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But this story is not just about planned railways that were never built.  It is about the frustrations of the people of the Highlands in the face of government incompetence, railway-company obstructionism, local rivalries and the struggle against the historical injustice of land-ownership.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49536600637713,"sku":"GOR010978495","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49657562759441,"sku":"GOR011738563","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49770607902993,"sku":"GOR011172595","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1912476886.jpg?v=1750996371"},{"product_id":"abridged-history-book-andrew-drummond-9781904598091","title":"An Abridged History","description":"It is August 1893. Alexander Auchmuty Kininmonth, optimistic railway engineer, works on the construction of a railway line between Garve and Lochinver, expecting that the railway will both transform the economy of that lonely corner of Scotland and bring him riches and personal comfort. Over the course of time, however, he finds that his dreams are slowly and inexorably sacrificed to the aspirations of others, and to events into which he finds himself stumbling head-first. Eventually, the fiscal incompetence of the railway company drives Kininmonth to seek employment in the Scottish borders, where he becomes involved in a bizarre relationship with two survivors of a community abandoned on a sub-Antarctic island. Extraordinary events necessitate a rapid escape by all three to the remote island of Jura, before Kininmonth returns to the north-west, where work continues on the railway. He is caught up in a 'revolution' in Ullapool in 1897, where a 'Citadel of the Elect' has been founded by a millenarian preacher.   Historical events - factual or fictional - threaten to obliterate his schemes, but Kininmonth refuses to bow to the inevitable, always hoping, as the worst of scenarios persistently unfold before him, that everything will turn out for the best. And indeed his railway is finally completed - or is it? This is an astonishingly assured first novel. Written with great realism and sense of time and place, Andy Drummond creates a haunting and hallucinatory world where nothing is as it seems and in which the utopian dreams of its hero and his age are seen as the delusions they came to be.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49548004819217,"sku":"GOR001381582","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49620781072657,"sku":"GOR004201218","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1904598099.jpg?v=1750726550"},{"product_id":"elephantina-book-andrew-drummond-9781846970443","title":"Elephantina","description":"An elephant sighs forlornly and dies by the side of the road, just outside Dundee: It is April 1706 and discussions are beginning for the proposed Act of Union. 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But during a night spent in each other's company, filled with dawning hope, revelation, unfortunate accidents and pickled eggs, several remarkable stories unfold. The story of John Cochrane, pedestrian traveller extraordinaire, and deceased husband of the young widow Ksenia; of his infamous father, who spent his life defrauding governments and upsetting Napoleon; of Ksenia Loginova's perilous 6,000-mile journey across Siberia and the unwelcome attentions of a troubadour; and, of the merchant Horatio who reflects on love, slavery and arithmetic. 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Witty and engagingly written, this book is fascinating reading for anyone interested in eighteenth-century colonial history and the story of early European and Russian explorers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52402718343441,"sku":"NLS9781412865104","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53578540286225,"sku":"NIN9781412865104","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781412865104.jpg?v=1758758688"},{"product_id":"intriguing-life-and-ignominious-death-of-maurice-benyovszky-book-andrew-drummond-9781412865432","title":"The Intriguing Life and Ignominious Death of Maurice Benyovszky","description":"Published in 1790, Maurice Benyovszkys posthumous memoir was an instant sensation. A tale of exploration and adventure, it was translated into several languages and adapted for theatre and opera. 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