Shortlisted for the Creative Scotland and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Fiction Award 2011An experimental novel on a grand scale, beautifully carried through. A Perth minister takes in a traumatised stranger who calls himself 'the son and heir to being lost'. When the stranger disappears, the events leading up to and following on from this are revealed. Shifting perspectives from a contemporary mystery to a history of Shetland and emigration, it extends the idea of Scottish empire and diaspora imaginatively, while addressing notions of being and belonging in 21st century Scotland. BACK COVER Hit wis kynda da promised land in mony wyes, da Happie Laand across da sea...In the summer of the year of the Millennium, a barefoot stranger comes to the door of the manse for help. But three days later he disappears without trace, leaving a bundle of papers behind.Da Happie Laand weaves the old minister's attempt to make sense of the mysteries left behind by his 'lost sheep' with an older story relating the fate of a Zetlandic community across the centuries - the tales of those people who emigrated to New Zetland in the South Pacific to build a new life in the promised land, and those who stayed behind. REVIEWS A work of complexity, a novel to be savoured and one that will only get better with age. NEW SHETLANDER Jamieson achieves something quite extraordinary - [he] combines a compelling modern mystery with 500 years of history in a typically experimental style that leaves many of his contemporaries lagging THE LIST Robert Alan Jamieson's strange masterpiece Da Happie Laand haunts dreams and waking hours, as it takes my adopted home of Shetland, twisting it and the archipelago's history into the most disturbing, amazing slyly funny shapes. THE SUNDAY HERALD

Built for the new age, the house stood boldly upright on the edge of the ocean withstanding the harsh blasts of a cruel century, nurturing and protecting the family within, watchful of hearts swollen or broken, dreams delivered and dashed. It had absorbed the tears and echoed the laughter. A sweeping saga of one family through a momentous century. Different people, divergent lives and distinctive stories. Bound together by the place they called home. But one of them is missing, lost to the world. An unknown grandchild, born to a son who went to war and never came back. As the years pass, through wars and emigration, social transformation and generational change, the search continues. And the questions remain the same: who is he? Where is he? Will he ever come home?

Written entirely in Scots, this is a science fiction novel set in a future where the Scottish Highlands are the only unsubmerged area of Britain. With strong characters and a gripping plot, the well-defined settings create an atmosphere of paranoia and danger. The exciting denouement has a surprising twist and is set on Schiehallion. The introduction includes a section on how to read the Scots in this book, Matthew has made the spelling as straightforward as possible for a population used to English spelling conventions.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A stunning novel that tells the powerful story of Ora, an Israli mother, and her extraordinary love for her son, Ofer, in a haunting meditation on war and family. “One of the few novels that feel as though they have made a difference to the world.” —The New York Times Book Review Just before his release from service in the Israeli army, Ora’s son Ofer is sent back to the front for a major offensive. In a fit of preemptive grief and magical thinking, so that no bad news can reach her, Ora sets out on an epic hike in the Galilee. She is joined by an unlikely companion—Avram, a former friend and lover with a troubled past—and as they sleep out in the hills, Ora begins to conjure her son. Ofer’s story, as told by Ora, becomes a surprising balm both for her and for Avram.

Ged a leig Constabal Murdo dheth a dhreuchd, agus e fhèin 's a bhanacharaid air an dòigh a' cur seachad nam feasgairean a' coimhead 'A Place in the Sun', tha feum air fhathast ann an latha na h-èiginn. A dh'aindeoin Brexit, tha maorach a' fàgail nan eileanan gach seachdain airson na Roinn Eòrpa, agus bathar nach eil cho fallain a' tighinn nan àite. Cò e am Maighstir Mòr, agus cò na sgalagan a tha ag obair dha? Is dòcha nach eil mòran foghlaim aig Murchadh, ach tha gliocas dùthchasach a dh'aithnicheas an diofar eadar caora is gobhar, agus cò a b' fheàrr a rachadh air tòir na fìrinn? Sgeulachd thaitneach cho-aimsireil a tha a' toirt an leughadair o Mhalaig gu Marseille. Drùidhteach, èibhinn, dùbhlanach agus togarrach. Nach tig sibh còmhla ris air an sgiorradh chunnartach seo tarsainn na Roinn Eòrpa gu bhan nan tiops agus nan reòiteagan ri taobh an A9? Far am faigh sibh, aig a' char as lugha, aon Chornetto...

Do you people get that way from living here, or were you all peculiar to start with? someone once asked Louise Dickinson Rich. In her early thirties, she took to the woods with her husband. They found their livelihood and raised a family in the remote Maine backcountry. Louise made time after morning chores to write about their lives, and these magnificent books are the result. They are still captivating readers a half-century later.

When Doris is found directing traffic in the middle of the night, her daughter Jessica is forced to put her in a home. Clearing out the family house in preparation for selling it, Jessica comes across secrets her mother kept from her long before her memory began to erode under Alzheimer's Disease. The knowledge Jessica uncovers as the family secrets are revealed and past memories are stirred, is fleshed out by the revelations Doris herself provides as her story unravels backwards. But the biggest secret of all is only brought to light when a medical research programme requires blood samples. BACK COVER The secret has been safely kept for sixty years, but now it's on the edge of exposure. Doris Mannering once made a choice that changed the course of her family's life. The secret was safely buried, but now with the onset of Alzheimer's her mind is wandering. She is haunted by the feeling that she must find the papers before it's too late, but she just can't remember...Jessica is driven to despair by her mother's endless searching. But it's not until lives are in jeopardy that she consents to Doris going into a residential home. As Jessica begins clearing the family home, bittersweet memories and unexpected discoveries await her. But these pale into insignificance against the bombshell her lawyer lover, Aaron, hands her. REVIEWS Hazel McHaffie has an extraordinary ability to create the convincing inner voice of a person with severe dementia. The result is often both funny and poignant. She raises emotional and ethical issues not as theoretical 'thin' cases, but within the richly characterised world of the novel... a good read from start to finish. PROFESSOR TONY HOPE This moving book will resonate with anyone who has 'lost' a loved one through the living death of Alzheimer's. SIR CLIFF RICHARD OBE It provides an amazing insight into the thought process of someone with dementia, as well as being a gripping and heartfelt narrative. JOURNAL OF DEMENTIA CARE This novel, I'm sure, will resonate deeply with family members and carers trying to cope wit this most distressing condition. Recommended. WWW.THEBOOKBAG.COM