New Academy Book!

Charles Bannerman's latest Academy book - this time a novel based on Inverness's best known school. To get your copy email the author, visit the school or look in local bookshops.

The ideal Christmas present!

"RIGHT UP STEPHEN'S BRAE"
HERE NOW!

The final part of the Inverness Royal Academy's "Up Stephen's Brae" trilogy, written by Charles Bannerman, is now available.

This time "Right Up Stephen's Brae" is a novel about the Royal Academy and the town of Inverness, with a plot which begins in 1895 and reaches its conclusion in 1967.
George Fraser is a poor boy from the Shore area of Inverness with very little going for him. But a conspicuous act of bravery one summer lunch time in 1895 has follow-on effects which have huge implications for a very, very large number of people. Much of the plot is set in the old Royal Academy building at Midmills but there are other episodes elsewhere in Inverness and quite far beyond!

George is also a real person, the winner of the school's Centenary Medal in 1892, but the character and the plot are complete inventions around the name.
This book follows on from Charles Bannerman's "Up Stephen's Brae" (1995), an account of his own school days at Midmills, and "Further Up Stephen's Brae" (1999) which gives an anecdotal flavour of life at the school over a wider period. Between these two publications he produced "Against All Odds" the official account of the Inverness football merger which led to the creation of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC.
"I had always intended to complete the Royal Academy trilogy here but for various reasons this has been delayed by ten years," said the author. "However I think the delay has been worthwhile since it has allowed the evolution of the plot of this novel which in turn has opened up the opportunity to use a third different genre. I am sure former pupils will identify with passages which take place within the school, even though they are fictional because I have largely stuck to real characters, especially in the latter stages of the action."
The book is 112 pages in length and contains a large number of illustrations relating to the school and of Old Inverness.

"Right Up Stephen's Brae" - price just £5 - will be available from October 27th. It can be obtained from the School and from both Waterstones and Borders Books in Inverness as well as from other locations still to be finalised.