‘All We Cannot Leave Behind’, my new novel set around Edinburgh in the first two decades of the 20th century, features many buildings and locations that can still be seen around the city today.

Below is a gallery of images of some of the present day locations that feature in and inspired the novel. Click on the pictures to see in full size.

I tried to stay away from the typical tourist attractions of Edinburgh in writing my book, instead focusing on some of the everyday locations that the less well off in Edinburgh in 1920 might have experienced in the city. (so the Castle is only seen in the distance!) However, it’s hard to ignore some of the main features that Edinburgh is famous for. The Walter Scott Monument on Princes Street is the backdrop to a small scene, and the famous Jenners building (now being converted into a hotel and accommodation), where my Grandmother once worked.

Further along Princes Street is the entrance to Waverley Station, which again features in a key scene. The steam of the locomotives may be gone, and the steps have had a modern makeover including an escalator, but they still do the same job of taking commuters down from street level to the platforms below.

Along the Royal Mile, several buildings feature in the book, including the St Giles Cathedral and the Canonogate Tolbooth.

Queensbury House in 1920 was one of the city poorhouses in Edinburgh, and features in the book as such. Today, the original building still stands, but it is barricaded behind severe security fences and gates as it now forms part of the Scottish Parliament buildings.

Just down the road is Holyrood Palace – the monarch’s residence when staying in the city. That this is situated so close to what was once a poorhouse provided an opportunity to show the social divides in the city in 1920.

Finally on the Royal Mile is the entrance to Chalmers Close. There are several of these little close entrances along the Mile, and this was the one I choose for a particularly grisly scene in the book, and a pivotal moment in the life of one of the main characters. I can imagine a pharmacy and a gift shop may have stood on either side of Chalmers Close in 1920, but I’m sure not in such garish and incongruous appearance.

Finally, with a trip to the National Museum of Scotland, I stumbled upon the car pictured here – an Argyll Flying Fifteen, built in 1910 at a factory in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire in the west of Scotland. As I was looking for a make and model of car for a scene set in 1911, in West Dunbartonshire, where a rich businessman owned a brand new automobile, this fit the bill perfectly, so had to be written into the story.

All We Cannot Leave Behind is out now and available from all good booksellers HERE.