95 books like The Wolfclaw Chronicles

As a kid, I was hooked on this story's vast, wide-open freedom. The notions of hidden treasure maps, buried fortunes, stealthy smugglers, and dangerous pirates affected me in profoundly positive ways, stimulating a wanderlust and a love of adventure. 

Although Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson set this swashbuckling tale on the south coast of England and the elusive Treasure Island in the Caribbean, it was inspired by his childhood experiences in Scotland, most notably trips with his dad to rocky islands and promontories (RLS’s father was a lighthouse engineer who designed and built many iconic lighthouses). 

When my father took the five-year-old me to The Admiral Benbow en route to a family holiday in Cornwall, I was amazed to find that the inn was a real place. It felt bristlingly alive to me, for this was the same inn where Billy Bones had lodged with the treasure map while hiding… show more.

While I’ve enjoyed most of Irvine Welsh’s books, this one (a collection of short stories) is my favorite because it accurately crystallizes a particular culture, place, and time.  The stories are set in Edinburgh and its environs, where I lived in a nearby village. My familiarity with the settings made this book feel intimate, sometimes unsettlingly so. I love the way each story blends the real and the surreal. 

There are drugs and booze galore, of course, as well as brutality and revenge, but the author’s savvy wit and incisive dialogue give these tales gravitas, authenticity, and philosophical depth. I laughed when a couple of years ago, I witnessed “Scotland’s top cop” (in the spoof police documentary Scot Squad) sum up Irvine Welsh’s written output as “monkey gibberish”—the barely concealed glee with which that phrase was delivered by comedian Jack Docherty (in deadpan style as the character Cameron Meikelson) tickled… show more.

As an 11-year-old, I read this book for the first time and thought it was the funniest book ever written. I cried and laughed at several parts.

The dialogue sparkles with old Glasgow wit and wisdom. John Joy Bell’s love of the Scots dialect is evident throughout. The book is a collection of tales featuring the titular character, a wonder-filled wee boy growing up in Glasgow during the 1930s.

The writing is endearingly innocent and playful. It’s a glorious snapshot of Scottish life a century ago.

To me, this book is the quintessentially Hebridean novel in existence. My paternal grandmother hailed from the Isle of Lewis (or Eilean Leòdhais, to give the island its proper Gaelic name), as did her parents and their parents, and so on back ad infinitum. I’ve always loved the wild beauty of the place. Lewis feels like Home with a capital H. It has a long history of poetry and song, but until fairly recently, not many novels have emerged from those shores. 

This book impressed me on several levels. Kevin MacNeil eloquently articulates the difficult duality experienced by many Lewis folk: on the isle, they feel isolated and often daydream of being elsewhere, but upon leaving the island, they feel uprooted, untethered, and lost.  And how do the islanders deal with this existential paradox? They drink. As in, really drink. In the Hebrides, alcohol is both a curse and a… show more.

I was amazed to learn of the Nazi obsession with nature, from sustainable forestry to air quality and native plants. During the 1930s, German environmentalists set forth the Third Reich agenda to preserve the natural world.

Embedded in German nationalism was a deep feeling for the land and landscapes of the Nazi native land; even the Autobahn was designed to allow easy access to natural sites and hiking trails!

However, the Nazi military agenda to dominate Europe and beyond ultimately derailed their green agenda. This eye-opening book unpacks the connection between German Volk and environmentalism despite the pseudo-scientific premises of Third Reich doctrine. 

Complex, clever, and cunning Gruoch is fighting for her survival and the crown of the ancient kingdom of Scotland–and she isn’t going to let anything or anyone get in her way.

She has no one to look out for her, so she must take on the world herself, and no matter what was thrown at her, she kept on, as single-minded as ever–and I kept cheering her for that, despite her villainy.

This book contains tough questions that I have struggled with in the past like, “Why would God allow this to happen?” “Does God see me?” “How can God use this for His glory?” I found comfort in these pages. I learned the struggle of many during the Jacobite uprising—something I knew precious little about, and I have Scottish heritage!

Laura always transports me into history, and I love how she combines stories of struggle with hope. I always walk away from her books with new knowledge of history and encouragement for my own life. Besides, I can never say no to a good romance!

The beauty of this novel is that it takes sweeping historical change – the Highland Clearances of Scotland – and manages to make history intimate, showing the impact of events on one vulnerable old woman. In the nineteenth century, much of rural Scotland was forcibly "cleared" of people to make room for sheep grazing. Outside of Scotland, this great tragedy of Scottish history is not as well known as it should be, and neither is Smith’s book.

I love its deliberately naïve style, as we see the world through the old woman’s eyes and feel her pain as history crashes down on her. It’s full of the beauty of the natural world, but it’s also chilling, as it demonstrates the indifference of outsiders to a long-established way of life. 

Fray is such an unexpected novel. It’s presented as a sort of ‘missing person mystery,’ but it’s actually quite an experimental and literary novel.

The whole story, written in often surreal fragments, takes place in the Scottish wilderness and is rife with unforgettable imagery. Ultimately, it’s a story about grief, and the fragmented narrative style perfectly suits this theme.

Rilke, the auctioneer, finds a collection of photographs that show the death of a young woman. He journeys into the dark heart of Glasgow–and his own desires–to find out who she is.

An amazing debut, looking at the subcultures and twisted alleyways that stitch together every big city. I was compelled by how far Welsh was prepared to go, depicting a city I thought I knew.