Writers turn over new leaf with e-books

Relatives of “forgotten” Scottish authors have spoken of their delight at seeing their work republished as e-books.

The Bloomsbury Reader is reviving hundreds of works, many of which have been out of print for years.

They include writing by Scottish authors such as Leo Ognall, Eric Linklater, Chaim Bermant and Fitzroy MacLean.

Crime writer Ognall wrote under the pseudonyms Harry Carmichael and Hartley Howard, penning more than 90 novels before his death aged 69.

Bloomsbury is publishing some of his works, including A Slightly Bitter Taste, The Quiet Woman and Naked To The Grave.

His son Sir Harry Ognall, a retired judge who lives in Ilkley, in the Yorkshire Dales, said: “My dad would have been utterly incredulous at the technology, of course, and I think he would have been immensely pleased that, thanks to it, some of his work is being resurrected nearly 30 years after his death.”