> 10 Books from Scotland for 2025 - SNACK: Music, film, arts and culture magazine for Scotland

10 Books from Scotland for 2025

Looking back, 2024 was another notable year for Scottish writing, with many of the best books reviewed and discussed in SNACK. But each year we like to look ahead to the coming literary attractions and, with that in mind, here are ten titles which will be published in 2025, all of which promise great things.

Kirsty Logan – No & Other Love Stories

While Kirsty Logan is a noted novelist, including 2023’s acclaimed Now She is Witch, she is also one of the finest writers of short stories, first coming to the attention of many readers with the 2014 collection The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales. With that in mind it’s little wonder No & Other Love Stories is among the most eagerly awaited publications this year, promising more of the uncanny and strange tales at which Kirsty Logan excels.

The publisher says: “Can ‘no’ be a declaration of love? What happens when love is savage, dangerous and all-consuming?In this gorgeous and unsettling collection, women navigate the complexities and cruelties of desire across time and place, from a medieval convent to a Victorian parlour to a 1990s high school.”

No & Other Love Stories is published with Penguin Books


Heather Parry – Carrion Crow

In the space of just a few publications Heather Parry has gained a reputation as one of the most exciting writers around. Orpheus Builds a Girl is among the most acclaimed debut novels of recent times, and the short story collection This Is My Body, Given For You was included in many Best Books of 2023 lists.

Carrion Crow is Heather Parry’s new novel and it promises an examination of class, gender, and the body through the prism of the tropes of Gothic literature.

The publisher says: “A powerful and spine-tingling gothic tale exploring mother-daughter relationships, sexuality, and class.”

Carrion Crow is published by Penguin Books


David F. Ross – The Weekenders

In his latest novel, The Weekenders, David F. Ross looks at abuses of power and institutional corruption, as those we should intrinsically trust prove not just fallible but fatal. Told over decades and written with a righteous anger, the lines are blurred between heroes and villains.

By taking readers to extremes, David F. Ross attempts to better understand the criminal mind and the evil that men do.

The publisher says: “The deaths of a series of young Eastern European women in Glasgow leads to a stately home in the Scottish countryside, and back to the Second World War, where a group of young soldiers made their own, shocking rules…”

The Weekenders is published by Orenda Books


Chris McQueer – Hermit

In no small part due to the success of his short story collections Hings and HWFG, Chris McQueer’s Hermit is arguably the most eagerly-awaited novel of the year. McQueer writes with humour and an insight into human nature which is striking. He also has a gift for representing how we communicate; not only with speech but interactions more widely – what is left unsaid as much as said.

McQueer depicts the lives of individuals all too rarely represented on the page, and does so with honesty, empathy, and understanding.

The publisher says: Hermit sees the protagonist Jamie rotting away in his bedroom, playing video games with his online friend Lee, living a strange nocturnal half-life. He hasn’t left the house in months, and now he’s not sure he can.”

Hermit is published by Wildfire


Karen Campbell – This Bright Life

As evident with Karen Campbell’s previous novel Paper Cup, few write with such compassion and understanding of human nature, which is just one of the reasons her books mean so much to her readers.

This Bright Life looks back to childhood and how decisions made, and resultant events, impact on individuals and those around them. Karen Campbell manages to convey the drama of people’s everyday lives in the most empathetic and beautiful way.

The publisher says: “The engrossing and uplifting story of a small boy born with the odds stacked against him, and the decision that alters the course of his life forever.”

This Bright Life is published by Canongate Books on 27th March 2025


Ewan Morrison – For Emma

Few, if any, writers react to the modern world as Ewan Morrison does. Having written in the past about sex, cults, shopping, and survivalists, all with the fierce intelligence for which he is renowned, his latest book, For Emma, looks at Silicon Valley, the potential effects of AI, and the potentially problematic future ahead.

Described as a ‘transhumanist thriller’, and likely to be prophetic and profound in equal measures, Morrison once again captures the zeitgeist.

The publisher says:For Emma is a ghost-in-the machine tale of bereavement and of a unique and conflicted love between a daughter and her father.”

For Emma is published by Leamington Books on 25th March 2025


Katie Goh – Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange

The format of the memoir has been one of the most interesting and artful of recent years. Katie Goh’s Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange promises to continue this trend by taking this writer’s individual experiences and familial history and relating them to global concerns.

The idea of looking at the apparently humble orange to then examine social history is an intriguing one, and the conclusions will be fascinating to read.

The publisher says: “A hauntingly beautiful hybrid memoir that uses the journey and cultivation of a single fruit – the orange – to reckon with the author’s own identity and unpack themes of globalisation, colonialism and migration.”

Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange is published by Canongate Books on 8th May 2025


Esa Aldegheri – There She Goes: New Travel Writing by Women

Anthologies are a great way to better comprehend the world, and when that anthology is one of travel writing then this is literally the case. They are also a way to discover new favourite writers.

There She Goes promises to tick all those boxes, with stories offering a wide range of experiences, voices, and perspectives which, when taken either individually or as a whole, will prompt recognition and greater understanding.

The publisher says:There She Goes brings together seventeen women writers – of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry – in an anthology of travel tales to inspire, encourage and empower women adventuring through the world in different ways and stages of life.”

There She Goes: New Travel Writing by Women is published by Saraband Books on 6th March 2025


Michael Pedersen – Muckle Flugga

Prize-winning poet, author, and spoken-word performer Michael Pedersen’s debut novel, Muckle Flugga, is perhaps the most intriguing to be published this year.

His previous work, including the incredible and intensely moving memoir Boy Friends, show Pedersen to be one of the most emotionally insightful and honest writers we have, and to see that sensibility in fiction is beyond exciting.

The publisher says: “It’s no ordinary existence on the rugged isle of Muckle Flugga. The elements run riot and the very rocks that shape the place begin to shift under their influence. The only human inhabitants are the lighthouse keeper, known as The Father, and his otherworldly son, Ouse – just them, and the occasional lodger to keep the wolf from the door.”

Muckle Flugga is published by Faber & Faber on 22nd May 2025


Alessandra Thom – Summer Hours

Another eagerly-awaited and exciting debut novel published this year is Summer Hours by Alessandra Thom, who was a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee for Prose in 2023.

With themes which include class, infatuation, disparity, and young love, all viewed through the prism of a defining summer in the life of central character Roisin, this promises to be a vital and vivid examination of life in the modern world.

The publisher says: “Summer Hours is a wry debut novel from a fresh voice, which sees three queer women navigate unrequited desire, wealth inequality and secret relationships.”

Summer Hours is published by Polygon Books on 5th June 2025


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