin Francis

It is another wonderful piece of storytelling from James Robertson, offering a penetrating exploration of the complexities of collective memory and the tenacity of tradition, all played out through a thousand years of life in a single glen. It has all the makings of a timeless classic in its own right.

Professor Gary West

James Robertson is an extremely fine novelist . . . This is a superb book. . . It is not a book anyone will forget quickly.

Scotland on Sunday

One of Robertson's skills as a novelist is to make both events real and imagined feel equally convincing.

Prospect

Subtly explores the relationship between place and identity

The Sunday Times