Ahead of the Abbey Books Summer Book Festival, organiser Brian Hannan interviews historical crime novelist Steven Veerapen What attracted you to the period of Henry VIII – the setting for Of Judgement Fallen? I’ve loved reading about this period since childhood – from Horrible Histories to the old 70s drama series on Henry and his...
Read MoreBrian Hannan, local author and manager of Abbey Books in Paisley, reviews 16 Incle Street by Jeff Holmes Few Paisley addresses are as notorious as 16 Incle Street. For it was there in 1924 that Joe Gallacher. Aged 29, slashed his wife’s throat with a razor. Ordinarily, he would have been an automatic candidate...
Read MoreBrian Hannan from Abbey Books in Paisley takes a look at a new book, The Renfrewshire Victoria Crosses by Graham Fulton Paisley poet Graham Fulton has commemorated the actions of the five Paisley men awarded the country’s highest wartime honour – the Victoria Cross – in battles from the Crimean War to World Two. These...
Read MoreBrian Hannan from Abbey Books in Paisley reviews another fantastic book, The Earth Is Weeping by Peter Cozzens This award-winning history of the Indian Wars in America is so even-handed you won’t find a single mention of the word “genocide”. That’s about the only flaw in this magnificent history of a war that lasted nearly...
Read MoreBrian Hannan from Abbey Books in Paisley reviews The Waste Land, A Biography of a Poem by Matthew Hollis Except for the late burst of popularity afforded W.H. Auden’s Stop the Clocks after inclusion in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, published in 1922, would have reigned supreme as...
Read MoreBrian Hannan talks us through what could be the start of a book revolution, introducing the Abbey Books Readers Club… Coming up with something quite new at a second-hand bookshop sounds like a contradiction in terms. But we may just have stumbled on something that could revolutionise the world of books. As you might imagine...
Read MoreBrian Hannan, local author and manager at Abbey Books in Paisley reviews The Devil Stone by Caro Ramsay. After 13 novels headed by the crime-busting team of Anderson and Costello, Paisley novelist Caro Ramsay has abandoned her usual Glasgow beat and headed up the west coast and surpassed herself with the debut of DCI...
Read MorePaisley’s all-time bestselling author, Evelyn Hood, has died. Famed for her Paisley sequence of eight novels, former journalist Evelyn’s books had a global following. A tribute by Brian Hannan from Abbey Books. In my opinion she was unfairly discounted in literary circles and for the worst reason of all – she was a woman....
Read MoreBrian Hannan from Abbey Books in Paisley takes a look at The Extraordinary Life & Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner by Franny Moyle. One of the biggest benefits of running a second-hand bookshop is that hundreds books pass in across my desk in a week. It’s like watching a conveyor of delights. I’m something...
Read MoreBrian Hannan from Abbey Books in Paisley talks through The Slab Boys on Broadway programme, a beautiful piece of John Byrne memorabilia. You are probably unaware just how big a global success iconic Paisley author/painter John Byrne achieved with his play The Slab Boys. I was, too, until among a recent donation to Abbey...
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