Bookshelf is a new feature on the website, featuring new books by authors from Dumfries and Galloway or those with connections to Kirkcudbright Book Week.

Politics

Labour came to office in July 2024 after fourteen years of Tory rule. They faced a mass of challenges and pressures while showing in the period since a distinct lack of political touch and confidence. Britain Needs Change: The Politics of Hope and Labour’s Challenge, put together by Gerry Hassan and Simon Barrow was the first major book to address the post-election landscape and the major issues Labour has to address.

It brings together more than two dozen UK and global thinkers, writers, experts and campaigners and has been called by ITV’s Robert Peston ‘the only book you need to read on Labour in office.’

The Natural World

Atoms of Delight Ten Pilgrimages in Nature (In the Moment), by Kenneth Steven, is available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback formats and sees the poet and essayist take the reader  through some of Scotland’s most beautiful landscapes on a series of meditative quests in search of his ‘atoms of delight’ – treasures, both natural and spiritual.

The pieces in the collection invite readers to accompany the author as he seeks out crystal-clear waters, a glimpse of an elusive bird, delicate orchids, plump berries, or pebbles polished by time and tide. Appreciative of the grace of silence and the value of solitude and simplicity, he takes journeys that prompt introspection and provoke memories.

History

Author Carol Dean, who appeared at Kirkcudbright Book Week 2024 where she gave a talk based on her popular Native American series of books, has a new title out. The book, the latest in the series, is titled Navajo Culture and the Unbreakable Code and tells how Native Americans worked secretly during both World Wars, using their language, which had been banned by ‘the white man’ for many years, to create unbreakable codes.

The Navajo language is so complex that you have to be a full Navajo native to begin to understand the nuances involved. The book brings to life those warriors from the Navajo Nation during World War Two who, fluent in both their own native language and English, devised code to be sent and received as messages during the American/ Japan conflict.

The book is on sale through Carol’s website https://www.caroldeanbooks.com or Amazon

Local historian Dr David Hannay, of Carsluith, has published a 114-page history of his village and  community. In The Story of Carsluith, hetraces the history of the immediate area around the village from prehistoric times and also devotes plenty of attention to the more recent history of the village, as well as considering its future, in an account which is illustrated with archive photographs. The booklet, priced £10, is available from Oakhill Cafe, Carsluith Castle, on the A75, which is open Tuesday to Saturday 11.30am-3.30pm.