A cold sweat had spread over Mary as she listened. What she was hearing was sounding ever more like a premonition: adultery was nearly as bad as murder. Shetland, 1773: a land of hand-to-mouth living and tight community ties overshadowed by the ever-watchful eye of the kirk, an institution ‘run by auld men, for auld men’. In this fictionalised retelling of historical events, young Waas lass Mary Johnsdaughter stands accused of having sinned in the eyes of the church after the Batchelor, a ship bursting with emigrants seeking new lives in North Carolina, is left stranded upon Shetland’s shores. Will she survive the humiliation? Will she become an outcast? Will one moment cost her everything? A tale of Shetland folk knit out of Shetlandic voices and real parish records, The Trials of Mary Johnsdaughter pits the bonds of friends and family against the grip of the kirk. Only one thing is clear: then as now, ‘Hit’s no aesy livin in a peerie place.’

Paolozzi at Large in Edinburgh is an art book introducing the Scottish-Italian artist, Eduardo Paolozzi, to as wide an audience as possible: his pan-European vision; his eclecticism; his hybrid identity; his erudition; his modernity. This book focuses on twelve pieces of Paolozzi's work - his major pieces in Edinburgh, the city where he was raised. Paolozzi's work was often informed by his voracious reading and he used text in his creations. Each piece will therefore also be linked to a response poem by the former Edinburgh Makar, Christine De Luca.

A polar projection changes foo we figure oot wir world. Shetland isna banished tae a box i da Moray Firt or left oot aa tagidder - ta scale up da rest - but centre stage. Christine De Luca's poetry creates a sense of the beauty and spareness of Shetland, the contradictory space and smallness of the island; and a feeling for people living on the far side of Scotland. These poems explore concepts of identity, home and belonging, and of our connection with the land. Drawing inspiration from medicine, history and religious and pagan legends, from modern and ancient sources, De Luca writes with equal fluency in both English and Shetlandic. This book awakens its reader to the beauty of the language and the landscape of the most northern part of Britain; yet there is no sense of isolation. She explores the folktales and values home-grown in Shetland in terms of the wider world, from Russia to Canada.

Written in the beautiful Scots of the Shetland Islands - a blend of Old Scots and Norn - the poems in this title evoke a simple and pure way of life. These are poems with a sense of place, sympathy, commitment to language and the urge to celebrate life itself.

Da Gruffalo said dat nae gruffalo sud Ivver set fit i da mirky wid. But ee nicht o snaa da Gruffalo's Bairn nivver leets whit her faider is telt her an tippers oot inta da caald. Eftir aa, der no sicca thing as da Muckle Mean Moose ...is dere? In 2015, following on from the huge success of James Robertson's Scots translation of The Gruffalo, Itchy Coo published four dialect versions: the Orkney, Shetland, Doric and Dundee Gruffalos have all proved immensely popular as celebrations of the Scots language's astonishing regional diversity. Laureen Johnson's Shetlandic version of The Gruffalo is now followed by Christine De Luca's The Shetland Gruffalo's Bairn. A cautionary tale about what happens when a small Gruffalo leaves the comfort of its cave and sets off into the dark wood on a wintry night, this is sure to be another big hit in Shetland and with Shetlandic speakers wherever they bide.

Paolozzi at Large in Edinburgh is an art book introducing the Scottish-Italian artist, Eduardo Paolozzi, to as wide an audience as possible: his pan-European vision; his eclecticism; his hybrid identity; his erudition; his modernity. This book focuses on twelve pieces of Paolozzi's work - his major pieces in Edinburgh, the city where he was raised. Paolozzi's work was often informed by his voracious reading and he used text in his creations. Each piece will therefore also be linked to a response poem by the former Edinburgh Makar, Christine De Luca.

Dey wir eence a trow at baed anunder a brig.(Maist trows bide in hadds anunder hills.)Aboot da sam time, fram apo da far haaf,dey wir some pirates dat baed apon a ship.(Dat's whaar pirates is meant ta bide.)Trows is supposed ta aet goats (dey say!)But nae goats ivver cam tipperin owre dis trow's peerie brig.Sae he ot fish instead.So begins this hilarious tale of the adventures of a bunch of incompetent pirates who can't cook, and a crabbit auld troll (in Shetland, where they live in great abundance, trolls are known as trows) who can. Their lives seem very far apart: the troll, whose favourite dish is goat, tries and fails to eat the creatures crossing various bridges he hides under; the pirates, who like to eat fish, try and fail to find buried treasure.