Item category 1: Read Past/Discover Future

This play, The Cheviot, the Stage and the Black, Black Oil (1973) tells the story of the clearance of the Scottish highlands, first for grazing, then shooting and finally for oil

Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles is Margaret George's recreation of the life of one of history's greatest legends, who became Queen six days after her birth, and who was executed 44 years later on the orders of Elizabeth I.

Jessie Kesson's The White Bird Passes tells the moving story of a young girl's experiences as she passes from the city streets into a bleak life in an orphanage in Scotland during the 1920s.

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescree...

At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuou...

Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, this novel from Ian M. Banks, author of 'Consider Phlebas' and 'The player of Games', is science fiction at its best.