Isobel Wylie Hutchison was many things: a botanist, traveller, poet and artist. She travelled solo throughout the arctic collecting plant samples, wrote and published extensive volumes of essays and poetry, and was - in short - one of the most remarkable Scottish figures of her time. However, since her death in 1982 her legacy has been forgotten compared with her male counterparts. Now Isobel can speak for herself again. While better known for her solo journeys across the Arctic, these essays detail Isobel's journeys across Scotland, including visits to Skye, John O' Groats and the various literary shrines across the country. Written with characteristic wit and a keen interest in both science and myth and folklore, the essays serve as important cultural markers not just of Scotland as it was and has developed, but of a woman's experience of travelling alone and a testament to the importance of cultural connection, exploration and communication.

Autobiography:A idealist 17 year old sets off from a council estate near Glasgow to become a farm secretary on the large farms and estates of the East of Scotland. She encounters a clash of culture, prejudice and unexpected kindness along the haphazard and emotionally fraught journey. A social memoir spanning the late 70s to the early 90s.'Life is ofen stranger than fiction, and this story shows the fine line that is walked in relating true events whilst maintaining a believability.' Hardeep Sing Kohli"Humour is difficult to pull off in writing and even more difficult when I'm judging it because it is what I do for a living - occasionally. The chapter, A Toe in the Line is a beautiful journey into the world of inexorable error after inexorable error, as the day goes from bad to worse for 18 year old Hazel Cameron as she heads off to a job interview. Life is often stranger than fi ction, and this story shows the fi ne line that is walked in relating true events whilst maintaining a believability.'Hardeep Singh Kohli