Set to the backdrop of the referendum on Scottish independence, the pieces contained in Jenny Lindsay’s second pamphlet reflect a personal journey grappling with the contradictions in Scottish culture, in calls for independence, and in the way we view and try to attain personal and political power.

Love, loss and holding the world to rights in some Edinburgh bar-shacks. The Eejit Pit addresses 21st century love, intimacy and stability with humour, commentary and innovative word-play.

Doubling Back is a fascinating and moving account of walking in the footsteps of others. In 1952 Linda Cracknell’s father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. Fifty years later Linda retraces that fateful journey, following the trail of the man she barely knew.

When Maggie Thame, a childless forty-something from Oxford, relocates to a remote village at Scotland’s most northern edge, it’s clear she’s running away. But to the villagers the question remains, from what?

The year is 1537. Mary of Guise, young, beautiful and widowed, is the reluctant bride of James V, King of Scots. The marriage is arranged to strengthen the alliance between France and Scotland. On the border Henry VIII seeks a reason to invade.

A grandmother runs away from home and finds freedom, an actress dons a frothy hat, a poet searches for Bohemia. There are some clergymen, some nuns, and more than a few criminals. Journeys, real or metaphorical, are a common theme.

Tudor England: Marjorie Bowes, the daughter of a rich and powerful family, grows up in a time of civil turmoil caused by the religious reforms of King Henry VIII. She meets John Knox, a renegade Scottish preacher in exile from his own country, who has been appointed one of the chaplains of the boy King Edward VI. They fall in love, to the consternation of her family.

The third full collection by Brian Johnstone, and his second to be published by Arc in their Poetry from the UK & Ireland series, May 2014.