Reading the City of Edinburgh

The Edinburgh book festival is upon us once again and with so many  great panels and great events to see, how do you choose? Well, if you’re a booktrailing kind of person and like to find out about authors who write novels evocative of time and place, here’s a brief guide of what to look out for:

Edinburgh Book Festival (c) Edinburgh Book Festival

Reading the City…

“Edinburgh has inspired writers, poets and thinkers throughout the ages: from the great philosophers of the Enlightenment to gritty modern crime fiction. Listen to readings about Auld Reekie, learn about its influence on local authors and join in with a discussion exploring the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature.”

There are many fantastic books set in and around Edinburgh and this series of panels looks set to really delve underneath the skin of the city. Whilst you’re in the capital you have to see the city through  the eyes of these writers and their characters:

Rebus

What would Edinburgh be like without Rebus? He certainly has a unique view of the city and it’s people. Granted he tends to look on the dark side as well as walk on it, but there’s not much of the city that Rebus doesn’t know or hasn’t been. You would need to spend a fair bit of time in the city to see all of his haunts (there are a number of books!) but there ‘s the famous Oxford Bar in Morningside to rest your legs as you wander around the city Rebus style

Alexander McCall Smith (a) Edinburgh Book Fesival

Bernie and co

Rebus or more to the point Ian Rankin makes a guest appearance in the Alexander Mc Call smith novel 44 Scotland Street. This street is in the old town and does exist although no 44 doesn’t for obvious reasons. Doesn’t stop people like me taking photos of it or the doors and imagining that Bernie and friends really do live here. Try Valvona and Corolla in Jenners on Princes Street as this is Bernie’s favourite store for something to eat. Or the art galleries down Dundas Street which feature in the novels. Morningside for the charity shops is  a must as this is whereIan Rankin pops up

Detective Nine Nails McGrey  

Three books in the series now and I can’ wait for the next one. Never before has Edinburgh seemed so dark and mysterious. Gothic and dripping in mist and fog – this is the Edinburgh of another time of course – the 1880s to be precise and it’s amazing how little the city has changed in many ways! The cobbled streets are there, the searches for witches and ghosts and the sound of violin music haunting the Usher Hall. Some of the places here might be fictional but there’s a veil across history that you only have to twitch in order to see the reality underneath…..Wait until you see THIS Edinburgh

Portobello

This suburb of the city comes to life in a very haunting novel from Alison Baillie. In the seaside suburb of Portobello, Edinburgh, a dark secret from the past hangs over the present. This is a very personal novel having been in the author’s mind for many years before she put pen to paper. And it’s a story with many strands and a lot of intrigue. Shona and her friend Sarah were in Abercorn Park when she rushed off having told her friend she had a secret. Sarah waited but Shona never reappeared. Many years late, Tom, Shona’s brother, hears that the man who committed the crime is to be released from hospital which coincides with his return from South Africa to scatter his mother’s ashes and to attend a school reunion.

Find out more about the Edinburgh Book Festival’s Reading the City series to find out the authors involved and those you can find out later on! Alexander McCall Smith is one of the writers featured in this series of events