Alastair Macleod: 158 books

Five modern folktales from Orkney; The Three Herons, The House Elves of Breck, The Trolls of Trolla Vatn, Horda and Junka, The Elvar Wedding.

Granada 2006 "Madrilena sighed and breathed in the evening air. As she did some of the emotion of the discussion with Arancia evaporated. She could hear her tidying and washing up in the kitchen. Arancia would be gone soon, she could feel that. She and Tomas had got engaged a month ago. Was it...

"Maria stopped after a little while and looked back. He was out of sight. She moved her hand to her hair band to adjust it. Only her mama had called her pretty before. She felt a little flustered. She was breathing heavily from the running. She saw his face again, the wild hair, the sincere look,...

This story, set in modern day Hong Kong, is the sixth in a series based round the life of a young woman making her way in that busy city of 7 million inhabitants. Many of the characters from the earlier stories continue.   Xiulan Ling, the young woman of our story, again using her skills in computational...

Having achieved success, a a thirty six year old millionaire Chinese business woman, turns her focus to finding a husband. Strangely the death of her sister brings her close to her goal.

"Marco noticed her right hand, it was covered in shallow red scars. She followed his gaze. "Sharp talons," she laughed, "my glove came off! By the way, I'm Antonietta Cristaldi, I run the place. What can I do for you anyway? She said, as she set down a minute percolator and cups....

Set in Lipari, the Aeolian Islands, off Sicily. The tensions of an impending  wedding build like a Mediterranean thunderstorm. But love conquers all in this tale of modern Italy where the past and the present seek to undermine the future.

Nunia talked this over with her father. He said that this was the most difficult test, to love where nothing is given back, when the subject makes themselves unlovable, rejecting even. "But should you expect something back?" said Nunia. "That's the usual system," he said, "reciprocation,...

"From each of his seven hives, worker bees fanned out each morning to seek out fragrant flowers, welcomed by neighbours as friends and pollinators. They were nature's midwives ensuring the next generation of plants produced seed. When he was working with the hives in the sun he felt uniquely...

"David found before him a striking redhead with shoulder length hair dressed in a long black dress and black waist length jacket. She strode in boldly and seeing the open fiddle case lifted the fiddle straight out. She tightened the bow and then began to tune the strings. David stood by transfixed;...

"She walked back across the grass to the little stone cottage. Erland was still asleep in his basket on the kitchen table his face calm and serene. She opened the door of the Raeburn and poked the coals. Then she pulled the big kettle on the top to the centre of the hob to bring the already warm...

"Colin Mackenzie wore a tan half-length jacket, light green trousers and ankle length, lumberjack lace up boots. Even from a distance his wavy black hair seemed vital. "Those eyebrows," thought Fiona, "they need a good clipping and that hair, it was all over the place." Colin...

Fracking threatens the small country of Scotland at the very time it is making a bid for nationhood. How will it cope and how do the good people of the land react? An unusual fact intervenes to skew the outcome.

"As she knelt concernedly by the ashen-faced sailor taking his pulse, Captain Stewart noticed her hands, neat slim white fingers, almost translucent; no ring on the left hand. "Married? he asked, as she stood up. "Widowed," she said. "In '35, a mining accident." "Oh,...