Scottish Interest Books - The Yellow on the Broom

The Yellow on the Broom: The Early Days of a Traveller Woman
By Betsy Whyte

Betsy Whyte was born into a family of travellers who roamed the Scottish countryside between the wars. The summers were the best times, out on the open road, while the winters were spent in houses, pining for the first sign of spring - the yellow on the broom. Betsy Whyte's vivid description of a childhood on the road amidst a misunderstood people is a rich evocation of a vanishing world.

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Scottish Interest Books - Bruar's Rest

Bruar's Rest - By Jess Smith

The story open in the Highlands as the twentieth century begins. The gypsy wife of wild drunkard Rory Stewart dies giving birth to their second son. Many years pass, and Rory and his sons are rootless travellers on the roads of Scotland. One night, during a winter storm, they
save another traveller family from freezing to death in a blizzard. Bruar Stewart and one of the girls he rescues, the hot-blooded and beautiful Megan, fall in love. But the First World War is declared, tearing their lives apart. Bruar is reported missing in action, an Megan sets off on a
long and perilous journey to find him...

An epic tale of love and loyalty by the author of the spellbinding autobiographical trilogy, Jessie's Journey.

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Scottish Interest Books - Tears for a Tinker

Tears for a Tinker - By Jess Smith

In the first two books of her autibiography, Jessie's Journey and Tales from the Tent, Jess Smith told the story of her wandering years on the road with the last of Scotland's travellers, hawkers and gypsies. This third volume in the trilogy is Jess's at-times painful farewell to the travelling lifestyle which she loved.

Settling down to 'scaldy' (non-traveller) existence - marriage, kids and domesticity in a small council house - was never going to be easy for her. But though there were some tears, laughter is never far away. We move from a story of the car with no floor to a medical emergency, from the tall tales of her husband Dave's duck-hunt to his seafaring experiences, and from a chilling seance to a startling experiment with peroxide hair-colouring. There are more memories of Jess's early years on the road with her family in the old, blue bus.
Through it all are scattered wondeful gems from Jess's treasury of traditional tales - what the Loch Ness Monster really is, the strange fate of Blind Harry, and the ominous appearances of shapeshifters and werewolves. Handing on the tales told to her as she grew up, Jess reminds us that though most travellers have gone from the roads, their approach to life, understanding of nature and precious cultural legacy lives on, no matter how times may change.

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Scottish Interest Books - Tales from the Tent

Tales from the Tent: Jessie's Journey Continues
By Jess Smith

In Tales from the Tent, Jess Smith - Scottish traveller, hawker, gypsy, 'gan-about' and storyteller - continues the unforgettable story of her life on the road. Unable to adjust to settled life working in a factory after leaving school, she finds herself drawn once again to the wild countryside of Scotland.
Having grown up on the road in an old blue bus with her parents and seven sisters, Jessie now joins her family in caravans, stopping to rest in campsites and lay-bys as they follow work around the country - berry-picking, hay-stacking, ragging, fortune-telling and hawking. Making the most of their freedom, Jessie and her family continue the traditional way of life that is disappearing before their eyes, wandering the roads and byways, sharing tales and living on the edge of 'acceptable' society.

Intertwined with the story of Jessie's loveable but infuriating family, incorrigible friends, first loves and first losses are her 'tales from the tent', a collection of folklore from the traveller's world. As Jessie travels through Scotland's silver-birch woods, along the salty shores of the west coast and over the border into England, she tells intriguing tales of romance, mythical beasts, dreams, ghostly apparitions and strange encounters.

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Scottish Interest Books - Jessie's Journey

Jessie's Journey: Autobiography of a Traveller Girl
By Jess Smith

Jessie's Journey, the first book in Jess Smith's autobiographical trilogy, is an unforgettable account of a way of life that has all but vanished. It is the story of Jessie, her seven sisters and their unconventional childhood roaming the country in an old blue Bedford bus. In this moving, honest and heart-warming memoir, Jess describes her life among an extraordinary people and their never-ending sruggle to survive as free travellers.

Jessie's parents lacked material wealth, but they clung to 'the richness that comes from freedom, a traveller's freedom'. Living as they did on the edge of "respectable" society, prejudice was never far away, but their world was brimming with laughter, love and adventure. Earning their living hay-stacking, beachcombing, ragging, midden-raking, berry-picking, fortune-telling and hawking, Jessie and her family travelled the length and breadth of Scotland and beyond.

Reflecting on the friendships, feuds, trials and tribulations of her boisterous family, Jess recalls a magical childhood, surrounded by the sea spray, birch woods and wild places of a Scotland few of us will ever know.

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Scottish Interest Books - Wherever the Saltire Flies

Wherever the Saltire Flies
From Luath Press Ltd

Considering the history of these organisations, their members and influence in their respective locations, they note the changing nature of Scottish culture as it flourishes amongst international diversity. Written as a series of specially conducted interviews with each chapter, a new location and new organisation "Wherever the Saltire Flies" investigates many and varied personalities.

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Scottish Interest Books - Land of Mountain and Flood

Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland
By Alan McKirdy, John Gordon, Roger Crofts

The sheer diversity of Scotland's rocks and landforms are the physical reminders of a fascinating physical and chronological journey which shows that the land that makes up Scotland today has travelled the world from the Equator to the South Pole and back north again, and has not always even belonged to the same continental landmass. This book, published by Birlinn in association with Scottish Natural Heritage will help the reader to understand Scotland's place in the geological history of the planet.

Three eminent geologists introduce and trace the country's development, unravelling and explaining what is seen now in the landscape and why it came to be the way it is. They show readers exactly where they can find evidence of these natural changes in the country's landscape on the ground in different parts of Scotland. The Geology of Scotland is an essential book for anyone who is interested in the natural world around them and who wishes to develop a good knowledge about the original formation of their country. It is accessible and beautifully presented, contains a huge amount of detailed information told in clear, comprehensible language and is enhanced throughout with specially commissioned illustrations, diagrams and photographs.

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