A Scottish author has completed a novel set in East Lothian and Orkney.

Charlie Laidlaw’s fourth novel, Everyday Magic, is being published on 26th May by Glasgow-based Ringwood Publishing.

Commenting about the novel which was mostly written during the 2020 lockdown, Charlie said:

“When all of us, because of restrictions, had to reassess our lives and the things that are important to us

“It was, and still is, a time of thinking what we’d done, the people and places that have shaped us, and how we could each build for a bright future.”

The novel centres on Carole Gunn who is leading an unfulfilled life and knows it. She’s married to someone who may, or may not, be in New York on business and, making things worse, the family’s deaf cat has been run over by an electric car.

Once, she was a gifted archaeology lecturer with a fascination for Scotland’s standing stones, and in particular those in the islands of Orkney.

Carole has decided to revisit places that hold special significance for her and to better understand whether the person she is now is simply an older version of the person she once was. Instead, she’s taken on an unlikely journey to confront her past, present and future.

The novel is an uplifting book filled with humour and poignancy, and reminds us that, while our pasts make us who we are, we can always alter the course of our futures.

Copies ordered from the publisher before 26th May receive a signed copy.

Charlie Laidlaw, who, lives in East Lothian, is the author of four previous novels: The Space Between Time, Love Potions and Other Calamities, The Things we Learn When We’re Dead and Being Alert! – a satire on the government’s handling of Covid-19. Three of his previous novels are to be republished by Ringwood Publishing later this year and next year.