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First published by Skylight Press in 2013 under the title of Before the Dawn, and now proudly reissued by us under a new title, this novel has been hailed as one of the greatest works of international fiction to emerge in the 21st century.

The writing of it began four decades before it was first published, after it‘s author, Rupert Copping, returned to the UK as a young man from Ecuador, the country where he grew up. It was this upbringing that compelled him to write a story based on the unremitting exploitation he had witnessed of indigenous people and their mountain forest habitat.

The story is told entirely from the point of view of an indigenous tribe, descended from an ancient empire, living in isolation from the ‘civilized‘ world. Their way of life is no idyllic Eden before the Fall. It contains cruelty and injustice, but it is their world. Copping explores the complexities of tribal life through four main characters; a chief, his wife, his mistress, and a disgraced elder. The outside forces that swirl around and seep into their isolated enclave are complicated and circuitous, pitting native, invader, revolutionary and reactionary against each other. Rich in imagination, language, and environmental concerns this novel takes the reader from ancient ritual to catastrophic collision with the modern world.

Best book of the year and one of the greatest of this century. Sure to be a counter cultural classic. Ray Mackenzie

Welshman Huw Lloyd Jones’ life seems perfect: he teaches Creative Writing at a charming college in the American South, and is happy with Miranda, his beautiful wife. But then he discovers that his despotic boss, Frida Shamburger, has it in for him, and Miranda’s love is more tenuous than he supposed. Huw must fight to save his job and marriage. But can a middle-aged white man survive in the woke jungle of academia? And with a manipulative psychiatrist and a women’s empowerment guru encouraging Miranda to be more independent, can the couple’s love prevail?

‘In Our Parent Who Art in Heaven, Powell has penned what may be the anti-woke campus novel of our times, a rollicking satire equal to the wittiest and most keenly observed of Tom Sharpe and Evelyn Waugh.‘ David Joiner, author of Lotusland

Garry Craig Powell was educated at Cambridge University, and taught Creative Writing for many years at an American university. His story collection, Stoning the Devil (Skylight, 2012), was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award in 2013. He lives in northern Portugal

Length: 272 pp.

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In 1719 a battalion of Spanish soldiers landed on the west coast of Scotland. They were all that survived of the Spanish Armada’s last, failed invasion of Britain.

Thoroughly researched, R P Carruthers has produced a riveting historical novel that fully captures the harsh and turbulent era when Scottish Jacobites in alliance with Spain rose against the English Crown.

The Tide Also Takes is a story of adventure, war, intrigue, love and betrayal. It brings to vivid life the destruction of Eilean Donan Castle, the battle of Glenshiel, and, at the novel’s very heart, the extraordinary and unexpected love affair between a Spanish officer and the wife of a local laird.

Based partly on a Gaelic folk tale as well as historic record, and reflecting moral dilemmas that are universal as they are timeless, The Tide Also Takes contains twists and turns that will keep the reader gripped to the very last page.

R P Carruthers is a visual artist and writer living on the Isle of Skye. He partly grew up in South America and for fifteen years lived in Spain. This makes him bilingual and well placed to write a novel that encompasses both the history of Scotland and of Spain.

Length 350 pp