One of the local bookshops has a big stock of remaindered Canongate books (where I found the Thomson): I'll look out for Margaret Elphinstone when I'm next in.

Thanks for the rec on Collapse: I'm going to try that one before GG&S, I think, and see how I get on.

Oh it would have been awful to update Ballet Shoes! I wonder if they could get away with doing the Gemma books in a period setting now?