Anne Donovan's acclaimed debut novel Buddha Da is a contemporary story of a Glasgow house-painter's conversion to Buddhism, and the impact this has on his life and the lives of his family. Seen from the perspective of three family members, using Glaswegian Scots throughout, the book addresses complex issues - social, psychological and philosophical - in a deceptively simple fashion. Christopher Nicol's SCOTNOTE study guide examines the novel, its tripartite structure, its characters and its language, and addresses the larger questions of philosophy and spirituality that it raises. These notes are suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Ian Rankin is perhaps the UK's foremost crime writer, best-known for his extensive series of novels set in Edinburgh and featuring Detective Inspector John Rebus. Christopher Nicol's SCOTNOTE study guide examines one of Rankin's most popular works, the award-winning Black & Blue. The complex, multilayered narrative is untangled, the characters studied and the novel's social and psychological undercurrents explored. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Eric Linklater (1899 - 1974) was one of the most prolific authors of his generation. Although his books were highly popular in the 1930s and 1940s, he began to fall out of fashion in the post-war world. However the quality of his work remains, and today his craft and narrative gifts are once again being appreciated. Christopher Nicol's Scotnote examines two of Linklater's novels, Private Angelo and The Dark of Summer. Both novels are set during World War II, and Linklater's unflinching portrayal of the folly and cruelty of war is warmed by his compassionate understanding of the emotions and motivations of ordinary human beings swept up in the chaos of conflict. The first, Private Angelo, was written in 1944 and 1945, in the heat of the final years of the war and its immediate, and hopeful, aftermath. The second, The Dark of Summer, came more than ten years later, as that original optimism had faded and the Cold War began to grip. The social, cultural and political backgrounds of each novel are discussed and contrasted. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

This is another thrilling adventure for Anna Fehrbach. The triumphant end of the war has not allowed beautiful but deadly Anna Fehrbach, alias the Countess von Widerstand, to retire gracefully. Working for the SS her principal antagonist was the Soviet Union, and to Joseph Stalin and his henchman Lavrenty Beria she remains the most wanted of all war criminals, and although under the aegis of the CIA, who assisted her in reclaiming the wealth she managed to steal from the Nazi vaults at the end of the war, which has enabled her to seek refuge in a remote Bahamian island, the Russians remain on her trail and elaborate plans are being laid for her capture and execution..

Pair of films by French poet, novelist, dramatist and artist Jean Cocteau bookending his film career: 'Un Sang D'Un Poete' (1930) is his debut and a surrealist classic in which the action begins with a young poet sketching faces. The mouth of one of the sketches comes to life, becomes affixed to the poet's hand, and is then wiped from the hand onto a statue. The poet then flees into a mirror and a series of adventures in an alarming fantasy world. 'Le Testament D'Orphee' (1959) is the personal, final film from Cocteau who stars as the poet, wandering through a dream world populated with figures and motifs from his earlier works. Features an all-star cast, including the likes of Charles Aznavour, Yul Brynner and Pablo Picasso.