Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fanatic | 2001 | James Robertson | Buy |
| 2 | Joseph Knight | 2003 | James Robertson | Buy |
| 3 | The Testament of Gideon Mack | 2006 | James Robertson | Buy |
| 4 | And the Land Lay Still | 2010 | James Robertson | Buy |
| 5 | The Professor of Truth | 2013 | James Robertson | Buy |
| 6 | To Be Continued… | 2016 | James Robertson | Buy |
| 7 | News of the Dead | 2021 | James Robertson | Buy |
James Robertson Standalone Novels collects seven literary novels published between 2001 and 2021. The earliest, The Fanatic (2001), is a dual-timeline novel set in contemporary Edinburgh and in the seventeenth century, exploring religious extremism and political violence. Joseph Knight (2003), Robertson’s second novel, tells the story of a real enslaved African who won his freedom in a Scottish court and is widely considered his most historically significant work.
The Testament of Gideon Mack (2006) is Robertson’s most widely read novel, a dark comedy about a Scottish minister whose crisis of faith takes an unexpected supernatural turn. And the Land Lay Still (2010) is his most ambitious work, a panoramic novel of twentieth-century Scottish political life that won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year. The Professor of Truth (2013), To Be Continued… (2016), and News of the Dead (2021) complete the collection.
Robertson’s novels share an engagement with Scottish history, identity, and politics, but each approaches these themes from a different angle and in a different mode. Readers can start with any title, though the novels published from 2001 onward follow a rough progression in scope and ambition.