93 Books Like The Lewis Chessmen

I have read a lot of history and archaeology books and more often than not they can be a little dull, dry and in some cases work better than a sleeping tablet.

Not with this book, here you learn about parts of medieval England you just wouldn’t think about, written from a more personal point of view its less about political stuff like kings, queens, and those pesky archbishops and much more on the practicalities of living in medieval England.

Would you know what to eat, wear, or where to go to the toilet? Would you know how to address a lord or lady? Would you know what to do if you got sick? This is a vital guide for all time travelers!

My love of ancient Greek heroes began with the old stop footage films of the 70s and early 80s.

The bravery, the adventure, and the mystery had me hooked at a young age. So, it was a delight to find a book that dealt with the heroes of the ancient Greeks in such an easy-to-read way. This book is not just a rehash of those much-loved tales such as Jason and the Argonauts or Odysseus, Stephen Fry has brought a more modern language to the stories making them relatable and relevant for today.

This is an all-time favourite of mine.

Going even further back in time this book looks to the archaeological evidence and asks, what was life like in the very distant past, in deep prehistory?

Was it short, violent, and miserable as we are often led to believe, or is there a different story? Here Francis Pryor examines the evidence to test this question and finds that actually, much like today, life was complex and yet a place where home and hearth lay at the center of our ancestors’ lives.

Francis Pryor writes from the heart, with empathy and imagination. I found it an easy read given it deals with what can be very dry pieces of archaeological evidence. If you are interested in early prehistory, this is a must read.

I have always admired people who can bring the past to life in a visual way and in this book, Victor Ambrose draws and paints the lives of people and places from the past.

The text is provided by Mick Aston, a well-known archaeologist of Time Team fame. Many of the places featured in this book were sites investigated by the Time Team. The book is full to the brim with excellent illustrations of places and perhaps importantly they are then peopled with interesting characters (for fans of Time Team, you may recognize a few faces).

This book makes it easy to travel back in time, to visualize what life may have been like for people way back when which is why I recommend it to any potential time travelers.

PS Look out for the cheeky dog…

The Black House is a Scottish-based mystery featuring the remote Hebridean island of Lewis. I loved how May captures the essence of this island in this trilogy and uses actual historical and cultural events to weave the plot. Each of the Scottish Isles has its own unique culture, and I love how May explores this through the interactions between the characters from Lewis and mainland Scotland. 

I also really enjoyed the character arc and the prodigal-son-esque storyline of jaded detective Fin Macleod returning home. As he solves the murders, he has to face his own dark past.  

This book is, to me, the most quintessentially Hebridean novel in existence.

My paternal grandmother hailed from the Isle of Lewis (or Eilean Leòdhais, to give the island its proper Gaelic name), as did her parents and their parents, and so on back ad infinitum. I’ve always loved the wild beauty of the place. Lewis feels like Home with a capital H. It has a long history of poetry and song, but until fairly recently not many novels had emerged from those shores.

The Stornoway Way impressed me on several levels. Kevin MacNeil eloquently articulates the difficult duality experienced by many Lewis folk: on the isle they feel isolated and often daydream of being elsewhere, but upon leaving the island they feel uprooted, untethered and lost. And how do the islanders deal with this existential paradox? They drink. As in, really drink.

In the Hebrides, alcohol is both a curse… show more.

I absolutely adored this book. I laughed from beginning to end. This is an adventure like no other and set in one of my favourite countries, Scotland. I have been lucky to visit Scotland twice. Its history, culture, scenery, and people have intrigued me since I was a child. The main characters are kilt-wearing animals, eating lots of cake and doing their best to fit in. These wolves might be the polite high society type, but they have a voracious appetite that makes the story so entertaining. It’s a tale full of delightful Scottish humour, castles, dungeons, and a villainous real estate agent. This hilarious romp through the Scottish countryside brings back wonderful memories of all that I have encountered while visiting this fabulous country. 

I’ve never read anything like The Living Mountain. A book that is, at once, an autobiography of a remarkable yet under-celebrated woman writer and an exploration of the ecstasies of experiencing the world through the body and its senses.

In gorgeously vivid prose, Shepherd invites us to pursue depth over breadth and to rely upon our felt experience as a way of knowing in the world. This book challenges dominant “hero’s journey” narratives in both content and form and suggests that all we yearn to experience and know can be found right where we find ourselves, wherever that may be. 

Tom English has produced a series of oral histories (latterly with Peter Burns) which any fan would be advised to read.

The Grudge tells the story of Scotland v England 1990, a game for the Five Nations title that stood for so much more: politics, nationalism, class warfare. It’s a glorious re-telling of an epic game, an upset Scotland win. But I love it for its portrayal of respect between players, of warriors bound by the violent game they play, of friendships across the lines of battle.

Brian Moore emerges a hero: the fearsome “Pitbull” of the England pack, yet a man who fronted up and went drinking with Scots after a crushing defeat. That, to me, is the true spirit of rugby, and the brotherhood it inspires.

Great writing is the key to my heart, and this book is gorgeously written. Isobel, a newly arrived Scottish immigrant to Salem, MA, carries a dangerous secret gift—the “magic” of synesthesia. The story takes place two generations after the infamous witch trials, and while Isobel’s unique color awareness means she can support herself as a seamstress and embroiderer while her husband is at sea, it also means she’s vulnerable to suspicion. Meanwhile, she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne—yes, that Nathaniel Hawthorne.

While Albanese explains that Isobel isn’t specifically “Hester” of The Scarlet Letter, by the end of the novel, I completely believe that she is. Here's a strong feminist perspective on a classic case of a woman wronged. I can’t wait to pick it up again.