Perthshire author Natalie Jayne Clark on the book she’s most looking forward to, her love of Iain Banks and why Lessons in Chemistry is the best novel she’s read this year.
The first book I remember reading:
There were many beautiful picture books that I spent hours lost in, tracing all the details, like the busy bucolic Brambly Hedge series which showed the cluttered houses mice had inside the trees. My favourite book was one called Catkin in which a small ginger kitten has to go into the emerald depths of the fairy world to rescue their family’s kidnapped baby. Each page is painted in watercolours and features such depths of emotions. I read it over and over again, and still keep it nearby.
A book I recommend to everyone:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – plus the subsequent four books in the ‘trilogy’ if you take to it. Adams pokes fun at absolutely everything and I adore how seriously he takes being silly. Every line is a joy. What it says about humans and society and power is as relevant today as it was then.
The best book I have read in this year:
I raced through Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, and although it is set decades ago, it is sobering the amount of discrimination and hassle that women – particularly those in typically male-dominated industries – still face today. I do love a book which treats a dog or cat, or any animal really, as part of the cast of characters. Garmus artfully weaves through the experiences and emotions of so many people without weighing the book down.
The book I am most looking forward to:
The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver by Rafael Torrubia – it looks superb. The books I hold dearest to me are my fantasy series because they offer the most rich and delicious escape into new worlds, and Torrubia I already know is an epic world-builder. All the good stuff: ancient Gods, magic, good versus evil, plus it will be fantasy told drawing on Scottish influences.
A book I didn’t finish:
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. I sort of skipped bits to try and glean the key elements of the story, but basically I have found my threshold for gruesome and spooky. There’s lots of horror and thriller I like, but there was something about this one that made me genuinely queasy and have nightmares. I hope that makes the author pleased that they’ve done such a good job! I thought I was made of sterner stuff, but now I know the extent of my wimpiness.
An author that has inspired me:
Iain Banks, definitely, both his general novels and his sci-fi written under Iain M. Banks. Like Adams, nothing is too serious to be mocked, and you can feel how much he enjoys playing with words, that he rolled them around his mouth to savour them like a good dram of whisky. Despite them all having his touch, fingerprints in the clay, each of his novels is totally different, and I am glad he experimented so much with structure and the like.
The book I am reading now:
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel – an absolutely fascinating presentation of the true story of a couple who travelled the length and breadth of Europe, stealing items from museums and galleries most weekends. She would be the lookout, and he would use his Swiss-army knife to prise open cases or undo screws and they’d just walk out with the art! A reason it took so long to track them down was because they weren’t doing it for the money, but to have the pieces they were most bewitched and overpowered by in their home, to fully enjoy at their leisure. I am obsessed with people who are that obsessed.
Natalie Jayne Clark is a neurodivergent writer, editor and producer based in Perth. Natalie writes for SNACK Magazine and is the Assistant Producer for StAnza Poetry Festival. She is also a certified whisky ambassador and is partial to a Springbank or a Bruichladdich. The Malt Whisky Murders (Polygon) by Natalie Jayne Clark is out now. It has been shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2025.
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