The Galapagos by Henry Nicholls (Profile, £9.99)
Nicholls' history of the Galapagos Islands, made famous by Darwin's On the Origin of Species, isn't just a naturalist's hymn to a place he loves, it's also a careful yet passionate assessment of what the islands still have to offer us, and what warnings they can give us about the state of our ecosystem.
The Lives of Women by Christine Dwyer Hickey (Atlantic, £12.99)
Like John Cheever crossed with The Stepford Wives, Hickey's 1970s-set novel is about young Elaine Nichols, isolated at home with an illness but able to observe the mysteriously changing patterns of her mother's life and those of the other women in their small town as they become more 'aware'. It is a beguiling, yet also disturbing, read.
The Unburied by Charles Palliser (W&N, £8.99)
Palliser really is the master of the neo-Victorian genre, mixing deliciously spooky tales with high intelligence and a superior style, ever since his extraordinary debut, The Quincunx. This latest work deploys all the Gothic armoury: ghosts, creepy houses, ancient manuscripts, with expert ease. His hero, Dr Courtine, doesn't disappoint, either.
Modernity Britain 1957-1962 by David Kynaston (Bloomsbury, £14.99)
What often surprises those of us born in the late 1960s or even early 1970s is how much of this earlier era in Britain still lingered, twenty years on. Kynaston dives right in, showing us how much the social changes that took place during these five years, like the spread of tv, pop music and immigration, took hold, and why.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article