Scottish Girls About Town [Kindle Edition]

Jenny Colgan (Author), Isla Dewar (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Meet the Clanswomen...

International bestselling authors Jenny Colgan, Isla Dewar, and Muriel Gray lead off this dazzling collection of stories by popular and rising Scottish women authors. A sometimes wild, sometimes poignant romp through the lives of Scotswomen, Scottish Girls About Town revels in the universal hilarity and strife of being a girl!

They're looking for something moor.

In Jenny Colgan's "The Fringes," a hapless heroine heads to the Edinburgh "Fringe" -- a massive theatrical and musical festival -- for a night of her own disastrous drama. Isla Dewar offers up "In the Garden of Mrs. Pink," one woman's look back at her girlhood and the life lessons she learned from an eccentric neighbor. In Muriel Gray's "School-Gate Mums," a single mother with killer instincts settles the score with one of the mothers at her son's school. Whether they're racing their flatmates in a weight-loss contest, reconnecting with long-lost friends, or grappling with the men in their lives, these daughters of Scotland prove that no one can top their audacious spirit and Highland charm.

About the Author

Born in Ayrshire in 1972, Jenny Colgan worked in the health service for six years after graduating from Edinburgh University, moonlighting as a cartoonist and stand-up comic.

Her first novel, Amanda's Wedding, published in 1999, was an instant bestseller, and has been followed by three further bestselling romantic comedies, Talking to Addison, Looking for Andrew McCarthy and Working Wonders.

Jenny Colgan lives in London.

Born in Edinburgh, Isla Dewar now lives in Fife with her husband, a cartoonist, and two sons. Her first novel, Keeping Up with Magda, published in 1995, has been followed by a string of bestsellers: Giving Up on Ordinary, It Could Happen to You, Women Talking Dirty, Two Kinds of Wonderful, The Woman Who Painted Her Dreams, and, most recently, Dancing in a Distant Place.

Muriel Gray is a well-known media personality, the creator and presenter of numerous radio and TV shows, including The Tube, The Media Show and The Snow Show. She is also the author of three chilling novels of the supernatural, The Ancient, Furnace and The Trickster.

Muriel Gray lives in Glasgow with her husband and three children.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 487 KB
• Print Length: 368 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0743498607
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1 edition (February 9, 2004)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC1A84
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,512 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A strong and entertaining collection, June 20, 2005

By 

Lap-Swimmer "Mermaid" (Falls Church, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scottish Girls About Town: And sixteen other Scottish women authors (Paperback)

I was given this collection as a gift after a great trip to Scotland. I was surprised when what I expected would be a so-so "chick-lit" read turned out to be a sampling of mostly accomplished stories that often went far beyond the limited chick-lit plotlines.

I was totally baffled when I read the comments of the previous reviewer, and I completely disagree. The reviewer makes the stories sound like a collection of frustrating post-modern work -- inaccessible and without defined endings. Other than the one piece written in dialect (probably clearer to UK readers), the stories are quite accessible and generally traditional in their construction. Their final resolutions are not necessarily spoon-fed to the reader, but it's hardly difficult to understand where, how, and why each one ends as it does.

Almost all of these stories are enjoyable reads, and a few are exceptionally well-written. For example, "A Choc Ice down the Shore" by Morag Joss is a marvelous treatment of the potentially cliche-ed situation of the distant, distracted daughter visiting her elderly mother in a nursing home. "School Gate Mums" literally skewers the the cliquish mothers who are cattily disdainful of an outsider -- a seemingly quiet, innocuous single mom and her shy, bucktoothed son. Episodes in which young girls get telling glimpses into adult secrets are conveyed with skill and originality in Aline Templeton's "A Mixed Blessing" and Julia Hamilton's "A Day at the Seaside." The stories that fall into the more usual chick-lit preoccupations tend to rise above the pack, and their non-US settings are a dimension to their appeal.

Bottom line: It's hard to believe that I was reading the same short fiction as did the reviewer below. This collection doesn't disappoint, and several of the stories are superb.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Och Aye! The Scots Lose to the Irish, February 27, 2006

By 

Cocktail Mom (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scottish Girls About Town: And sixteen other Scottish women authors (Paperback)

I bought this book after having read and enjoyed some of its Irish inspirations - Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel, Irish Girls About Town, etc.

I'm sorry to report that these short stories from Scottish female authors are not nearly as engaging or as lively. There were a few gems - "In the Garden of Mrs. Pink" tells of a young girl's encounter with a lady of disrepute through charmingly innocent eyes. "School-Gate Mums," about a single mom/hitwoman, was so cynical and over-the-top that, despite the exciting story line, it just depressed me. But most of the stories were basically un-memorable. Overall, disappointing.

5.0 out of 5 stars So sad to see it end..., April 6, 2008

By 

Laura MacDonald (Augusta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scottish Girls About Town: And sixteen other Scottish women authors (Paperback)

Well, I don't know what to think about the first review where she kept asking for an ending. Makes me wonder if we read the same book. This collection was nothing short of fabulous. Only a couple didn't have the traditional "closure" to it that this particular reviewer must have been wanting.
There are some real gems in this book. Lovely, lovely stories.
The Standouts:
In the Garden of Mrs. Pink by Isla Dewar. Charming story of a young girl and her "working" neighbor.
A True Romance by Shari Low. A woman gets what she thinks she wants only to realize that wasn't it at all.
The Six Stone Pack by Sara Sheridan. A weight loss competition between best friends.
A Choc Ice Down the Shore by Morag Joss. Beautiful story of a dying mother and her daughter and the examining of their relationship.
But the best was saved for last...Bonny in Scotland by Katie Agnew. I'm not going to say anything about this one..read it and you'll see why.

Of course it's not really fair to pick favorites here. It almost seemed that each one was better than the last. And the wonderful thing about them is the universal themes presented throughout. No matter these are Scottish women authors. They could be from anywhere..writing about all the feelings and issues women anywhere experience.
It's a glorious collection...now go enjoy it.