History, archives, folklore, rants, research rabbit holes, and things too interesting to leave alone. Notes from the margins of writing historical fiction.
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The Problem With Time Travellers
Why every historical novelist secretly wants to strangle anyone who says, “I’d love to live in Victorian Scotland.”
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History Is Full of Bad Advice
For centuries, very clever people gave spectacularly bad advice with complete confidence. More inconveniently, they sometimes gave very good advice for entirely the wrong reasons.
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A Love Letter to Small Museums
The places with one volunteer, six visitors a day, and the best stories in Scotland.
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The Smell of History
Museums preserve the sights of history beautifully. They rarely preserve the smells. A journey into the forgotten sensory landscape of the past—and why we’ve all been imagining it wrong.
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A Field Guide to Getting Called a Bawbag and Feeling Loved
Come for the scenery. Leave with a nickname you can’t repeat in church. A light-hearted guide to Scotland’s remarkable ability to turn profanity into affection.
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Brose, Tattie Scones, and Using All The Bits
A tour through the surprisingly inventive world of Victorian Scottish food, where potatoes worked overtime, and nothing—not even the sheep’s spare parts—went to waste.
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Washing the Dead: Victorian Scotland’s Original Exit Interview
Victorian death rituals weren’t simply superstition and solemnity. Behind the customs lay one last act of care, performed quietly by neighbours, friends, and family.