An interesting, less conventional exploration of the beautiful city of Edinburgh.

As someone who fell in love with the city on a holiday and who has felt compelled to return several times over the past few years, this book offered another view of it, with some intriguing places and characters to follow up.

The author describes the book as "an evocation rather than a history" and this is absolutely true - and it's a wonderful book as a result.

‘The most rewarding journeys are often those that don’t stick to a plan, that follow serendipitous associations and are open to the unexpected. You turn a corner and there is a surprising vista of hills or water or trees or impressive buildings and curious monuments. sometimes all at once.’

Jenni Calder invites us to accompany her on walks around the city of Edinburgh, commenting on the historical and cultural associations of the things she sees. I have lived in Edinburgh myself and was both reminded of places I had almost forgotten and introduced to places unknown to me. A thoroughly enjoyable experience and I appreciated the quotations she includes from writers old and new, from Scott and Stevenson to Rankin and McCall Smith.

What struck me in her book, though, is the one thing about Edinburgh that I remember most strongly and that is that ‘Edinburgh is a city of hills and declivities, of sudden heights and abrupt descents’. The area of the old town stands out in this respect, of course, streets running above streets, connected by vertiginous alleys and staircases. Her emphasis, though, is on the many brilliant viewing points - what fantastic views they are, in every direction, over miles of outstanding landscape and seascape - and she travels out and about to the city limits in search of yet more great views.

Personally I’d have liked a few more modern references, if only to fill me in on recent developments I’ve missed, but these are the author’s personal observations and they have served to remind me that I should revisit the city one of these days.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this book, part-history part-travel and part personal reminiscence, but on the whole I did enjoy it. In it Jenny Calder takes a trip around Edinburgh, her home (and mine) for many, many years.

Her theme, if there is a theme, is that Edinburgh has what she calls a duality, a split personality, andI think I’d concur with that, but I’m not sure she fully illustrates it. The book moves around in a sensible enough way — there are chapters on the geology and topography, the festivals, its river and other elements that make up this unique assembly of buildings and individuals. The historical strand in the book is by far the best of it, and I learned a lot about a city I thought I knew well. I particularly enjoyed the opening, at the Heart of Midlothian itself, and how she begins to explore the city from there.

I enjoyed the writing, although there were one or two places where a jump from one thing to another was more than confusing (for example, at one point a paragraph about George IV’s visit concludes with the observation that ‘Seven years later William Burke was hanged and William Hare was released from jail’, a non-sequitur that had me scratching my head as I tried to work out the connection).

If I had a problem with it it’s that we don’t hear the author’s voice nearly enough. The quotations from books about Edinburgh are extensive to the point of being overwhelming. There can barely be a well-kent writer who features the city who doesn’t get a mention. Jenni Calder doesn’t just quote the oldies like Scott and Stevenson, but more modern writers such as Rankin and Spark, and a whole load of others who are unfamiliar to me. It’s fine up to a point, but for a book that claims to be ‘a personal journey — and eccentric odyssey’ I found it a little bit unbalanced, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the chapters I enjoyed most are those where she writes about the outlying areas, where there are fewer quotations and more original input.

Jenni Calder writes well and fluently, and I would have liked to have heard more of her own words and less of those of others.

In the prologue Jenni Calder states that her book is "an evocation rather than a history". Although at the the end of the book there is a timeline to give the narrative some context the book instead can be viewed as a personal testament and even a love letter to the City that she has spent much of her life living and working in. Constructed around a series of walks and experiences, some in the present day, others in the distant past, the author will lead the reader on a journey to gain an insight into the very heart and soul of the City. Do not expect a linear journey for the walks and narrative can meander, take unexpected divergences and may even double back on themselves. Edinburgh is a thoroughly walkable city and like the author I have gained much pleasure by experiencing its unexpected delights without a set plan in mind. The world duality is often repeated in the book and this word perhaps gets closer than any other to defining its very essence. It is the contrast between the Old and New Towns, wealth and deprivation, law abiding and criminal, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide, Miss Jean Brodie and Mark Renton that permeates throughout. There are surely few other UK cities where the education divide between private and state is so pronounced.

Literature is a constant theme in the book and its association with the City. Hogg, Spark, Rankin and above all Scott and Stevenson are all featured. It is interesting that although many writers (Stevenson, Spark and Rebecca West) felt compelled to leave Edinburgh at the first opportunity its influence on them was ever present. I particularly liked how Jenni Calder not only looks at the well known tourist areas but covers those less well known on its exterior including Cramond, Portobello, South Queensferry and Musselburgh. Edinburgh is architecturally quite unlike any other UK city. Whereas Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are all defined by their Victorian buildings derived from their links with trade and industry with Edinburgh you can look up at Ramsay Gardens and be fooled into thinking you are in Germany or the Baltic States and then turn to your left and look up at Calton Hill and here you are transported to some ancient ruined Mediterranean town.

Accompanying and supporting the narrative are photographs by Jenni's daughter and also her late brother many of which date from the 1960's. The ending of the book is very moving and underlines the importance that geography has on the human condition. This may not be quite the book for the first time visitor but if you live in or are familiar with Edinburgh then this will be a wonderful read and hopefully will inspire you to get out and explore it for yourself.

This is an exceptional guide to Edinburgh by Jenni Calder if you are looking for more than a superficial knowledge of the city with its blood drenched history, and its outstanding cultural traditions, past and present. Calder has long term connections with the city and shares her fascinating indepth knowledge, interspersed with photographs (black and white on my kindle). It is a guide that makes the reader see the city through the ages with historical documents, and through the eyes of novelists, poets, journalists and more. For Calder, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson are writ large on the city, and she prioritises getting to know Edinburgh through its walks as it is eminently walkable. Calder provides a useful historical timeline at the end of the book, of key events that begin in 1100 right through to 2017, with the opening of the Queensferry crossing.

Edinburgh has an established history in learning and the arts. Although now known as a football club, The Heart of Midlothian is a 19th century Scott novel published in 1818 capturing the politics and history as we see Edinburgh of the character, Reuben Butler as does Scott's novel Waverly and John Buchan's Midwinter. Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Ian Rankin's Rebus series and Alexander McCall Smith's books all contribute their portraits of the city, along with the poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns. Edinburgh's pioneering contribution to the medical profession is not forgotten with its dark history of Burke and Hare.

These insights into the history of Edinburgh with its unusual approach has obviously been a labour of love for Jenni Calder and I can do nothing but thank her for it. It is richly detailed and written to give the reader wide ranging perpectives of Edinburgh in its many versions. It is not a substitute for a more indepth historical study of the city, but it is the next best thing if you want to add layers to your knowledge and utilise its broad and diverse sources. I was under the impression that I knew Edinburgh relatively well, but Calder expanded my horizons by adding so much to what I know. A brilliant guide to Edinburgh and in my view, invaluable. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Luath Press for an ARC.

Think one of my favourite things about Essence of Edinburgh was that it did in fact dare to leave the city centre, which I've personally find rare when it comes to books about the capital. Calder has a very personable style and has obviously done a lot of research here, there were a few things that came up that I'd previously never heard of before.

Definitely one of the better books about Edinburgh in the last few years.