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Westward Ho! from Birlinn

In line with the current vogue for republishing classic titles, Birlinn is set to publish Water Babies author Charles Kingsley's 19th-century historical adventure novel Westward Ho! (March, p/b, £9.99, introduction by Malcolm Day).

The tale, which will run to 680 pages in this edition, charts the course followed by Amyas Leigh, a young man set upon a life on the high seas who joins Sir Francis Drake as he prepares to face the Spanish Armada. When first published, the theme would have resonated with readers' fears of a French invasion under emperor Louis Napoleon.

Westward Ho! is one of several reissues from Birlinn with novels by James Kelman, Robin Jenkins and George McKay Brown all republished this year. Power House, Sick Heart River and The Dancing Floor, novels by John Buchan, were also reprinted in paperback in August by Birlinn. A Birlinn spokeswoman commented: "We've been doing quite a few Scottish reprints lately, but Westward Ho! is more of a national reprint."

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