The Unrecovered Launch Event with Richard Strachan - Thursday 13th February 2025

Join us in the bookshop to celebrate the launch of much -anticipated debut novel, The Unrecovered, by local author Richard Strachan. Richard will be in conversation with Mary Paulson-Ellis.

6.30pm on Thursday 13th February at Golden Hare Books, 68 St Stephen Street, EH3 5AQ.

Buy a copy of The Unrecovered and receive free entry to our event, or choose our Ticket-Only option for £5 (which can be used towards a purchase of the book at the event).

Please note that this event is taking place on the publication day for The Unrecovered - this means that your copy of the book will be available to collect at the event.

About The Unrecovered What the years have buried, is about to be exposed... The gloomy fortress of Gallondean lies on the Scottish coast. Local legend has it that if the heirs to the house hear the howling of a spectral hound nearby, their death will quickly follow.

The current owner of the house is Jacob Beresford who, up until the unexpected death of his father, had never set foot within its crumbling walls. Jacob, already haunted by his own demons, has no need of more ghosts, but as the First World War staggers through its last terrible months and he uncovers unsettling details of his new home’s past, the shadows seem to be growing around him. Then he meets Esther, a young volunteer nurse serving at nearby Roddinglaw, an elegant country house requisitioned for use as a temporary hospital ward.

Esther, widowed in the early months of the war, dreams of being a poet as she assists the men around her, some of whom are struggling to come to terms with permanent, life-changing injuries. But is it one of the soldiers who appears to have only a minor injury, whose life comes to intersect with both Esther and Jacob in horrifying and unexpected ways. Danger stalks the woods and coast around them, but it soon becomes clear that the gravest threats are within….

Both unsettling and evocative, deeply atmospheric and brilliantly engaging The Unrecovered is an unforgettable historical debut inspired by a real life legend and marks the arrival of an outstanding new talent.

About Richard Strachan Richard Strachan lives in Edinburgh with his family. He is the winner of a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and has been shortlisted for competitions like the Manchester Fiction Prize and the Bridport Prize. He has written book reviews for The List, The Herald and The Scottish Review of Books, and his short fiction has been published in magazines like Weird Horror, The Dark, Interzone, Gutter and New Writing Scotland, amongst many others. Richard's gothic mystery The Unrecovered will be published as Raven Books' literary superlead in 2025.

About Mary Paulson-Ellis Mary Paulson-Ellis writes across the boundaries of crime, literary and historical fiction. Her debut novel, The Other Mrs Walker was a Times bestseller and Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year. The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing was longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for best Scottish crime novel and a Historical Writers Association Gold Crown. Mary has written for the Guardian and BBC Radio 4 and in 2019 Val McDermid named her one of ten exciting LGBTQ+ writers working today. Mary was recently appointed Dr Gavin Wallace Fellow by Edinburgh Unesco City of Literature. Emily Noble’s Disgrace is her third novel.