BINGE into some of the best of The National with our weekly box set.

In this new Saturday feature, we’ll bring you three essential articles on a single subject covering culture, history, politics and more.

In the first of our Box Set series, we look at Scotland In Writing.

After all, we’re all doing more reading these days.

Part One: What Makes a Scottish Bestseller?

In this long read, literature expert Professor Alan Riach looks at the changing fashions in fiction from and about Scotland - from the rollicking adventures of Ian Fleming’s half-Scottish hero James Bond to the historical fiction of Nigel Tranter.

READ AT: What makes a Scottish bestseller?

Part Two: AG Macdonell: The all but forgotten Scots fiction writer

Here writer Joseph Farrell asks what determines nationality, and to what extent that is a choice, as he examines the work of the wartime author who “Scotland has forgotten or remembers only hazily as the author of one novel, England, Their England”.

READ AT: AG Macdonell: The all-but forgotten Scots fiction writer

Part three: Aye Write: Leading writers reveal the works that inspired them

The annual book festival may have been pulled due to the pandemic, but the stars on the programme are still accessible via their works, either on your bookshelf or through an ebook. Here Val McDermid, Sally Magnusson, Joanna Trollope and more reveal their favourite reads.

READ AT: Aye Write: Leading writers reveal the works that inspired them