The topic this week for Top Ten Tuesday is “Books for Armchair Travellers.” Since I haven’t ventured overseas for at least five years I’m going to keep my list within the borders of the United Kingdom.
Let’s start in the north with Scotland.
1. The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins
One thing Scotland has in abundance (beyond rain and whisky) are trees. Robin Jenkins’s novella is set on a large estate in the Scottish Highlands during World War II. Brothers Neil and Calum are working as foresters, collecting cones before trees are chopped down to support the war effort. It’s a story about good and evil, outsiders, class divisions and nature. A gem of a book.
2. Clear by Carys Davies
Clear won the 2025 Ondaatje prize for writing that “best evokes the spirit of a place”. It’s set on a tiny island remote from the Scottish mainland, a setting that the judges Island felt was “rendered in exquisite, craggy detail.” The book is set against the background of the Highland Clearances which saw the rural poor forcibly removed from land they had tended for generations.
3. Salt and Skin by Eliza Henry Jones
Written by an Australian author, Salt and Skin touches on myths associated with the Orkney islands and an episode in history when women judged to be witches were burned to death.
Time now to cross the sea to Northern Ireland for my next batch of titles.
The sectarian violence that marred Northern Ireland for more than thirty years features large in fiction by authors from that part of the UK. Few handle it as effectively as the authors of my next two choices.
4. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Louise Kennedy shows powerfully the tinderbox atmosphere of a community whose residents have become accustomed — almost inured — to army checkpoints, armed patrols and alerts. And what happens when one resident crosses the divide.
Anna Burns won the Booker Prize for her novel which looks at the tense and violent atmosphere through the eyes of an 18-year-old girl. Like Trespasses she conveys the tension of living in a city where one false step or one misjudged comment can result in retribution.
Back across the Irish sea to my home turf of Wales.
6. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
Trezza Azzopardi‘s evokes a time when Cardiff ( the capital city of Wales) was one of the oldest multi-racial communities in Britain. Her narrative reflects the experience of her own family —her father came from Malta, married a girl from Wales and settled in what became known as “Tiger Bay”
7. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning-Wroe
The date of 26 October 1966 is seared into the memory of the Welsh population. That was the day when a torrent of coal and mud slid down the mountain side and engulfed the school in the village of Aberfan. More than 100 children and scores of adults, were killed in the disaster. In a sensitive novel, Jo Browning-Wroe captures the reaction of people from far and wide who answer the call for help and volunteer for the rescue operation.
8. One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard
The reality of life in a small slate quarrying community is the subject of Caradog Prichard’s award-winning novel. Poverty and hardship abound but there is also joy seen through the eyes of a young boy.
9. Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams
I’m currently reading the memoir Sugar and Slate in preparation for Reading Wales Month ’26 which begins on March 1. Part of the book is set in the North Wales where Charlotte Williams was born to a white, Welsh mother, and black Guyanese father. Other chapters see her living in Guyana. Her book explores the challenges of trying to “fit in” while always feeling that you belong elsewhere.
I’m bringing my list to an end with a brief visit to England — a country which is a dirty word to some people in Wales except when they’re the only national team still left in the World Cup or European championships.
10. The Spire by William Golding
Rolling green hills, a patchwork of fields divided by ancient hedgerows, and dotted with thatched cottages. Add a few castles and church spires and you have the picture-perfect view of England beloved of tourist bodies. William Golding’s novel is an intense novel about the creation of one of these edifices, featuring a man who believes God is calling him to build a magnificent spire to adorn a cathedral.
Golding was inspired to write the book by the view of Salisbury Cathedral — which boasts Britain’s tallest spire — he saw every day from the school where he taught. The painter J.M. Turner was also inspired by the cathedral, using it as a subject in many of his sketches and watercolours. And if you want a further reason to visit Salisbury it’s this — the cathedral houses one of only four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta, the 1215 document that proclaims the freedoms and rights of individuals under the rule of law.
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